EXCLUSIVE: Black Adam star Quintessa Swindell on working with Dwayne Johnson – “He just feels like my brother”

In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Quintessa Swindell talkeds about Black Adam, and working with Dwayne Johnson.

By Monica Yadav -

October 24, 2022 - 11:30 AM IST

Hollywood star Quintessa Swindell is currently seen as Cyclone in the movie Black Adam which opened in theatres this Friday. The actress, who is a non-binary transgender actor, plays the superhero who has the power to manipulate wind. The film marks one of the first times a transgender actor has been roped in for one of the pivotal roles in the DC Universe. In a loft in Downtown Los Angeles, Quintessa Swindell hopped on a zoom call around 8 in the morning donning a comfy jumper and bandana for a conversation with Bollywood Hungama.

EXCLUSIVE: Black Adam star Quintessa Swindell on working with Dwayne Johnson – “He just feels like my brother”

The actress revealed that she previously knew Dwayne Johnson, who plays the titular role in Black Adam, through his sister as they studied in the same school. She said. “With DJ (Dwayne Johnson), whenever he was on set, it was the feeling like let's f***ing nail it and do an incredible job. He just feels like my brother and I went to school with his sister. So the fact that I'm now on set working with him, and I'm also seeing his sister visit on set, and I was like ‘Bri, look at me! I am working with your brother!’ It was truly so insane and so inspiring. And the conversations I've had with are just like life changing – on set, off set, post production – very inspiring.”

Swindell, who studied theater at Marymount Manhattan before dropping out to pursue acting in Los Angeles, says that DC has it on lock when it comes to making these tentpole projects. “Our director is such a visionary, and the way that he's crafted a superhero film and made it ask big questions, especially questions that pertain to like freedom, especially in today's world, and who has the right to freedom and to liberate themselves and I think those are things that are coming quite frequently now and have always been, and I haven't seen, like a superhero film, really put that in front of you and like, really question it – ‘Are the superheroes actually in the right?’”

Quintessa mentioned that Dwayne Johnson was quite good at balancing out the duality in Black Adam. “Dwayne is incredible at balancing that duality and being that figure to really pose that question. And all of us being there to support it, too, and we're all asking those questions ourselves as like our characters. So yeah, the main takeaway is like we got it. Don't worry, literally do not worry.”

Black Adam’s screenplay is written by Adam Sztykiel and Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani, based on characters from DC, based on characters created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck. The film’s producers are Beau Flynn, Dwayne Johnson, Hiram Garcia and Dany Garcia, with Walter Hamada, Adam Schlagman, Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Chris Pan, Eric McLeod, Geoff Johns and Scott Sheldon executive producing.

Black Adam is directed by Jaume Collett-Serra. The film released in theatres on October 21 in English, Hindi, Tamil & Telugu.