Every new hero needs a mentor, and who better to guide and inspire than Academy Awards and Golden Globes winner Jamie Foxx.
But it’s not that mentorship from the 52-year-old is a public thing. In fact, it’s like a secret identity he keeps, that only close friends and family are aware of. And that is how he sums up his relationship with co-star 29-year-old Dominique Fishback.
“There’s somebody young and she looks good, she’s talented, and her name is Dominique Fishback and I vote for her to bring all the love, all the talent,” shared Foxx in a chat with Geek Culture for his new Netflix movie, Project Power.
“Dominique has this incredible talent where she can find emotion like that. Some actors go off to a mountain and come back but she would be right on the set and get into it. And that’s when I said, ‘Listen, this young lady has an immense amount of talent.'”
Over the years, the 52-year old has wielded the power he has as a Hollywood celebrity to scout and help younger talents grow not just in their careers, but in their personal life as well.
“The young Nick Cannon used to sleep on my couch when he was 13. Ed Sheeran used to sleep on my couch for six weeks and Drake, when he did his first American performance, I brought him there. So when it comes to Dominique, I see her incredible talents and it reminds me of these incredible people that I’ve already met,” flexed Foxx.
“There’s two things going on: me mentoring Dominique’s character Robin in the movie, and also having a mentorship for Dominique herself, for her own life – and when you mentor, you learn.”
All of Foxx’s pride and support comes with great reason. Fishback doesn’t only act, but also writes and raps. In the film, Fishback is seen rapping and spitting bars when the opportunity presented itself.
Project Power is Netflix’s newest sci-fi action film directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. The Paranormal Activity 3 duo-directors’ Project Power is focused on a powerful and dangerous pill that provides temporary superpowers to those who consume it.
The film stars Foxx who plays Art aka ‘The Major’, a former soldier, and Fishback as Foxx’s sidekick and a drug dealer hustling to make ends meet. With a stellar cast including Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rodrigo Santoro, the 2-hour film is not only visually spectacular but also shows how power is acquired, acquiesced, and maintained amongst the dirtiest and the richest.
As vocal supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, Foxx and Fishback aim for Project Power to be a form of inspiration for youths, particularly Black youths, to find their power and always chase their dreams no matter how rocky the road ahead may be.
“I think Robin is a manifestation of my younger self. I recently wrote a post on Instagram thanking my 10-year old self because she’s the one that had the dream,” shared Fishback.
“She didn’t know how to achieve this, but she was relentless, and she took rejection and kept going. And now I’m here, it’s been a pretty long time, not as long as I look.” joked Fishback who’s character Robin is a 14-year old girl.
Before Project Power, Fishback played Kenya in The Hate U Give and Angel Lamere in Night Comes On. The East New Yorker was also featured in Jay Z’s music video Smile, acting as his mother Gloria Carter back in her younger days.
The 29-year old often reflects upon her university days as a Theatre student at Pace University and how she would be the only Black kid in class. Being the only Black student meant that the actress received little to no support in sociology classes when discussing inequalities and discrimination present in society. In response, the actress presented a one-woman show on the destruction of the Black identity in America titled Subverted.
Supporting her, Foxx chimed: “If you’re on this Earth, you’re supposed to be here so respect everybody. The power is in the people and we need it back. [The people] will never steer you wrong. So those words that we wrote two and a half years ago, those words will continue to remain truthful until the end of us.”
In the movie, Art takes care of Robin like a mentor. He advises her, protects her and projects fatherly love onto her. This mentor-like relationship is also visible in real life. The co-stars speak highly of each other and often joke with one another.
The film saw many scenes of Fishback rapping. Although she didn’t write the raps in the film, she had a part to play in the creative process with rapper Chika.
“Chika wrote all of Robin’s raps in the movie. We would meet in a hotel room or on FaceTime and would talk about what it is that I want Robin to say and who I think Robin is. And I remember there was one time where we were in a room and she was kind of thinking of a rap and I said, “Well, how can we bring New Orleans into it? How can we bring a hurricane or the drought into it?” and she really just took ideas and flipped it in and made it something really special,” beamed Fishback.
Project Power may just be the flick of inspiration that the youth needs to reignite their passion and also serves a reminder to those hustling that power belongs to the people, and now is the time to use it for good.
Just like Robin’s rap in the movie – “I’m that kid, this Black kid, no cowards. Spit it so they get it, I’m embedded with the power.”
Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.
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