WHEN actress Siti Saleha Baharom was offered a starring role in the movie The Spiral, she willingly accepted as it meant she could step out of her comfort zone.
“This was my first time acting in a science fiction-thriller genre.
“As an actress, of course I want to play different roles. I don’t want to be pigeonholed,” says the 28-year-old.
Even the cast comprised artistes she had never worked with before, for instance, Peter Davis and actor-director Ben Andrew Pfeiffer (who is based in Melbourne, Australia).
The Spiral is also the first film in English that Siti Saleha is starring in but it isn’t a problem for her since her mother, Aishah Rahman nee Tracey Johnson, is English.
“The offer came in early 2016 and by April, we were already filming it. Filming took 45 days,” shares Siti Saleha.
“Initially, I was quite nervous so I did some research and asked the director (PF Wong) many questions. We discussed at length about a lot of things and had many brainstorming sessions before filming began.
“Ben, who plays my boyfriend Dave in the film, also provided much feedback and improvised when the dialogue seemed redundant.
“We will discuss with each other a lot on how to improve the script but any changes will have to be approved by the director,” recounts Siti Saleha.
MYSTERIOUS DIMENSIONS
In the film, the actress plays three different characters: Katarina, Dr Melanie Surya and Alice. All the three characters are somewhat related but each come from parallel dimensions.
“It may seem difficult to portray three different characters but it was actually not that hard. All three have different personalities and demeanour.
“Take Melanie, for example. She is this serious person who takes pride in her job. But she is not much different from you and me — someone who falls in love and deals with issues both at work and home,” she says.
The Spiral tells the story of Jon Caine (Peter Davis), a respected lecturer who has gone missing. One day, he reappears and starts killing people.
He is apprehended by Detective Aleana and sent to an asylum. There, criminal psychologist Melanie (Siti Saleha) interrogates him and learns that her existence is the key to the man's sudden behavioural change.
With this knowledge, she finds a way to unlock the secret he holds inside.
INTIMATE EDITING
Asked if she’s worried that moviegoers would object to a certain intimate scene, the actress says that the kissing scene between she and Ben “is hardly an issue”.
“It was filmed in 2016 and I wasn’t married yet at that time. Besides, it wasn’t full-on kissing. The way I see it, it was just work,” says Siti Saleha, who tied the knot in July last year.
While this is an age of social media, Siti Saleha says she never pays attention to what netizens discuss.
“After all, they say haters gonna hate. So be it,” she adds.
Meanwhile, Wong, the director, says that although it took “quite a while” before the film finally opened in the cinema, it does not really matter as the science fiction story is not a time-sensitive product.
“I needed to make sure that the editing was properly carried out first,” shares Wong, who adds that the cost to produce The Spiral was RM5 million.
“Releasing it around this time of the year is perfect (late-2018), as it is the year-end break for many people,” he concludes.
The Spiral is currently showing in cinemas nationwide.