Priscila Zortea is Superheroine in web series made for comic book fans
Gone are the days when every little girl dreams of being a princess. The “Final Five” females on the U.S. gymnastics team were amongst the stars of this years’ Olympics in Rio. A woman is running for president of the United States. Tutus and tiaras are often being tossed for masks and capes, and women are the new superheroes. Or, more appropriately, the new superheroines.
This is where the pay-per-view web series The Superheroines comes into play. The series was created by Cross The Line Entertainment, founded by Logan Cross. The recently came to an end, but fans still celebrate the hundreds of episodes before that. The series is based on old comic books and it tries to be honest to that genre, but focuses on the power of the women featured in the comics. The characters will fight each other, and if a superheroine is fighting a man, the man always loses.
Brazilian actress Priscila Zortea is one of the stars of the series, playing a variety of different characters, as each episode introduces different characters.
“I wanted to work on the show because the whole superhero world is really neat and extremely popular nowadays,” said Zortea. “It was a great experience. It was so fun and challenging at the same time.
The Superheroines is made for fans, sometimes even having custom made episodes where fans would ask that certain characters fight each other or some fight choreography they wanted to see and who would win. As a dancer, learning fight choreography intrigued Zortea, as well as the costumes.
“The biggest attention catching for this project is the costumes,” she said. “The idea is to show everything as it was made on the comics.”
The costumes are made to be true to the sixties comic style. They are extremely sexy and rather small, as that is the exact costumes drawn for comic books, but that is not the only way the creators chose to remain true to the source material.
“We got to act part like the comics. They are very big, over reacted scenes. Logan says ‘I want it to look as if the comic book is coming to life’. It’s a very different acting style than what I’ve done before,” said Zortea.
Nicole Braun was another Superheroine who was featured in many episodes. She describes Zortea as being extremely determined and dedicated to the show.
“We shot multiple fight scenes a day and Priscila was always ready to learn and improve her fight choreography. She caught on quickly and her scenes always looked great. It was great to see her get into each character. She always did great,” said Braun. “I’m always happy when I get to work with Priscilla. She’s easy to work with and always punctual and well-prepared. She’s professional and does a great job embodying any character she needs to portray.”
This consensus is echoed by Haley Saltern, one of the production assistants of the series.
“I had the pleasure of working with Priscilla a lot. Working with her was always fun. She was always on time and willing to give input and a helping hand. She was always ready to go with a great attitude. I loved when she would be on set,” said Saltern. “I cannot say enough great things about Priscilla. She’s absolutely lovely to work with.
In the beginning of the series, all episodes were scripted, but slowly Zortea also got to experiment with improv.
“We would get to set, come up with a story and spend a few hours creating the choreography for it and the lines would just come naturally,” said Zortea. “The fans of this project are really more interested in seeing the fights than a complex plot.”
The superheroine theme was definitely something Zortea enjoyed. Now that The Superheroines is over, Zortea is set to be in the stage play Wonder Women at The Next Stage Theatre in Hollywood.
