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.