How Natasha Lyonne is 'letting the sun in' with 'Poker Face' Season 2
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Spoiler alert! The following story contains plot details of 'The Sleazy Georgian' episode of 'Poker Face' Season 2 (now streaming on Peacock).
NEW YORK –– It's an overcast November morning on the set of 'Poker Face,' and Natasha Lyonne can't move her arms.
The flame-haired actress is hunched over on a Brooklyn soundstage, which has been turned into a seedy, cigarette-stained hotel. She's shooting a scene from the murder mystery series' second season, in which amateur detective Charlie Cale (Lyonne) whips out a stack of dough from a satchel and smoothly fans out the cash. But the slick feat is tripping up Lyonne, 46, who's hampered by her snug, rust-colored jacket.
'This is maybe the craziest jacket I've worn in my entire life,' Lyonne quips between takes. 'It's real starchy, real '70s. I feel a bit like an Oompa Loompa that's also Ray Liotta in 'Goodfellas' in this outfit.'
'Poker Face' star Natasha Lyonne has always had 'a filmmaker's brain'
The Peacock comedy is a revolving door of guest stars, welcoming the likes of Cynthia Erivo, John Mulaney and Kumail Nanjiani this season. The latest episode (new installments stream weekly on Thursday) follows Charlie as she outwits a group of con artists led by the smarmy, double-crossing Guy (John Cho), who recognizes Charlie's uncanny ability for sniffing out lies and attempts to recruit her. Melanie Lynskey pops in as Regina, an excitement-starved woman who gets swept up by Guy's self-righteous Robin Hood act.
Mimi Cave ('Holland') directed this particular "howdunit," although Lyonne did so for two other installments this season. The five-time Emmy nominee has directed several TV episodes since her career-revitalizing run in Netflix's 'Orange is the New Black,' and her keen instincts are on full display as she helps choreograph the money bag sequence.
'These guys don't fan in quite the way I would like,' Lyonne bemoans. She offers feedback on how best to frame a closeup of her hands, and asks the crew members on set how Charlie should react to seeing so much currency. ('Salivating? Wonder and delight, even?')
'Poker Face': Natasha Lyonne on the existential Season 2, Cynthia Erivo's many roles
'She has a filmmaker's brain,' says 'Poker Face' creator Rian Johnson. 'Her performance onscreen feels so off the cuff and breezy, where it seems like she's just riffing. But that's the product of a lot of concentrated work, which is why I love working with Natasha. She really sweats the details.'
Lyonne considers herself 'a pretty for-real director at this point. Having now done it a bunch, I definitely understand or see things in terms of the shot or the edit.' She wears multiple hats on 'Poker Face' as an actress, director, writer and producer – an experience she likens to being a musician.
'I'm always listening to what the piece needs,' Lyonne says. 'I think the character I identify the most with at the moment is Jughead from the 'Archie' comics. He was a one-man band, but also a friend of the gang. He just kind of hung out and had instruments around.'
The actress is game for 'Poker Face' Season 3 – or whatever comes next
No longer on the run from casino mobsters, Charlie has instead turned to discovering her purpose in Season 2. She hits the open road in her beat-up Plymouth Barracuda, finding community with everyone from school custodians to minor league baseball players. Unlike Lyonne's lone wolf Nadia in Netflix's 2019-22 series 'Russian Doll,' Charlie has always been more of a people person, akin to Jeff Bridges' The Dude in 'The Big Lebowski.'
'Charlie has rubbed off on me in a major way,' Lyonne says. 'She's an optimist; she's on the case of whatever comes next. I think that's the beauty of what Rian was able to build with Charlie: Now we're letting the sun in.'
A former child actress and fixture of 1990s independent film, Lyonne faced offscreen setbacks in the early 2000s as she struggled with substance abuse and resulting health challenges. 'Orange," in which she co-starred as hard-edged but lovable Nicky, put her back on Hollywood's radar in 2013, and she's since fostered a close-knit circle of collaborators including Johnson, Amy Poehler ('Russian Doll') and Brit Marling (the upcoming 'Uncanny Valley').
'I think the reason people rediscovered me so late in the game is when I moved behind the scenes and started participating at inception to build a world and a character,' Lyonne says. 'For me, the joy of 'Poker Face' really is my time spent with Rian. That's where the magic of it lives.'
In conversation, the raspy-voiced Manhattanite is prone to digressions, riffing on Charlie Chaplin, Elaine Stritch and the gentrification of her native New York. 'I see the youth today and I'm like, 'Wow, they really do shop online, huh?'' she laments. Then again, 'I'm too busy investigating cases on TV to really investigate the fashion aesthetics of Brooklyn.'
Lyonne hopes that she and Johnson will make a 'Poker Face' Season 3, although if the pandemic and Hollywood strikes taught her anything, it's that you can't plan too far ahead.
'I've been doing this for 40 years, so I've never tried to play puppet master. What does Einstein say? 'God does not play dice?'' Lyonne says. 'I never really stress; it's always a third thing that occurs. I could be back on set with Rian tomorrow, or we could decide to make a movie spinoff of it. We'll all discover together what comes next.'
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