3 days ago
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Meghann Fahy plays the brutally honest Devon on “Sirens,” a woman whose brash personality and grungy fashion sense are at odds with the wealthy socialite (played by Julianne Moore) she thinks has brainwashed her sister (Milly Alcock). Molly Smith Metzler’s new limited series is a sharp satire of wealth, and Devon is ready to get even with some billionaires.
Fahy breaks down how she got into the mindset of Devon, from putting on some bold boots and cranking up a throwback playlist to conjuring emotion through the backstory and the other actors.
All about the costume
“A huge component was the visual of Devon: The clothes, the shoes, the jewelry, all of the rings and everything. When I had all of that on, I felt like I was already there with her. That did so much work for me. Her dialogue and sense of humor were so sharp and specific. Being able to step into her through the clothes was so great, and like stepping into her energy.”
The shoes complete a physical transformation
“I know it sounds really silly, but shoes for me are huge. Devon’s boots and the way that it felt to walk in her boots … I walked differently. It changed my physicality and helped me get into her skin. On the flip side of the coin, during scenes where I was in the weird flats and flowery dresses that they put her in, it helped to heighten her energetically, her opposition and disdain to that.”
Let a great playlist guide the way
“I’m a huge music person. That’s a big part of my journey whenever I’m doing any project. For Devon, it was a lot of throwback jams. She felt very nostalgic to me. She’s somebody that I might have known in high school. Some of her jewelry felt like when I went through a huge emo phase when I was younger, and it triggered that in me. I imagine she probably still listened to the same shit that she listened to when she was in high school. There was just something about her that felt that way to me. So I was doing a lot of throwback emo jams, and it was so much fun.”
Use your scene partner for emotion
“Bill Camp [who plays Devon’s father] was my trick. He was such a live wire, and to see him going through what he was going through, he was so emotionally available. I just had to witness him in that space and there was something so devastating about it on a cellular level that I really just had to be present with that truth and then it would just come up.”
Know the full backstory
“I was able to connect to the throughline of the backstory, which we talked to Molly about. There was so much that had happened that the audience was never going to see or hear. Talking to Molly about all of the little details of their life and their history was a secret weapon.”
Watch a comfort TV show after work to unwind
“I’m a serial rewatcher of things when I’m filming something, I can’t really take in new information. To self-soothe, I’ll rewatch something that I’ve seen 1,000 times that I don’t have to think about, and that’s my escape. I’m seasonally driven, so now that we’re creeping into summer, I’ll hit ‘The O.C.’ Season 1. The first season of ‘True Blood’ is also a big summer one for me.”
English (US) ·