Sana'a Shaik: Local Class of '07 star living a world wandering Nomad life
Sana’a Shaik as Teresa in Class Of ‘07. Photo: John Platt
From post-apocalyptic dramedy to globe-trotting sci-fi romance, Sydney-based actor Sana’a Shaik is carving out a stellar career while living her best life.
Currently featuring as Teresa in locally-produced Prime Video series Class Of ’07, Shaik says the story – which follows a group of women trapped on an island after a tidal wave wipes out their 10-year high school reunion – is really about the unbreakable emotional connections of female friendship.
“We all go through different dynamics and we all have an important role to play in the story and important things to say about female friendships,” the actor tells Popcorn Podcast of the new eight-part show, now streaming.
The complex dynamics of female friendship is a common theme explored in the South-African-born actor’s work, through her time on family drama series Dive Club and upcoming The Hangover-inspired film It Only Takes A Night.
“Class Of ‘07 was the third consecutive project I had done that was an all-female cast,” Shaik says.
Created by Kacie Anning (The Other Guy), Class of ’07 boasts a talented female-driven creative team, not only onscreen – led by Emily Browning as outcast Zoe and Megan Smart as her estranged best friend Amelia – but also behind the scenes in its writing team, director and producer. The female-forward collaboration makes for a bold and authentic high concept comedy that falls somewhere between Broad City and Bridesmaids.
“Our dedication to telling women’s stories is imbued in the very fabric of this show,” explains Anning.
“Not only was it hilarious reading it,” adds Shaik of the script, “it was hilarious doing it. Just really fun. The second I read it, I was like, ‘I gotta be a part of this, because it looks like such a blast’.”
Zoe (Emily Browning) and Teresa (Shaik) surviving the apocalypse. Photo: John Platt
But being trapped on an isolated high school island with a band of desperate classmates, a la Lord of the Flies orYellowjackets, is a far cry from the far-flung romantic adventure of Shaik’s upcoming role as Nellie in Taron Lexton’s Nomad.
Filmed across 26 countries and seven continents, the record-breaking independent feature co-stars Leo Woodall (The White Lotus) as a nomad who can teleport to different parts of the world.
“The way I like to explain it is I'm this stifled city girl,” explains Shaik. “I come across this mysterious nomad and I somehow join him on his travels. He spends half the movie trying to get rid of me and then some romantic things happen. It's really cool. And everywhere he goes in the film, we filmed [there] in real life.”
Production took the two stars and a skeleton crew to some truly jaw-dropping locations over the course of nine months, with the added challenges (and joys) of filming without purpose-built sets or any artificial lighting.
“There are a lot of really beautiful twilight and dawn scenes, which look great because the sky just lights up. It was so insanely beautiful, but it means you also have to wake up at 2am,” laughs Shaik. “But none of us were complaining!”
An incredible amount of planning and ingenuity was required to capture such stunning shots in often remote locations, including one in front of a mind-blowing eclipse in Chile’s Elqui Valley using only the lighting nature provides.
“We spent one day mostly just planning the whole thing because there was only the two-minute window of the eclipse,” recalls Shaik. “Leo and I had to climb up this huge mountain, which took us about 45 minutes to climb, and while we were on top of the mountain, the camera was down below. They use a particular macro lens which catches small bugs and stuff. But if you set it up in the way they did, it makes the background look larger than the foreground, which is why it looks like we're smaller and then the eclipse is surrounding us.”
A still from Nomad, starring Sana’a Shaik and Leo Woodall. Image: Kevin Garrison
“I was so excited to go back to do the next leg because there was only eight crew and just me and Leo. And while filming, where we were on the weekends, or wherever we were after hours, we would get to explore and do our own thing. Even when we were filming, the places were incredible. It didn't feel like work at all. We were doing all the cool things!”
