Before the world premiere of Mermaid, a comedy-romance-horror mashup unlike anything we’ve seen before, Travis Brown sat down with filmmaker Tyler Cornack, star Johnny Pemberton, and mermaid herself, Avery Potemri, to talk about Florida, transformation, and making a love story that’s as weird as it is unforgettable.
“Florida is Like No Other Place…”
If you’ve ever been to Florida, you know it’s its own ecosystem—part paradise, part fever dream, and Mermaid leans all the way in.
“It’s really like no other place,” Cornack said when asked what makes Florida stand out. “There’s just something about it—the people, the atmosphere—it’s its own world.”
The film was shot primarily in St. Petersburg, a location that brought its own unique energy. For the cast, blending in with the locals was key to creating an authentic feel, but for Johnny Pemberton, fully embodying his character Doug meant going to some dark places.
“To make Doug, I just had to become him,” Pemberton admitted. “It took me to a really dark place, and at one point, a friend had to snap me out of it.”
Doug is the kind of guy you could meet at any gas station, in any town, on any given night—disheveled, heartbroken, and spiraling. It was important for Pemberton to make Doug feel real, not like a caricature.
“I wanted to make Doug disappear,” he said. “He’s a typical guy, but there’s so much more going on beneath the surface.”
Reimagining the Mermaid Myth
When we think of mermaids, we tend to picture the beautiful, mythical creatures of Disney or films like Splash. Mermaid, however, flips that image on its head.
Cornack wanted Destiny, played by Avery Potemri, to have her own unique look—something that strayed from traditional depictions.
“We wanted Destiny to have her own look,” Cornack said. “Something that felt fresh, a little unsettling, but still beautiful in its own way.”
For Potemri, the transformation into Destiny wasn’t just a physical one—it was a long, meticulous process that helped her fully connect with the role.
“It really took a long time,” Potemri shared. “But it allowed me to really get to know and understand Destiny as a character. There’s still so much beauty in her, even in her strangeness.”
Making the Movies You Want to See
With Mermaid standing out as such a unique film, Cornack was asked what kind of storytelling excites him these days.
“Like you said at the beginning of the interview, I’m a child of the 80s,” Cornack said. “I want to make Mermaid films, I want to make weird shit.”
And weird is exactly what he’s given us.
Mermaid is a film that refuses to be defined by a single genre, embracing romance, horror, and absurd comedy in equal measure. It’s the kind of strange, deeply human story that sticks with you long after the credits roll.
We’d like to thank Tyler Cornack, Johnny Pemberton, Avery Potemri, and our PR staff for making this interview happen. Look for our full review of Mermaid later tonight—this is one you won’t want to miss!
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