Writer-director and whodunit maestro Rian Johnson reveals that Natasha Lyonne's appearance in Russian Doll led to her casting in his new series, Poker Face. Lyonne will headline the upcoming mystery comedy as Charlie, who specializes in telling when someone is lying and utilizes it to solve some cases. Before her recruitment in Johnson's new show, Lyonne had appeared in projects such as Orange is the New Black and American Pie, but her breakthrough came in 2019's Russian Doll, where she earned high praise for her role as Nadia stuck in a time loop.Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, writer-director Rian Johnson revealed that Natasha Lyonne’s role in the Netflix series Russian Doll compelled him to get Lyonne for Poker Face. Befriending Lyonne beforehand, Johnson saw she was as brimming with charisma as Nadia and decided that she can lead such a show as Poker Face. Speaking about creating the character Charlie in the same interview, Johnson jokes that the character is the first person Lyonne played who actually likes people. Read what Johnson had to say about Lyonne in full below:
“I’d become friends with Natasha and I adored her, but when I saw Russian Doll and I saw the charisma that she has on screen when she created that character, I thought, ‘This is somebody who can really center and ground a show like this.’ And we were off to the races.”
Why Russian Doll Is Natasha Lyonne's Best Project
It is not the first time that Johnson has praised Russian Doll, tweeting it as "the most ambitious thing on tv right now" during the show's season 2 and calling Lyonne's role an "absolute maniac." Russian Doll is a comedy-drama Netflix series that follows Nadia, a game developer who relives the same night — the night of her 36th birthday party in New York City — over and over again. The Netflix series was also created and written by Lyonne in both seasons, taking the whole concept of time loops and multiverses in a different light through Nadia's perspective. No official announcement for Russian Doll season 3 has been given, but its critical reception may make its renewal more likely.
Russian Doll features Lyonne’s career-best work, playing the wayward, complex Nadia. Her performance and the complex and compelling narrative primarily contribute to Russian Doll's overall success, and season 2 amps the intricacies. In particular, Nadia matures through her unusual circumstances with time-related anomalies, whether learning about her Jewish ancestry or interacting with deuteragonist Alan. The show has even seen success in awards season, in which season 1 garnered thirteen nominations — including an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series nod for Lyonne — and won three. While season 2 only earned one Primetime Emmy nomination, it has a 97 percent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Russian Doll is a great exhibition of Lyonne’s talent, so it’s sensible that her performance there convinced Johnson that Lyonne’s his Charlie for Poker Face. Even Johnson admitted in a follow-up tweet that he wrote a show to particularly work with Lyonne, the show likely being Poker Face. Lyonne can transfer Nadia’s quirky and irresistible qualities to Poker Face, where Charlie exudes similar characteristics fitting with the mystery-comedy's tone and atmosphere. With Poker Face streaming on Peacock on January 27, Lyonne will venture onto a new role where she continues her comedic talents with an investigative new spin under Johnson's direction.
Source: THR