2018 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #9. Dominique Fishback (Night Comes On)

Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”.
Dominique Fishback: Vivien Leigh in “Gone with the wind”; A collection of mortifying diaries that I started at the age of 10, that I can bring myself to through away because I know I will need them for a script one day; Traveling parts of the world in 2017 – I discovered Puerto Viejo Costa Rica, Chania and Athens, Greece, and Cartagena, Colombia all in 2017; The Dynamic Laws of Property by Catherine Ponder;  The album 4:44 by Jay Z.

Lavallee: Call it a plague or pandemic, characters such as Angel are a dime a dozen in current landscape. And while I feel there might be a lot to say about survivalism, I think some of the DNA in Night Comes On explores female empowerment. What aspects drew you most to this heroine?
Fishback: I was mostly drawn to Angel’s silence. A lot of the film is watching her adjust to her surroundings. Even when she’s asleep, her mind can’t stop racing. But she is not one to talk about things, which is the opposite for me. I wear my heart on my sleeve. As an actor I’ve always dreamed of an opportunity where more was said in the look in my eyes and the silence than what could ever be said with words. I’m constantly thinking and the way I process important revelations about myself or life is by talking these thoughts out and then writing it into a spoken word poem or piece of theater. So Angel’s confidence and her ability to reflect and make a decision without verbalizing her feelings was something exciting to me.

Lavallee: You landed the lead in your first feature film which is certainly says a lot about your talent but you also found yourself in a unique position where you were paired with a raw new talent, first time actress Tatum Hall. What aspect did you like best about this, how did you benefit from it, how did it enhance your performance?
Fishback: Tatum is extremely talented! Once I got the role of Angel, Jordana Spiro and Julie Schubert had me come in to read with potential Abbys and we were just floored by Tatum and her ability to grasp the circumstances so thoroughly. I think I also learned how to curse better from her too hehehe. This experience showed me that you never really know who’s watching you and what your partner needs from you, not just on set but off. Because Angel is out for revenge and her pain is so deep, even when we weren’t shooting I was still in Angel mode and Tatum sometimes asked if I was mad at her, and I would explain that I was trying to keep Angel accessible to me even when we weren’t shooting. Being on a show like “The Deuce”, I was with adults and many times I was the youngest and most “green” so my castmates didn’t require that type of attention from me so it was all about adapting.

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