A black-haired, very warm and approachable young woman was standing at the agreed address in Karlovac, next to a huge blue suitcase that we could barely lift together.
- What‘s so heavy in there? - I ask.
- The tail - she laughs. “The tail?” - I repeat in amazement, and then we both burst out laughing.
In the suitcase, she kept her most important prop for the underwater shoot awaiting us at the Marco Polo diving center in Rijeka – a neatly folded silicone mermaid tail. Because, as unusual as it may sound, she is a real, living sea mermaid. Among other things, an actress, who is now appearing in the latest Hollywood Superman movie.
Néa Dune is a Croatian-American model, alternative model and makeup artist who over time became an actress, stuntwoman, mermaid, HMUA/SFX artist and creative producer. She lives between Los Angeles and Croatia. After arriving in Hollywood at the end of 2015 with a visa for individuals of extraordinary abilities, it took her less than two weeks to land her first feature film role and book a hair modeling campaign. To date, she has appeared on about fifty magazine covers. She is a former Latin American dancer, circus skills performer on pole and hoop, archer, certified freediver and mermaid, but also a polyglot who speaks nine languages. She holds a master‘s in Spanish language and literature, completed acting school in English in Zagreb (International Art Center), and continued to perfect her craft through workshops in Los Angeles with respected professors and industry coaches. Before her entertainment career, which she started as a model, she earned two master‘s degrees, became a doctoral candidate, and won the Rector‘s Award for one of her STEM papers. For almost ten years, she was an active member of the European Youth Parliament, volunteers in various fields, always for humanitarian purposes and higher causes. She is particularly interested in nature protection and ecology, helping the elderly and children, and fighting for alternative subcultures, raising awareness of invisible illnesses, and promoting equality and opportunities for women.
When she put on her 20-kilogram tail, it fit her perfectly, as if she had always had it. She skillfully and gracefully glided through the sea, which was amazing to watch. On the beach, everyone was delighted. Children watched in awe, and men offered to help her get into the sea. Néa politely declined with a smile and did everything herself. In a few minutes, the crowd and noise of the packed beach were replaced by silence and the blue of the sea.
It was her first moment of relaxation after just finishing a big project, a role in James Gunn‘s “Superman”, which premiered a month earlier in Los Angeles and is now filling cinemas in Croatia. In the film, alongside Zlatko Burić, she also speaks Croatian.
“This fact was kept secret for almost two years. Croatian is the language of the fictional country Boravia here. I‘m glad that they chose two Croats for these roles,” she says.
The role, she says, happened completely unexpectedly. “At auditions for such films, there can be several thousand actors, so the chances of them choosing me sounded almost impossible. When my agent called and said I got it, I already suspected which film it was. These projects have code names, you only know you got a role. Since I was following the filming of all the big movies, I guessed which film it was. The film with the code name Genesis could only be one thing. I auditioned in January last year for two roles – the dictator of Boravia Vasil Ghurkos‘s makeup artist, which I got, and an operator, which went to a Russian woman. At the same time, I was also a finalist for the season of a very popular series, and that role went to a Scandinavian, but auditions are a numbers game and a bit of daily luck,” she explains.
Once everything fell into place, all that remained was “just” the filming, which she says is the easiest part of the job, as the harder part was already done. She worked with a top team of creatives and actors, the atmosphere was friendly and relaxed, and her role allowed for improvisation. The costumes were fascinating, and the transformation began the moment she saw the richly detailed and beautifully decorated set. “I‘m glad that the ecological side of the production was also taken care of, everything was done according to sustainability principles, nature and animal protection, and James personally paid attention to that. I‘m proud to have acted in such a film because those are my life principles too. At the end of filming, we felt like a big family. After shooting my last scene, I brought the biggest box of Bajadera (a Croatian chocolate) from my trailer for the video village – the team behind the camera – and I have to say they loved it,” she laughs.
