ALYCIA DEBNAM-CAREY, THE ACTRESS BEST KNOWN FOR HER CAREER-MAKING TURN AS ALICIA CLARK IN THE AMC SERIES FEAR THE WALKING DEAD AND AS LEXA IN THE DYSTOPIAN SCI-FI DRAMA THE 100, NOW STARS AS NIKKI, A SELF-ABSORBED YET SAVVY SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER IN THE NETFLIX MOVIE THRILLER, IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE. WE ASKED THE AUSTRALIAN-NATIVE TO TAKE THE ZOOM HOT SEAT, TO SPILL THE BEANS ON BODY SWAPPING, FIERCE FEMALES AND TRIGGERS OF HOME.

Left Coat & shoes **Fforme**, necklace **Loren Stewart**
Right Jacket **Acne Studios**, necklace **Alizee Quitman**

So, you play Nikki, a glammed-up social media influencer in the movie It’s What’s Inside. Did you lean into any real-life influencer content to help build up your character?

Well, it didn’t feel difficult to understand Nikki’s world, it was seamless and unfortunately innate to be a part of it, because I’ve grown up with Instagram and it’s become this barometer for what our lives are supposed to look like, a gauge of an ideal of something.

Greg Jardin, our director, let me take the reins with Nikki, in terms of her style and attitude and how savvy and self-absorbed she is; she’s an opportunist and exploits what she can and has somewhat good intentions but is misguided. I even created her IG page, so I looked to other influencers in more of a macro sense, for a sense of tone, or style and colour palette, and it’s all so controlled, but people like Hailey Bieber or Matilda Djerf were interesting, not that I would describe either like Nikki, but I love how they curate and what they share of their worlds.

Speaking of influencers, how does it feel to be Dior’s first Australian brand ambassador, and has that influenced your own IG look content-wise?

I’m so excited and proud to work with Dior, and I try to be intentional with what I post on social media, I use it as a tool that goes hand in hand with my work, and my life, to express what’s meaningful to me. I think it also needs distance, it’s healthy to do that.

Left Coat & shoes **Fforme**, necklace **Loren Stewart**
Right Dress & shoes **Proenza Schoule**r, necklace **Loren Stewart**

It’s interesting, because Dior’s S/S 24 show celebrated another kind of influencer, in that it chose rebellious and fearless women as its theme. Who inspires you?

I wouldn’t say one person comes to mind, there’s always been an amalgamation of different people as I’ve grown up, but I’m always inspired by female directors, like Sofia Coppola. I remember reading once, how she chose to wear very feminine clothes to set, because she wanted to make a point that she could direct and still embrace her femininity, and neither needed to cancel each other out.

I also love that one of Georgia O’Keeffe’s works is the most expensive painting by a female artist ever sold at auction, that’s mind-blowing. Then there is Angelina Jolie, an actress turned UN ambassador and amazing humanitarian. Like all of them, I want to be able to do what I do well, and look good doing it, that pioneering feminine spirit!

And how will your pioneering spirit shape the work you want to do going forwards?

I’m in this nice pocket of my life right now having worked in the apocalyptic worlds for so long, and genre-bending, that I want to explore everything in the opposite direction, like dramedy or a period piece, as it’s a world that’s so nuanced and the stories have held up for ages. I was on shows that were their own commercial giants, so what’s been appealing is doing something unique and different and working with visionaries. It’s about a director’s vision or a script’s point of view for me moving forwards.

What about body swapping with someone for a day, just to see what might suit you, project-wise or even career-wise? I’m asking obviously, as there is quite a bit of body swapping going on in It’s What’s Inside.

Oh, Rihanna for sure, so I can release her next album which she just never seems to want to do! [laughs]. I would just get in the studio and be like, let’s do this!

Yes, Rihanna if you’re reading this, we’re waiting! Ok, well, we’re staying with influencers, because you’re playing another one in the new series, Apple Cider Vinegar, about the rise of the wellness influencer.

Yes, it’s the story of disgraced Australian wellness influencer, Belle Gibson, who scammed her way into the industry claiming she had cured herself of cancer which was untrue. I play Milla, and her character is fictional but inspired by Jess Ainscough, the first Australian alternative medicine influencer or ‘wellness warrior’. It’s a heartbreaking story of the damage they both caused with what they led people to believe, but an extraordinary insight into how some people profiteered from the industry. It's punchy, showing the balanced influencer culture we saw in the 2010s, but then the dark underbelly of it all.

And still we see these influencers use the backdrop of aesthetically pleasing, pastel-coloured posts to weave together conspiracy theories with calls for users to buy their supplements or services.

Exactly, and while there might be more guardrails for influencers now, with the rise in A.I. and misinformation, you worry about what images can be doctored and proliferated.

It’s alarming and pushing towards certain demographics, so we seem to be going through a new iteration of it all, and it’s concerning.

Left Coat & shoes **Fforme**, necklace **Loren Stewart**
Right Dress Chloé

On a more pleasant note, the series is shot on location in Australia where you were born. What are the triggers of home, the moment you know you’re back on Aussie soil?

The cockatoos near my parents’ home, they’re like Jurassic and they squawk like mad! The smell of the eucalyptus, and the damp soil and the salty ocean, the freshness in the air, and the coffee. I go back there quite often, and I have very fond memories of home, like every time I go there, my Mum will put out a vase of Jonquil flowers in my bedroom, and that’s the first smell that hits me.

What about writing or directing some homegrown Australian stories yourself, to celebrate the diverse culture and landscapes of the country we don’t always see on screen?

One hundred percent! It’s something I’m actively trying to do. I grew up with a version of Australia that felt very stuck in the 1980s, like some stereotype on TV, and then this Americana of culture took over in the 1990s, all about sitcoms and movies and cartoons, and none of it explored the other side of modern or young Australia.

I’ve started writing things myself and want to bring some projects there as we have such an amazing industry there, and crews and locations. For me it’s about finding the right stories that aren’t overdone, as I grew up in an urban inner-city environment that was incredibly diverse and full of life, and that’s what I want to share.

Left Jacket **Acne Studios**, necklace **Alizee Quitman**
Right Dress & shoes Proenza Schouler, necklace **Loren Stewart**

How about sharing some other inspirations in your life, are you artsy at all, or into books or a real muso?

I like watching movies and documentaries, and reading non-fiction, and I also draw a lot as I find it calms me. I love interiors too, I live in a Spanish style bungalow in LA, with lots of feminine curves, because I’m such a visual person, it’s all about the sensory, experience. I really enjoy music, and I go through phases of what I listen to during different times, and honestly… I would love to be that person who goes to art galleries more.

You don’t have time for galleries, you’re too busy body-swapping with Rihanna, so you can release her new album.

Haha! Exactly, it’s a full-time job trying to get that off the ground you know!

Maybe next time we speak, you can tell me all about the new album then?

Obviously, you’re welcome, Rihanna, it was all me!