Super Natural Serinda Swan

by: Ryan Aliapoulios

photos: Michael Franco Photography straight

It’s a dark midnight in Monroe, Michigan, and a full moon shines over an enormous brick nunnery. Inside, towering three-point lighting set-ups give the illusion of disorienting daylight—morning even, for the scene being filmed. I’m told by several members of the cast and crew that they believe the surrounding area may be haunted. Several people whisper ghost stories about Monroe, locally famous in Michigan for encounters with the unknown. An assistant director shouts, “Rolling!” and is echoed by other strategically positioned movie execs. An eerie silence settles over the onlookers, made only eerier by location. We’re watching a quiet bedroom scene, featuring leading lady, Serinda Swan.

When “cut” is called, the room erupts again. Everyone in charge sighs with relief. The movie is Jinn, a psychological thriller dealing with supernatural, Eastern themes—this seems like nothing if not a blatant invitation to the paranormal, given Monroe’s history. Swan comes into the green-room, and is stormed by a make-up artist.
“I’m pretty well powdered, I think,” Swan says with a bright smile, politely declining additional make-up.
Serinda Swan is unquestionably a knockout, but she’s a somewhat unusual one. Unusual in that she laughs off comparisons to Megan Fox, and keeps a convincing girl-next-door persona about her. She has a warm smile, bright energy, and an approachable personality. She’s down to earth—“normal,” even. She’s quick to correct me—politely, of course—when I ask about her crossover from modeling to acting.

“I was an actress first,” Swan says. “I just got into a place where I kind of grew and modeling became a thing to do. I never got that serious into it. I look at it and I’m like, ‘It’s cool, I took some pictures, you know.’” Some of these pictures include a Maxim photo shoot and shots for a Guess modeling competition, where Swan beat over 70,000 competitors. “It was fun to do and I don’t take it back, but I’m happy to be on the acting side,” she says.
Swan plays the female lead, Jasmine, in Jinn. “I’d actually heard of jinn before,” she says. “I have a lot of friends from the East, so it kind of piqued my interest there.” Directed by Michigan-native A.J. Ahmad, the film centers around the Eastern idea of jinn, a race of supernatural beings completing the trifecta of God’s creations, which includes humans and angels. The closest thing the West has seen to this is Robin William’s extravagant voice-acting in Aladdin.

“In the East, it’s a very common subject, so for them, it’ll be like going to a ghost movie,” Swan says. “Here in the West, I think it’ll introduce a whole new thing to be afraid of—which is great!” Swan also confirms rumors that the set has an ethereal aura about it. “We’re shooting in an old nunnery where 900 nuns have died, and there’s this idea that they walk the halls,” she says. “I’m like, ‘This is awesome for me, who never watched horror movies and is scared of things.’” Despite the strange on-set occurrences, Swan says the cast tries to go about business as usual. “Whenever something weird happens on set, we’re just like, ‘Oh, it’s the jinn.’”

Swan is new blood in the industry, but the speed of her climb is accelerating. From playing roles like D.C. comics’ Zatanna Zatarra in Smallville, to Aphrodite in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lighting Thief, Swan’s roles have often been otherworldly or extraordinary. I joke about the irony that she auditioned for the “ugly” role of Medusa and ended up cast as Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, beauty, and all things sexual. She smiles brightly, choosing to ignore the obvious overtone of my comment.

“I was shooting TRON Legacy at the time, and we were doing make-up tests,” she says. “I asked them, ‘I’m going for Medusa, can you mess my face up a little?’ So they did this crazy hair and blacked my eyes out, and I went in and auditioned for [director] Christopher Columbus. I did it, was really excited, Chris really got into it and I was like, ‘That was really fun, I might get this!’” Swan’s eyes light up with bubbly enthusiasm and everyone laughs. “They called back and were like, ‘Actually, Uma Thurman got that role.’ It’s always funny when you go audition for something and some huge, huge actress gets it.”

TRON Legacy, scheduled for release in December, also features Swan. For dedicated fans of the original, of which there are many, TRON Legacy is one of the most hotly anticipated releases of the year. “Honestly, to be part of that movie is—yeah, what can you say,” she says. “The cast is unreal. Jeff Bridges, I got to meet him!” Swan’s eyes light up again. “There’s nothing you can say about that man that isn’t kind. We actually didn’t have any scenes together, but he would come and hang out with us. He could have been that big pink elephant in the room, like, ‘Oh my God, that’s Jeff Bridges!’” she jokes, “But he was so kind.”
When asked if she is drawn to otherworldly roles, Swan says that the pattern emerged on its own. “People must think I look bizarre or something,” she says.

Swan concedes that things are going well, but she doesn’t question her fortune very much. “I don’t quite know what it is about me that is supernatural but, sure,” she says. “I mean, I’m working, and that works for me.”