Tag Archives: Donald GLover

16Mar/23

 Amazon Prime’s SWARM: A Beyhive Horror Series With an ‘Atlanta’ Tone

Creative, , , , , , ,
Dominique Fishback as Dre (Photos courtesy of Amazon Prime)

Synopsis

An obsessed fan of the world’s biggest pop star sets off on an unexpected cross-country journey.

Starring | Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah) as Dre and Chloe Bailey (Praise This) as Marissa

Where to Watch | Amazon Prime

Release Date | Streaming March 17th, 2023

About SWARM

I will always be drawn to Donald Glover’s projects, whether a series, movie, or new music. He is an excellent overall artist, so when it was announced that his latest project, SWARM, would be streaming on Amazon Prime, I impatiently waited for the show to hit my screener’s queue. Let’s say I was not disappointed by the thriller. 

With the writer for the award-winning series Atlanta, Janine Nabers, serving as writer and showrunner for the series, you can tell how similar the shows are in tone. One can say the shows share the same universe with the story, camera style, characters, and similar structures, besides all the murders that occur in SWARM.

As I was introduced to the lead character Dre played by Dominique Fishback within the first five minutes of watching the series, I was met with a visual of Chloe Bailey that I did not expect to see. I am sure people will be talking about it on the internet. We see Dre’s obsession with scrolling the internet of her music idol Ni’Jah, equivalent to Beyonce. In fact, the stories and rumors that have circled Beyonce are used in this series, down to her fan base known as the Bey-hive. 

In a Vanity Fair interview, Nabers explained the lead character Dre by saying, “We were really interested in creating an antihero story,” She went on to mention how she and Glover drew inspiration from classic TV antiheroes who were messy but compelling—Mad Men’s Don Draper, The Sopranos’ Tony Soprano—and created a new version of that archetype, “through the lens of a Black, modern-day woman. Nabers and Glovers, combined with the acting of Fishback, create a truly mysterious but intriguing anti-hero in Dre. 

When we first are introduced to Dre, she’s scrolling through her social media fan site of her favorite singer Ni’Jah, whose life she solely revolves around and is comparable to Beyonce. Dre is so obsessed with the artist she opens a credit card to buy tickets and doesn’t even have enough to pay her rent. Dre struggles to connect with the natural world and often feels awkward or out of place around others. There is character growth with Dre as she slowly sheds her shy and low confidence into a more confident murdering super fan. One might say she becomes a serial killer, with specific triggers that occur once someone attacks or does not acknowledge her idol Ni’jah. 

Dominique Fishback as Dre (Photos courtesy of Amazon Prime)

Not only is Ni’jah closely similar to Beyonce, but even the events/tabloids surrounding Beyonce are similar, and in Atlanta fashion, the writers and actors make it work. Setting up jokes and planting easter eggs for the audience to enjoy, similar to the Teddy Perkins episode of Atlanta in season 2, episode 6, or the “Three Slaps” episode in Season three. 

Dominique Fishback as Dre and Chloe Bailey as Marissa (Photos courtesy of Amazon Prime)

Chloe Bailey plays Dre’s best friend and roommate, Marissa, who seems more grounded and positively influences Dre. She has grown out of the Ni’Jah fandom and is the closest thing she has to family. Marissa plays a significant part in the series, contributing to Dre’s wild, murderous adventures from her routine life. Bailey has some great chemistry with Fishback as her best friend. 

Outside of Bailey’s chemistry with Fishback, the introduction of the Marissa character within the first five minutes definitely came as a shock to me. Let’s say some adulting things happen, and don’t be shocked when you see it trending on social media. I know I was thrown entirely off guard. 

Other guest stars include Damson Idris (Snowfall), Paris Jackson (Sex Appeal) and Billie Eilish, and X Mayo (The Blackening), who all play colorful characters that make each episode worth watching. Their interaction and communication with Dre are something you’ve probably heard from some friend, family member, or crazy neighbor but it’s hard to believe. Although the series is meant to cover two and half years’ worth of Dre’s life, it feels like more with the hijinks she gets herself into in different states. 

SWARM has a lot of visuals that set the tone of each scene, mainly when Dre is triggered or has a flashback. At times, the change in environment, including colors, lighting, etc., made me unsure if Dre was in her head or actually playing it out in reality. Much credit goes to the series directors, including Adamma Ebo, Ibra Ake, Donald Glover, and Stephen Glover, for creating these scenes.

SWARM is a thriller with funny and shocking moments that will definitely trend. I have only seen the first four episodes, but I can already say that Dre’s stories get crazier than the people she meets, and it will serve as a palate-pleaser for fans of the Atlanta show. My biggest question is, what will Beyonce think of the series?

