Sara Paxton still has a splash of Aquamarine in her wardrobe!
The actress, 36, had a signature sense of style that made more than just her mermaid tail memorable as she starred alongside Joanna “JoJo” Levesque and Emma Roberts in the 2006 teen movie. In the movie, she washed up at a local pool as a mermaid in response to two teen girls, played by JoJo and Roberts, praying for a miracle so they don’t part ways.
“I wish I had the tail because I could swim super fast in it. But no,” Paxton tells PEOPLE in a recent interview while reflecting on her ombre fish wetsuit for the 20th Century Fox film.
Sara Paxton, Emma Roberts and Joanna ‘JoJo’ Levesque in Aquamarine.
Moviestore/Shutterstock
“Each tail was a million dollars and made out of some NASA rubber and glass,” Paxton says of the magical tail that was made of 5,000 scales. “It was crazy. They were so insanely heavy.”
She tells PEOPLE that it was heavy enough to earn her special treatment to get onto the set.
“Once I was in the tail they would have to carry me on a stretcher and then leave me on the floor,” Paxton says. “They would just leave me there and they’d hand me some magazines and I’d be like, ‘Okay, great.'”
Emma Roberts, Joanna ‘JoJo’ Levesque and Sara Paxton star in Aquamarine.
Moviestore/Shutterstock
Unfortunately, Paxton wasn’t able to keep the bejeweled prop from the teen movie.
She didn’t leave the set empty-handed, however, as she still has the earrings that were described in Aquamarine as giving “the best compliments” directly in her ear.
“I think I have the starfish earrings. They do (speak to me),” Paxton tells PEOPLE. “They used to be nicer, but now they’re like, ‘Go to the gym.’ Now they’re like my Apple Watch. … I think they were given to me.”
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“I’m like, neurotic and I think I’m too fearful to really take anything from a set,” the actress confesses. “But if I’m allowed to, then I will. I’m a goody goody.”
Since filming Aquamarine, Paxton said she doesn’t see JoJo or Roberts much as “you become adults and families and moving and all kinds of things and life takes over.”
“But all still, if I were to bump into any of those women, all love and hugs,” she said.
Paxton’s latest project, a role in season two of Based on a True Story, is now streaming on Peacock.
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