Villain or victim: why the main actors starred in 'Poker Face' (2023)

Poker Face achieved a lot in his rookie season. With its crime-of-the-week plot in a new twist on the detective genreNatasha Lyonne- Protagonist of the Peacock seriesRian Johnsonbreathed new life into the concept of procedural television for streaming, saw Benjamin Bratt transform a catchy Blues Traveler song into a poetic monologue, and recruited himstar WarsLegend Phil Tippett for special effects for one episode. But perhaps most impressive isPoker Facecurated by a dizzying roster of guest stars.

How did you get Nick Nolte to star alongside Cherry Jones in the Hollywood saga Orpheus Syndrome? Who would have thought that Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows would have such fiery chemistry on the Exit Stage Death theater show? How did you convince people like Adrien Brody, Stephanie Hsu, Ron Perlman and Tim Russ to be in an episode only to get killed off? And who knew that S. Epatha would charm Merkerson and Judith Light as foul-mouthed villains?

If you ask Johnson, he will tell you that the agenda of the main actors in the world ofPoker Facestarring in an episodic guest role was no easy feat. But since every role starts with a murder and it sometimes takes 15 minutes for Charlie Cale (Lyonne) to enter the picture, it was tempting to play a meaty villain or memorable victim. And that's especially true if you're a friend or former associate of Johnson or Lyonne.

“I remember one time Rian and I were in my kitchen making a list of all our dream people we wanted to work with without scripts,” says Lyonne. "We thought 'this person would be fun' and 'this person would be great'." , to work with them.”

Common Johnson players who have been drafted include Noah Segan (adolescent), who starred in all of Johnson's projects and continued his success by appearing in the pilot as a police officer investigating the murder of Charlie's girlfriend (Dascha Polanco, a frequent Lyonne collaborator, co-starred with her).Orange is the new blackEmRussian pop); Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who guest starred as the villain in the season's penultimate episode, "Escape From Shit Mountain"; and Brody, who sets the series' tone as the cruel son of an equally cruel casino owner (Perlman), who falls to his death after Charlie catches him in an epic lie.

“When Rian releasedPoker FaceI told myself I had an idea to do something similar. And he said, 'Well, I'm faster than you!'" Brody said of the call he received from Johnson, who directed the actor in 2008.The Bloom Brothers(which also starred Segan and Gordon-Levitt). The Dead Man's Hand pilot wasn't meant to just serve as a backdrop for what viewers could expect each week.Poker Face, but it also introduced Charlie's special ability to be a human lie detector, the show's hook. The scenes between Lyonne and Brody, who plays one of the few characters aware of Charlie's power, show theAsteroïdenstadtThe actor struggles not to lie outright as he tries to cover up the fact that he killed her best friend. "Rian's writing is beautiful and extraordinarily complex," says Brody. “You have to be extremely prepared to let it roll off your tongue. It's a really choreographed way of working.”

Johnson says the only part he thought about when writing for Segan was, "because I always thought, 'How do I get Noah in there?'" But he had Brody and Gordon-Levitt in mind. the latter for Shit Mountain, which Johnson also directed. "I didn't know if he could do it," he says. "It feels like a small miracle when someone has a solid cast and that includes friends because our friends are talented people who are busy. So they protect their heart since they probably can't. And it's great when they can."

Lyonne's old friends and collaborators who appeared in the series included Chloë Sevigny (Russian pop), who plays the villain in the rock part of the fourth episode "Rest in Metal", and Clea DuVall (But I'm a cheerleader, The Intervention), who plays his on-screen sister in the season finale The Hook. She also recruited Alia Shawkat to read the first episode and they discussed ideas for Maya Rudolph, who is producing the series under her banner and Animal Pictures of Lyonne. (Don't be surprised if any of them show up in season two.) Playing with close friends and regular collaborators, Lyonne says, there's a "tight bond" that viewers can see in the final cut. "The camera really detects the truth," she says. "We try to keep it in the family and every new one that comes along feels like the old one to us too."

It got longerPoker FaceFamily, which counts showrunners (and sisters) Nora and Lilla Zuckerman as its growth"Poker Facerepertory theater company ”, they say together that they enjoyed their time on set. Hearing that feedback means something to Johnson. "For me, the experience of making the thing is key," he says. "Why wouldn't you want that experience to be a good one? You always roll the dice when you're working with people you've never worked with before, but we've had phenomenal luck with the people that have come along.