13Apr/21

Newcomer Kyra Jones is Ready to Evolve Like Issa Rae

Culture, FIlm, , ,

Unapologetic, blunt, and intersectional are the words to describe the rising filmmaker, Kyra Jones. She has recently won multiple screenwriting competitions (Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition 2020, ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch 2020), is working on a feature (Got to the Body), writing other projects, modeling, and participating in activist work all while working a full-time job… during a pandemic. I could tell after meeting her at the 2020 DC Black Film Festival that she would be someone to keep an eye on and was I right. The day before our scheduled interview she was staffed on season two of the hit Hulu series, Woke. Luckily for me Kyra still had time to tell Taji Mag what life is like as an up-and-coming artist. 

Dapper Dr Feel (DDF): When did you fall in love with filmmaking? 

Kyra Jones (KJ): I always really loved film and television. I started off as an actor in high school. The only reason I got into acting was because my mom wanted me to have an extracurricular activity. My friend told me she was trying out for the school play and told me I should try out too. So she dragged me to the audition and I ended up getting the lead. 

I didn’t become a screenwriter/filmmaker until I was about to graduate from college. I was studying theater at Northwestern with the intention of acting. I was one of four Black students in my class of 100 theater majors. The theater department isn’t diverse at all. Needless to say, I did not have a great time with my experience. Within the material we were reading, there were no real roles for Black women. The roles were the usual stereotypical roles like maids, nurses, etc. I was like, “ We (Black people) do more than this.” 

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” – Maya Angelou

I know I want to tell stories and I know I want to be involved in art and media. I always liked writing and I was the type of person that could type a good 8-page paper in a few hours. So I was a strong writer in that regard but I never tried to do anything like creative writing or screenwriting. 

In my senior year I realized I should have been a filmmaker, it was too late at that point but I tried to take as many classes as I could. So, you can say I fell in love with screenwriting/ filmmaking my senior year in college. 

*After Kyra graduated her career was sort of in limbo. Her fellow classmates were doing internships, working for production companies, and making the connections needed to succeed after college. She struggled to get an internship because she had made the decision to become a filmmaker her senior year. Since she wasn’t having much success, she went back to acting. 

It wasn’t until the Right Swipe came along. My writing partner and I did not intend on writing a web series we just serendipitously came up with an idea. From there we decided you know what, this is a web-series. This would be the first time I stepped on set for something that I wrote and it was the first time I said to myself ‘this is for me.’

DDF: What do you think you bring to the writer’s room of Woke? 

KJ: I was definitely not expecting to make the writers room for Woke. I was so excited but, when I officially become staffed, I had so much shit to do in order to get ready. I had a full-time job and had to take leave, I had to try and get my ducks in a row in such a short amount of time. I’m just grateful and still shocked. I may have to turn off my camera to cry once the first meeting is over. 

The Woke team is really excited to have me and thinks I will be a great addition to the team. I think my social justice background will be useful, especially for a show called Woke. I think bringing a more nuanced, intersectional perspective to the show, the Woke team will be interested to see what I will bring to one of the queer characters, Ayana (Sasher Zamata).  Plus I’m funny. The Woke team had to read one of my pilots before they approved me and they thought it was funny. I can throw in a few jokes here and there, I think I am funny.

“Progressive art can assist people to learn what’s at work in the society in which they live.”- Angela Davis

DDF: Issa Rae had “Awkward Black Girl” and then later had Insecure, is there a possibility we could see a version of “The Right Swipe” in the future? 

KJ: There will not be another version of the Right Swipe. I do intend on having my own TV show one day. There is already interest in a pilot that I wrote and I am really excited about it. It has some similarities to the Right Swipe. 

DDF: Who are some of your favorite filmmakers? 

KJ: Barry Jenkins, Ava Duverna, Donald Glover, and Beyonce. Lemonade and Black is King are both so good. I know she had a huge team on those projects but the fact there were so many directors and they were one cohesive vision, means Beyonce had to have communicated the vision to the creatives. 

Kyra stated Go to the Body is in the process of getting named talent, developing the budget, and looking to shoot next year with an expected release date to be 2023.

DDF: What women inspire you? 

KJ: Inspired by my grandmother, she is not a filmmaker but she really inspired me. She is very unapologetic and unafraid. I love Issa Rae, she is pretty much inspiration to everyone. And Michaela Coel. Black women everywhere inspire me.

“The discussion of representation is one that has been repeated over and over again, and the solution has always been that it’s up to us to support, promote, and create the images that we want to see.” – Issa Rae

Make sure to check out the current work of Kyra. Also, be sure to be on the lookout for her work on season two of Woke and her feature film, Got to the Body. I look forward to seeing more Black artists like Kyra provide the perspectives and voices needed for everyone to enjoy entertainment.