Swarm's Dominique Fishback Credits Her Inner Child For The Success Of Dre's Character
As anyone who has spent less than one minute on social media will immediately be able to tell you, for a lot of folks, fandom is some pretty serious business. This is the central conceit behind "Swarm," Donald Glover and Janeen Nabors' dark comedy meets psychological horror series.
The Prime Video show, which also features real-life pop star Billie Eilish, follows Andrea "Dre" Greene (Dominique Fishback), an obsessive fan of the Beyonce-like pop star, Ni'jah (Nirine S. Brown), as she travels across the country to see the musician, leaving a bloody trail of mayhem and murder in her wake.
While Fishback has drawn plenty of critical acclaim for her performance as Dre, she told The Hollywood Reporter that she credits her past self rather than her present self for the success of the role. "I honestly give all the credit to my inner child, the one who came before there was social media and a lot of opinions that you have access to," Fishback explained. "You watch different films and say, 'Man, I want to do something like that!'"
Fishback was happy to be challenged by Dre as a character
Though Dominque Fishback got her start in theater, as many young actors do, the performer says she was a bit fascinated with Dre and was thrilled with the opportunity to play someone so frightening. "[W]hen the opportunity presented itself, and it could be a little bit scary, I had to remember and go back to her," Fishback recalled of her younger self. "She wanted to try it before she was scared of anybody's opinion of her or what they thought she should or shouldn't do."
Undoubtedly, many will relate to what the "Swarm" star is saying here, as we all can recall the unbridled freedom and confidence that we often exuded as young children. While life sometimes has a way of stamping that colorful enthusiasm out of young people, it sounds like Fishback is still able to connect to that more innocent version of herself.
Fishback also cited the role as "the opportunity to do something different and challenge my craft as an actor." Well, given the response to the actor as Dre in "Swarm," it looks like her adventurous creative impulses paid off pretty well for her in the end, and her performance will likely lead to further opportunities to step outside of her comfort zone in the future.