EXCLUSIVE: Black Adam star Quintessa Swindell on working with Pierce Brosnan: ‘He’s literally a guru’

In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Quintessa Swindell talks about Black Adam, and working with Pierce Brosnan.

By Monica Yadav -

October 20, 2022 - 4:30 PM IST

Hollywood star Quintessa Swindell is a nonbinary transgender actor who is set to take over the silver screens with the role of Cyclone in the upcoming Dwayne Johnson starrer Black Adam. Swindell plays the role of Cyclone 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. The film also stars Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate.

EXCLUSIVE: Black Adam star Quintessa Swindell on working with Pierce Brosnan: ‘He’s literally a guru’

Quintessa Swindell says, “Working with Pierce Brosnan – the man is so life. He is just so stoic. Whenever we were on set with him, we just were like ‘Wow’. I don't know how to explain it any other way. But the man is literally like a guru. It's, it's incredible.”

In a loft in Downtown Los Angeles, Quintessa Swindell hopped on a zoom call early morning donning a comfy jumper and bandana with a wide smile that started the fun conversation with Bollywood Hungama. It was important for Swindell to outline the solid story that remains comic accurate. Swindell adds, “The way that I like to prepare for each role, I do like to do a lot of character development and try to, especially if the character is like presented before, or there's any source material, I want to be as accurate as I can possibly be. Its portrayal and honestly, just make the people who are aware of that character, just proud in a way and just be like, ‘Alright, cool. This went to like someone who really cared about it, and who wanted to do it a justice.’”

Quintessa further states, “Cyclone is an incredible character, and there's so much to kind of explore. The film really gives the foundation of who this person is, and what you know. We can kind of launch her off of, and so that is just so exciting. The people that DC gave me so much source material, even if like Cyclone was in one little square of a comic, they're like, ‘What do you see?’ And I was like, ‘I get it, I get it’. As far as the comics and everything, I looked at so much of it, because I wanted to see the clothes that she was wearing and why she wore those clothes, and just all of that and formed the character itself. And so just looking at that, and putting my own spin on it, and making it modern and like really giving into that was like so important to me.”

Swindell, who studied theater at Marymount Manhattan before dropping out to pursue acting in Los Angeles, admits that shooting Black Adam was an immersive experience and there were days when Swindell would visit he set even when there was no schedule. Swindell says, "It was an insane experience of just walking onto this massive studio lot. And, even some days, I wasn't even working and I would just go on to the lot just to be there, and just to see what my other co-stars were doing, and seeing them like put in the work was just so inspiring. When it was days where we were all together working, it just felt like there was a force on set. Each and every person had a different journey and a different experience in film, all of which has been really inspiring for me to learn, learn from and just witness and to see.”

The 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 is set to release in theaters on October 21 in English, Hindi, Tamil & Telugu.