Meet the cast - Eileen Young - Sakura
(Sakura, Jason’s guru in series 2, photo by Jack Photography)
As post production gears up on series 2 of our superhero series, we talk to Eileen Young who appears in the series 1 finale as Sakura, a wise, calm-yet-powerful demon who is sent to keep an eye on Jason. Series 2 sees her return…
Eileen, Sakura made a brief appearance in series 1, so who is she?
Well, Sakura is a good demon and acts as a guide to Jason. After spending 8 months with Jason, she’s learned to take his moaning with a pinch of salt. She’s thousands of years old and likes nature. Her realm is based in a forest and she gets weaker when she’s out of her realm. It’s her job to make sure that bad demons don’t get released from her world to the human world.
What do you think makes Night is Day unique?
Night is Day is different because we’re doing a sci-fi… in Scotland on a low budget. To manage to get to a second series is a big thing for us and a huge achievement. We’ve got fresh Scottish talent as well as seasoned pros all working to make this happen.
So far what’s been your favourite experience while making the show?
Gosh, there’s been so many great times this series. I’ve enjoyed the fight co-ordination. My favourite time I have had this series was back in the first episode when I got to throw Crawford, the stuntman/demon. We are both trained and licenced to do judo, so it was a real throw and in order to make it work, I had to have Crawford run full on at me. After the first take, a hushed silence went around the room… and the looks on the crew, cast and extra’s faces were deliciously priceless. I think they must’ve thought Crawford had been hurt, even though he bounces straight back up like the pro he is.
Sakura has a lot of powers, what are they?
Yeah, she’s very powerful. She’s got powers I don’t even think I know about. Her main power is that she can give people powers that she thinks will fight the good fight. She’s extremely strong and has some zapping powers which are a gold colour. She can teleport and tell the future. It may not be a super power, but she’s got common sense, but doesn’t really have the power of understanding the human heart.
How does it feel to play a superhero?
It’s great fun to play a superhero. Being able to do amazing feats on film looks really cool… although the poses feel a bit silly.
If you had a superpower, what would it be, and why?
I’m such a geek and I pretty much know the comics with all the different powers… if it’s just one power, I’d probably choose flying. I love dreaming of flying, so that’s why I’d choose that. If it was a set of powers… do you remember the Tomorrow People? What a fab show! They could teleport, talk to computers and use telepathy. Awesome.
