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How a singer’s chance encounter led to an alien experience in Hollywood
Belfast singer-songwriter Winnie Ama landed a role in the new Supergirl film after being spotted performing in a bar by director Craig Gillespie, who invited her to bring her original song into the movie. The catch was that her track, What Are We, first released in 2020, had to be reworked into an invented alien language for a scene set in a bar on the planet Bilquis. The story highlights how an unplanned, informal encounter can open the door to a major Hollywood production, and gives visibility to a smaller Northern Irish artist within a big-budget DC Studios release.
Ama, who had no prior acting experience, auditioned with her pianist two weeks after meeting the director and secured the part, going straight into costume fittings. A specialist who previously helped create languages such as Star Trek's Klingon worked with her to translate the song word by word into the Bilquis dialect, and filming required early starts and roughly four hours of makeup and hair application each day at Leavesden studios. Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock alongside Jason Momoa as Lobo, was released in UK cinemas on 25 June, and Ama said she felt the film portrayed a more grounded, emotionally real take on the character than previous superhero adaptations.
In short
- Belfast singer Winnie Ama was cast in Supergirl after a chance bar encounter.
- Her song What Are We was translated into an invented alien language.
- A Klingon-language creator helped with the Bilquis dialect translation.
Explained simply
Winnie Ama is a singer-songwriter from Belfast whose music began attracting attention beyond Northern Ireland after she was noticed performing in a bar. The encounter connected her with director Craig Gillespie, who was making a new film about Supergirl, a superhero from the DC Comics universe.
The film includes a bar scene on the fictional planet Bilquis, where Ama’s character sings. Her song had to be adapted into an invented alien language, part of the detailed work that helps make an imagined world feel distinct. Ama had not acted before, so the role also introduced her to film auditions and production.
The story brings together a major Hollywood production and an artist whose career began on a smaller local stage. It also shows how music can become part of a film’s setting and storytelling, while giving a Northern Irish performer a role in a widely known superhero series.
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