Billie Eilish used a real-life cult leader for ‘Swarm’ inspiration
The co-creator of Swarm, Janine Nabers, has revealed the real-life inspiration behind the character portrayed by Billie Eilish in the pop star’s first big-screen acting role. Nabers created the popular new Amazon Prime Video series alongside Donald Glover, the man behind Childish Gambino.
In a new conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Janine Nabers, who took co-writing and production duties for the Swarm project, revealed that Eilish’s character was inspired by the notorious Hollywood-based cult NXIVM and its leader Keith Raniere.
In the burgeoning series, Eilish stars as Eva, a young executive director of a female empowerment group which is later exposed as a cult not dissimilar to Raniere’s, which was founded in 1998. Raniere was convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering in 2019 and remains in prison to this day.
“There is a cult that existed in the world that was very prominent during that time,” Nabers told The Hollywood Reporter. “And that is the kind of true-crime element to that episode. And I think that when people think of the idea of artists or celebrities, there is this idea of thinking about the cult of Taylor Swift, or the cult of the Beatles or whatever. What we were really interested in was just seeing someone who worships at the altar of ‘something,’ and (exploring) this idea of what is the cult of the mind.”
The show’s central character is portrayed by Dominique Fishback, who added that Eilish was “respectful of the craft” and “came in with ideas, wanting to talk about it, being game to rehearse.”
Swarm is set between 2016 and 2018 and follows the story of Fishback’s character Dre, who is an obsessive fan of the fictional music icon Ni’Jah. Over time, the obsession takes a lethal turn.
Watch the trailer for Swarm below.
