‘Swarm’ Co-Creator Janine Nabers Touts Dominique Fishback’s Performance “Of The Ages” In Prime Video’s Satirical Horror-Comedy – Contenders TV
Although Dominique Fishback was initially approached for a supporting role in Prime Video’s darkly comedic horror-comedy Swarm, created by Janine Nabers and Donald Glover, she knew upon reading the script that she was destined to play its lead character, Dre.
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Coming off of projects like Judas and the Black Messiah and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, she said today during a panel for Deadline’s Contenders TV, moderated by Destiny Jackson, she was looking for a project that was going to “excite” and “challenge” her. She recalled telling Glover during one phone conversation: “I don’t want to even catch up to my own self as an actor. I don’t even want to know what I’m going to do next. I want the opportunity to stretch beyond what I’ve been used to, what I’ve been used to being presented to play in the past.”
But after landing the part, requiring her to go to dark places, Fishback soon found herself wondering, “What did I do? Why did I do this?”
The show, which bowed on Prime Video on March 17, has Fishback playing Dre, a diehard fan of the world’s biggest pop star — based, Nabers has said, on Beyoncé — whose obsession takes a dark turn.
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It was a role that would require the actress to “remove [her] own fears.” And in order to do so, she’d make a request of production. “I asked Amazon and Janine for a therapist on set, not just for me, but for the other actors and crew members, and so we had that,” she shared. “And then I had my my own therapist. And then after the show, I took a break for like six months and I went to Costa Rica for a week and just stayed in the jungle, meditated, woke up, ate some food, went to the beach, fell asleep.”
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As emotionally challenging as it was to play Dre, who Nabers described as becoming “the villain of her own story” after suffering a personal loss, the performance is clearly one that both Fishback and Nabers are quite proud of. “When [Dominique] tapped into this role, it was crazy. I’ve been on many, many sets, and the last minute of the pilot…she does this scene that’s very, very intense. And people gave her a standing ovation, which I’d never seen in real time before,” Nabers revealed. “And it’s because she just taps into this role in a way that is of the ages. It’s a performance I’ve never seen. And she did it. She brought it, and it’s very impressive.”
Generating huge buzz upon its Opening Night presentation at SXSW, Swarm hails from Amazon Studios and Gilga. Fishback produces the series, with Nabers and pilot director Donald Glover being joined as exec producers by Stephen Glover, Fam Udeorji, Steven Prinz and Michael Schaefer.
Check back Tuesday for the panel video.
Deadline Contenders Television is sponsored by Apple TV+, Coverfly, Eyepetizer, Final Draft, Los Siete Misterios, Michter’s, and Village Roadshow Entertainment. Partners include: Four Seasons Resort Maui, The American Pavilion, Julia Wong Designs and Pampring.
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