The premiere in Los Angeles was very emotional for everyone present. “After the opening speeches by Warner Bros executives, we were all very proud of what we had created. The film is absolutely positive, even my role, initially a villain, ended up as a good guy. My scenes were full of laughter, especially with Zlatko and the Polish actor and his attempts to pronounce Croatian. The son of the first Superman, Christopher Reeve, Will, played a reporter and gave great support to the whole team. The first viewing of the film in Zagreb with my mom was especially emotional. Her pride and happiness meant a lot to me,” she recalls.
But Hollywood, the land of movie dreams, and the world of modeling also have their dark side – immoral offers and expectations that women find hard to defend against. Although she herself did not have serious problems, she will always support all colleagues who did. She learned that she must have a strong character because there are many inappropriate comments, almost daily. The fight against stereotypes, unfortunately, continues. “If you don‘t want nudity in your resume, which I systematically avoid, your career may go slower, but it‘s safer,” she said. She adds that women in the industry bear the burden of aging: their wrinkles are not forgiven, unlike their male colleagues, so many resort to cosmetic procedures. She, however, strives for naturalness, as seen in our photo shoot. She posed completely without makeup, just out of the sea. “I‘m tired of layers of heavy makeup on my face,” she says.
Throughout her life, there has always been a high dose of creativity and love for imagination. Since childhood, she loved comics, science fiction movies, and stories about unusual beings from fairy tales and legends. According to one of them, the founders of her hometown, Karlovac, asked for permission from the mermaids of the Kupa and Korana rivers to build the city in their embrace, so they could guard it. In return, they promised to build the city in the shape of a star inhabited by good people and imprinted the image of a mermaid on the city coat of arms. Thus, Karlovac became the only Croatian city with a mermaid in its coat of arms, and Néa Dune, born in that city, became the first real Croatian mermaid.
“Growing up in a city on four rivers, I spent every summer in or by them, and as much as I could, at the sea. I was literally more in the water than out of it. I discovered the dream of mermaids, the symbol of my city, somewhere in 2012, but at that time it simply wasn‘t popular here. I made the tail myself, as best I could at that moment, and arranged my first mermaid shoot on the island of Krk for an international magazine about mythical creatures,” says Néa.
Only after coming to America did she realize how popular and developed this scene is there. “Very quickly, I arranged my first engagement as part of a campaign to raise awareness about drowning prevention. Then I realized that through the world of fairy tales, you can help people in different ways, both humanitarian and ecological. Through stories about seas and oceans, encouraging care for nature and recycling, through the world of mermaids, I could directly influence children and their relationship with the environment. Children absorb this like sponges and in this interesting way gladly accept new principles and begin to pay attention to the world around them. But it‘s not just children who need to learn, adults who raise children and will one day leave this planet to them also need to change their relationship with nature,” she claims.
She began to apply what she learned in Los Angeles in Croatia as well, hoping that the culture of “mermaiding” would spread here too. During the pandemic, new opportunities opened up, and online communication became dominant. That‘s when SireNea was created. Almost simultaneously, she was found by local divers from the DPS club led by president Matko Pojatin, who invited her to Mljet to participate in an ecological action of cleaning beaches and underwater. In addition to the action itself, workshops for children were held. In the following years, Néa invited fellow mermaids from neighboring countries who gladly joined the campaigns. Besides cleaning beaches, she also included adopting endangered animals in Croatia, through the Blue World Institute and WWF Adria. The first year, it was dolphins, then loggerhead turtles, and this year skates, members of the most endangered family of sharks, whose population in the Mediterranean is on the brink of extinction.
“My role is not just taking photos and looking pretty, mermaids can do much more than that. Raising environmental awareness with mermaids really works because sometimes people don‘t react at all to generic warnings and information from the media or promotional leaflets. For children, it is especially uninteresting. Although increasingly large clean-up actions are held every year at the same locations and more and more people are getting involved, it‘s still not enough. I believe the state should also get involved to make everything work better because actions are very often volunteer-based and depend on sponsors and individuals. In America, there are many organizations that take care of the environment, and I am personally a member of several, such as the global 4Ocean movement, which achieves remarkable results worldwide. In especially polluted destinations, like Indonesia, large clean-ups are organized. There are also individuals who achieve great results with their innovative systems. I believe we can learn from countries that already have established environmental protection laws and look up to those where it works well,” Dune tells us.
