THE enchanting tale of Sinbad is brought to life on the small screen with an array of delightful and sinful characters contributing to the unfolding battles.
Briton Sophie Okonedo, better known for her roles in Hotel Rwanda, Tsunami: The Aftermath, Aeon Flux, Skin and The Secret Life of Bees, is cast as Razia – Queen of the Water-Thieves.
After she leads her tribe into The Providence, they ambush Sinbad and his crew at night. While extremely charismatic, Razia is equally ruthless. And when Sinbad double-crosses her by outing Malik to her tribe as her son (Malik is eventually killed by an ambitious Khalid in a bid to challenge Razia’s leadership) Razia is inconsolable and determined to make Sinbad pay.
Delighting in her multi-layered role, Okonedo sheds light on Razia.
“My character is a cross between Medusa and Eartha Kitt… or, at least, that’s who I was channelling.
“I didn’t prepare very much, to be honest. The make-up and costume gave me a lot of her and I just played around in front of the camera and had fun – that was mostly it. It is great playing a baddie.”
Shot in Malta, the series stars Naveen Andrews (Lost), Elliot Knight, Dimitri Leonidas (Centurion), Marama Corlett (The Devil’s Double) and Elliot Cowan (Happy-Go-Lucky and Alexander) among others.
Okonedo says she loved the location shoot.
“The people were very warm. So was the weather. It was pretty dreary in London weather-wise, so it was nice to go somewhere with such a beautiful sky and light. But I was mostly filming at night so I didn’t get much of a chance to see Malta, as I was sleeping all day.
“The main cast had already been filming for some time before I arrived and I have to say, they were extraordinary; such a talented bunch and really committed to the project. It was a privilege to work with these actors. It felt like a little family and they let me join in for the week.”
As for the action scenes that were shot on a green screen, she explains: “It can be tricky. Thankfully, the bits I had to do were so full of action I didn’t have much chance to think about what I was trying to imagine was going on behind me.”
Commenting on highlights, the 40-something actress says: “That would be my first day. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with the character, but when I went through the wonderful make-up and costume and walked on to the extraordinary set to do my first scene, all the water-thieves bowed down to the floor and started worshipping me. We hadn’t even started filming. The extras who were playing them obviously had been prepped to do this on seeing me, but didn’t realise they should wait until the cameras started rolling. It took me by surprise and I got into the role immediately. I had fun being a warrior queen for the week.”
On the pervading allure of myths and fairy tales, Okonedo speculates: “I think they are not only enduring, but are necessary to help us understand and interpret darker, stickier aspects of our nature. Sometimes it’s easier to understand less digestible parts of ourselves in fairy tales and myths; they can bring colour, meaning, creativity and, ultimately, understanding.”
Aside from Razia’s personal vendetta against Sinbad (Knight), he has also incurred the wrath of Lord Akbari (Andrews) for killing his son.
The mystical mayhem peppered with sorcery and sword-slaying is bound to spark intrigue and capture the imagination.
• Sinbad debuts on M-Net (DStv channel 101) tomorrow at 8pm.