INTERVIEW: Nicky Whelan Gives It A Crack With ‘Maneater’ And A Mechanical Shark

If you’re looking for a shark movie that comes with a mechanical shark, check out the new movie Maneater. Nicky Whelan headlines this viscerally charged feature, and she talked to Deepest Dream about being challenged to the extreme with Maneater. She also talked about her “random” and creatively gratifying career, and I made sure to end the interview with some love for Last Night in Rozzie!

Written and directed by Justin Lee, Maneater centers on Jessie (Nicky Whelan), a woman is vacationing with her friends (Shane West, Kelly Lynn Reiter, Porscha Coleman). She is trying to get over a broken engagement, so a weekend getaway is the perfect idea. But chilling in an island paradise takes a different turn thanks to the presence of a killer shark. Trace Adkins co-stars as Harlan, a guy who has his own reasons for hunting down the shark.

The following interview with Nicky Whelan runs nine minutes, but she also talked about shooting the challenging third act of Maneater. That content is available for our CinemAddicts Patreon members.

Listen to the audio version of the Whelan interview on CinemAddicts:

I recommend Maneater if you are a fan of Nicky Whelan, Trace Adkins and shark films. I checked all three boxes, so this is my type of movie!

From the outside lookin in, doing a shark movie in a beautiful location sounds like a dream. That said, there must be a ton of work involved so it is not exactly a vacation.

WHELAN: You may have just nailed it, thank you. We shot in Maui which is always incredible when you get that breakdown (you say) “I’m absolutely going to Hawaii.” 

And then when you get there and you make an independent shark movie with a mechanical shark in 18 days on a very small budget, you are then challenged like you have never been challenged before. All of us across the board.

The conditions are crazy. You’re exhausted. I thought I was a good swimmer until I got in the water in this movie! We had such a badass group of people who just rallied with the time that we were given. 

Very ballsy of us using a mechanical shark. A CGI shark was used but there are pockets where you will see the mechanical shark which was an amazing thing to experience and work on set with. Our director Justin Lee was like “I gotta do this.” It’s hard work lugging in this enormous shark head into the water. It’s no joke – this shooting. But we made it happen.

What makes Justin Lee a unique director? My mother is a huge fan of his feature Badland. What do you see in him?

WHELAN: The energy he kept on set was quite incredible. In such chaotic times, he was very chill. We’re on this beach location and he’s wandering around quietly and figuring things out. There is sort of a way he works which I really appreciate. And it was the mechanical shark that got me. He was adamant about doing that.

He had spoken to someone who worked on the original Jaws movie – there was something about him wanting to use a mechanical shark. It’s hard to do that, and he did and he embraced that.

I just valued his energy more than anything and the ballsiness he took on. He’s like “Let’s get a mechanical shark.” He wanted to do things that old school people do and I’m old school. I really appreciate that about him. 

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You have a diverse body of work. Is that an intended choice for you as an actor?

Thank you. When people ask “Do you have a 5-year plan,” actually I do not. If I was in an A-list sort of situation where I can pick and choose everything, maybe I could have done that.

But to be honest with you, I love comedy. I started out in comedy and it is really fun and I’d love to come back to it. But there is not as much (comedy) being made as there used to be. I get the most random situations and scenarios.

If you think I can do this, then I can do this. Let’s give it a crack. Let’s see what I am made of. It’s all part of my personal life. I don’t know what’s going on half the time – as an actor, it’s very hard to plan out your life.

At best, you can put your wish list out and I’ve done that in areas of my life. But when something random shows up on my lap and I’m like “you think I can do this, let’s go.” And then I just go and give it a crack. It’s just been my random career.

People don’t know where to place – I don’t know where to place me. I’m just like, “Let’s go!” This year I did an action movie. I did a crocodile movie. And then I went to do a comedy. The next thing I’m doing is a drama. Go figure (laughs).

Is there a sense of gratification knowing you can handle these roles?

There is a massive greatfulness just to the fact that people believe in me and offer me things. There is a huge greatfulness to that. As I get older, you have to keep believing in yourself and believing that you can still do that.

It’s when you start going, “I’m only down for this.” And there is a great power to know and really zone in and honing in one thing. But life is messy. So throw that weird role at me. Let’s give it a crack. You want me to save the world tomorrow? You want me to take on a shark? Let’s see if I can make that happen.

I don’t know, I still think I’m capable of doing these things (laughs). In this case, taking on a shark.

Right off the top off your head, can you name one of your favorite movies? Also what is one film of yours that you feel is underrated and people should check out?

A Star is Born with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. It’s a film that I watch regularly in my house. It’s always on. I think it’s the best version of A Star Is Born. I also, when you watch something as many times as I watch that, you really see unbelievable, incredible performances. Everything about that movie – that one stands out for me. I don’t know what it is about Barbara when he walks in the venue and sees her singing. She is brilliant.

And I love this generation to go back and watch that movie. There are a lot of moments in that that are sort of ad-libbed and very random. There’s a lot of, you know, obviously set up too. That movie utterly inspires me. Just flawless. Old school filmmaking. I think it’s a good one for people to go and watch and also compare it to the new one which was wonderful.

That would be one of my favorites. And a movie that I’ve done . . . I’m trying to think. Do you know my resume? I’m sitting here and trying to think.

Oh yeah after you make your pick, I have a back up for you.

Go with your backup. Tell me yours first.

Last Night in Rozzie straight up. So many great reviews. It’s a movie that is totally under seen and under appreciated and underrated. That would be my pick.

Thank you for saying that. That was another independent movie that I was asked to do. Working with Neil Brown and these incredible actors. That was a piece for me that was very different. I was nervous. That was a realy actor-y piece. 

One of the producers, Kris, who was one of the producers from Hall Pass, a movie I did a long time ago. He rang me up initially with that. Kris Meyer – he’s an incredible producer, does a lot of comedy, super intelligent, really good human from Boston. He said, “You can do this Nicky.” (I said) “Can I, okay.”

A lot of long scenes and not having studied a lot of acting. I kind of bounced into this business not being classically trained. It’s those roles that I really value a lot. So thank you for bringing (Last Night in Rozzie) up. That would be one I’d say, if you get a chance, check it out for sure.

You were so good in that movie and you were having such a hard time picking a film because of your diverse resume!

I’m thinking of one of the crazy ones that have never gotten seen. But that’s a beautiful movie. Thank you for bringing that up.

Really enjoyed Maneater as well. Looking forward to speaking with you again!

Absolutely love. Thank you.

Maneater hits theaters, Digital and On Demand August 26.

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