I was offered the role of Kina while I was shooting Neighbours; it was very hard to keep it a secret! I was really excited to move from one character right into another, especially because Shay and Kina are total different girls.
I was travelling around for various jobs and spending lots of time in the US. I decided to stay at my family home in Perth to prepare for the role of Kina.
I researched different tribes in the Amazon and what the women looked like. I wanted Kina to be lean but strong, especially her arms. I also wanted her to have this energy of being constantly aware and have an animalistic focus. I felt boxers had this nature, so trained as if I was an amateur boxer preparing for a fight. It made me fall in love with boxing.
Getting into my body was extremely important, I workshopped with Lisa Scott Murphy to put all of my animal research into movements; her walk and her subtleties. I didn’t want any part of me to feel like a 21st century girl. Kina and I have our humanity and heart in common but in terms of physicality I really had to strip myself down and build her. I wanted it to be right.
I started learning the language that Kina spoke, Quechuan. I could actually understand and speak Quechuan quite well by the time I was on set. I would write little prayers and lullabies in Quechuan. I sang for Greg [McLean, director] on set and we actually ended up filming one. It was so great that he was open to my ideas. I was accepted to study at WAAPA when I was 20, for BA of Classical Voice. I’m a trained singer and musician so Greg and I really connected on that musical level because of his background.
I have a tendency to be barefoot most of the time, and I made a concerted effort to do so even more before the shoot, as I knew I’d be barefoot, in the jungle. Here is me at my local organic grocery store in Perth… barefoot!
Perth has many beautiful gardens I love to visit, one in particular where I could also do vibrational sound healing with an Ancient Aboriginal healer, using quartz didgeridoos. It helped me feel really connected to the earth. Listening to the didgeridoo I would start having memories of me as Kina, with my tribe; that music really transports you. I did an exercise where I would hang out in this garden and start to think Kina’s thoughts and then would walk out on the highway and start to listen to these sounds for the first time and feel her reaction to these.
Although I was in preproduction for Jungle, I was also auditioning for future work. My mum would help me self tape, otherwise I would do it myself, and my coach Jasper would be on Skype to read with me. This was the set up in my parents’ living room for a while. I think Mum was secretly relieved when she didn’t have to look at this eye sore of a tower every day!
One of the producers of Jungle introduced me to an amazing director, Kim Farrant. They wanted me to workshop sexuality and sensuality on screen with her. I had the most incredible session at her house. I had been doing a lot of exploring in nature and running around friends’ gardens barefoot, climbing, improvising. Kim wanted to workshop out in her garden too… I was so in character I didn’t even realise I’d grazed my knee until I got home. It was nothing major and the make-up team actually loved it, so didn’t cover it up to shoot!
I hadn’t been to the Gold Coast since shooting Nest, so was super excited to visit. I love it there!
The day before my wardrobe call I took this photo. I focus more on health and wellness rather than on my physical appearance. I don’t think I’d ever felt this lean. I was really happy, as this is what I envisaged for Kina.
Mount Taborine was so beautiful. I felt like I’d been transported into another world. My call times were the earliest because of my make-up and the sun would just be starting to rise as I would arrive on set. It was the most gorgeous view.
I’d already had a wardrobe call but my first day on set was my make-up trial. The process was very interesting as her look evolved. I really felt I had created Kina on the inside and once they started doing the hair and make-up, I looked in the mirror and was like… ‘yep…Yasmin is in here somewhere but…I am Kina.’
The first day of shooting, my hair and make-up took about 4 hours as the team had to do all my body scars. I wanted to try to keep them on, so I had a part of Kina with me throughout the whole shoot. For the rest of the shoot, to become Kina took about 3 – 3.5 hours and to ‘de-Kina’ as we called it, took about 2. I felt very emotional when they were applying the scarifications all over my body. During the process of body make-up, I created a story of how I received each scar. By the time they were done, I had to go to my trailer and take a minute to calm down. I looked like her, I’d created this big story and now my ankles had shackle marks and my body was so scarred. It felt so real. Although I was distressed, the actor in me knew that I felt really ready to go be Kina to Daniel [Radcliffe]’s Yossi.
The team on this project were incredible. Not only was I fortunate enough to have such a talented partner in crime, Daniel, but everyone behind the scenes too. From the hair and make up team, the DP [Stefan Duscio], Greg, the runners to catering; everybody wanted to make this the best it could be, for Yossi [Ghinsberg, whose memoir the film is based on] and for his story.
Here is Kina with one of the producers Todd Fellman.
Here is Kina in Mount Tamborine hanging out. Before our first scene I barely spoke English to Daniel, just a bit of Quechuan. I wanted to keep a certain energy between us. Our first scene felt electric. Greg let the camera roll and let us improvise. From then on it was really flowing and I felt Dan and I just got each other. We have the same work ethic and Greg really let us play; such an amazing combination.
Daniel never saw me without the Kina make-up until the wrap party, as we were very much in the energy of our characters during the shoot. It was funny for us to meet properly as ourselves! Me without my make-up and Daniel with his English accent. We had shared so many stories, but were grounded in our characters the whole time. I’m much bubblier than Kina…I also have eyebrows!
When I finished shooting I made my way to Byron Bay, as I’ve always wanted to go. It was nice to relax for a few days and be in my own company before heading back for the wrap party.
Here is a photo from the make-up team on set. These guys were AMAZING! I would give myself a fright when I’d see my reflection, after hours of being on set! I feel extremely lucky that I got to take on a role like this and will forever be so grateful to Greg McLean. From studying a language, movement, Amazonian history and people, it truly is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done creatively. I can’t wait for everyone to share in Yossi’s story, see how amazing Daniel and the boys are and meet Kina. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to transform in this kind of way for another role. I have my fingers crossed that I do, because this experience was so fulfilling and helped me grow so much as a person and as an actress.
I met Yossi in LA and just burst into tears. He has the most amazing presence and you can tell that he has done so much with his life. I always felt I couldn’t do enough to try and get into character for this story, and it’s because you know how much he went through. Anything we put ourselves through as actors is nothing compared to the truth behind the story. He’s a truly amazing man and I feel so lucky to be a part of sharing his incredible story.