Today, it‘s possible to become a mermaid in Croatia, but you need to complete a course offered by every official diving organization. It‘s not easy to dive with a tail without knowledge of freediving. You also need to know how to safely put on the tail, breathe properly during surface intervals, equalize pressure, and quickly remove the tail if necessary.
Just putting on a tail and entering the sea can be very dangerous, and many cases of drowning have been recorded, especially in America, where the mermaid population is large and people attempt self-training. That‘s why this activity should be treated like any other diving skill. Many diving centers in Croatia now offer courses for this activity, and upon completion, you can participate in various ecological actions in cooperation with diving clubs, depending on the goals. Néa Dune has created the MerAdria hub for mermaids and an eco-initiative – the possibility of bringing the world of mermaids into real life with a noble goal and a unique form of promoting Croatia.
In addition to volunteering in Croatia, she also volunteered in Portugal and Iceland, where she completely fell in love with the nature and people. She has returned to that beautiful country six times, participating in all categories of volunteering, from collecting beach litter and restoring a local fish factory to singing Christmas carols in nursing homes with fellow volunteers from all over the world in as many as eleven languages. She taught local children about Croatia and filmed in a mermaid costume during a volcanic eruption, next to flowing lava, with the help of a friend, a tourist guide who ensured safety.
“This activity is available to everyone, although the price of a tail can be high. Silicone tails like mine can reach up to six thousand dollars in America, while beginner ones are cheaper. The silicone tail, like all sports equipment, must above all be safe. Fabric or neoprene can get caught on sharp rocks or metal structures in the sea. The material must be resistant to wear, sun, and salt water, and must not have seams. There is only one type of silicone suitable for making tails – “dragon skin”, safe for the environment and the human body, and extremely resistant to wear. Cheap tails are often copies of someone else‘s original work. Some tour operators offer such tails to guests, and even without a monofin, which is very bad and dangerous. If an accident happens, all mermaids will get a bad reputation, and it also looks bad visually. All extreme sports equipment is expensive, but it‘s equipment your life depends on. People often reduce mermaids to children‘s fairy tales, but this sport is not just for kids.”
Although she owns a whole collection of tails, Néa is especially proud of the one made for her by an Italian designer responsible for the costume of Disney‘s Little Mermaid, also a merman, as a male mermaid is called. In the European Union, there are only two tail manufacturers and two more in the United Kingdom, while most quality tails are still sourced from America, where prices can be sky-high. Cheap versions, often of Chinese production, are better avoided for the safety of this sport, which is even recognized as an Olympic discipline.
The role of a mermaid was also transferred to the film “Love Song for a Mermaid”, shot in Los Angeles and Crystal River National Park in Florida, with the aim of raising awareness about endangered manatees. In the film, she played a mermaid who frantically collects trash and abandoned nets, and in the end loses her life entangled in a fishing net.
“Human impact is important and concerns all of us. I have seen fish and young sharks entangled in abandoned nets, and it affected me deeply. Unfortunately, the phenomenon of so-called “ghost nets” is a big problem here as well, so I try in every way to help remove them,” she said.
For Néa, diving with a tail is not just a sport and an opportunity to help, but also therapy. An autoimmune disease, accompanied by several other diagnoses since the age of 19, changed her life. She had to give up many activities she used to do, including dancing, and change her lifestyle and diet. She has also lived with ADHD since childhood, but despite that, through perseverance and research, she has steered her life in a positive direction and engages in many activities. Diving gives her moments of respite and meditation and reduces back pain.
Just like a superhero, Néa uses her “superpowers” to try to save the world. It‘s not easy, but she believes that even the smallest step matters: “I would like the world to return to normal, for people to be human, for the industry to be fairer to women, there is no reason one gender should be paid more than the other. I still don‘t know what the future holds, it‘s important to do what you love, whatever it is. I want to film more interesting projects, especially in the field of science fiction, which I adore. It‘s a completely different world. My dream, like all creatives, is to live comfortably doing what I love,” says the versatile Néa.
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