The casting team - Mary Vernieu, Bret Howe and New York casting director Christine Kromer - took that "friends of the family" atmosphere and applied it when recruiting new players for the roster. “I've been working with Rian Johnson and [production partner] Ram Bergman since [2008].Bloom Brothers"You know it's always going to be a great creative experience," says Vernieu. But the hectic schedule was indeed a challenge, a "crash course in anthology casting," she says, as mini-film actors were hired every two weeks. The first two parts they made were the penultimate episode and the pilot. From there they release episode after episode requiring them to audition and go straight to guest stars while also crafting replacements.

One of the actors they directly approached was Merkerson, and the feedback they received from himlaw and orderStar and legend of the theater surprised. "Her agent said she read the first few pages of the script and immediately said, 'I'm in. Can I say that?'" says Vernieu.

Merkerson explains why he accepted the offer of Time of the Monkey, the fifth installment in the series. "Within the first 15 pages, [my character] starts saying 'bastard,' and I put my finger on it. "Nobody ever casts me like that," she says of playing Joyce, a seemingly sweet woman in a retirement home who becomes makes a domestic terrorist. Turns out it is." I found out that Judith Light was playing the other part. I can't even remember the last time I had so much fun because I was never seen as a comedian or any other type of girl - bad girls! And I tell you, I have a foul mouth."

The theater allowed Merkerson to play all kinds of roles. “I'm not a stereotype in the theater. I can do a little bit of everything,” she says. "But on TV and in movies, I'm always the boss, the bitch, the sister. Usually the tough boss. And that kind of freedom was great." She also describes the top-down atmosphere as having a real no-asshole policy: "I can honestly say that when we did my fifth episode, I don't remember any assholes. I think it definitely has a lot to do with the writing, with the directors. and producers, they know what they want.”

Merkerson and Light are examples of unexpected guest castings that Vernieu and Howe said they had in mind. "A common theme throughout the show was that we had beloved actors that we all know and really thought about them playing against their normal type," Howe says. Other examples include perennial best friend Lil Rel Howery (Die Carmichael-show) and Danielle Macdonald (The tourist) play co-conspirators in the fratricidal third episode of the barbecue "The Stall". Both Macdonald and Hsu sought Polanco's pilot role, but were cast in later episodes. "When you're climbing, you always try to say, 'They're so good, where can we put them?'" says Vernieu. "So you end up getting really good people for the different parts when you solve that puzzle."

Hsu says he expressed a desire to work with Johnson while chatting with mutual collaborator, songwriter Ryan Lott, at the SXSW premiere of the Oscar-winning mega-hitEverything everywhere at once. “I said, 'I think I should work with Rian Johnson.' So I went back to New York for the presseverything everywhereand i auditioned for itPoker Face,' She says. The future rising star has arrivedPoker FaceSoon after she will film her episode "Shit Mountain".EERAOwas in theaters, and Johnson and the Zuckermans had just finished watching the movie with crew members.

"Turn forwardPoker Face“It was the first time I had performance anxiety,” says Hsu. “Rian texted me and said, 'Holy shit, this movie is crazy!' You're amazing and I can't wait to work with you." It changed the stakes and visibility," added Hsu, who received an Oscar nomination for it.EERAO.

But playing Mortimer "Morty" Bernstein, the kleptomaniac skier who was killed after a brief stint as Charlie's sidekick, was a powerful moment for the actress. “You would never look at Mortimer Bernstein and think, 'Stephanie Hsu is perfect for this.' "I like working with directors who give their actors permission to push the boundaries of the unexpected and the strange to discover something new; that's where the magic lies," says Hsu. You don't feel ethnically attached to anything if you let your imagination run wild."

Lyonne recalls her own starring moment with Nolte in the episode, which she also co-wrote and directed. "When I say I'm scared to work with this person, I don't know what levers they're going to pull. And of course I was scared that he would say, 'You're not strong enough.' But then the greatest gift of my life was finding out that I really am strong enough," she says. When it comes to Johnson, she is enthusiastic. “Rian has an amazing ability that I haven't really experienced before, and I've had it for at least a few years now,” she laughs. “But it's so rare that at the end of the day you feel like you've made it, there's that calm when Rian is on set [and the scene is done], like it's in his head and it's time to go home. show is played in Rian's key."

Due to the writers' strike, production on the second season remains in limbo. However, given the success of the first season, the casting team is hoping for an even smoother process once work gets back on track. It's becausePoker Faceis partially inspired byColomboThe creative team is open to bringing back part of the family in new or new roles, as is often the case with guest stars on the long-running series starring Peter Falk, which has found new popularity thanks to streaming. (Every actor who spoke for this play says they would gladly accept such a return offer.)

„DarinColomboMode. "I would bring back one of our actors - that's also a balance against the fact that there are so many fun people we want to work with," says Johnson. “We worked with some of our closest friends in the first season, but we both have so many actor friends that we're always like, 'We've got to do something and be on set together.' .” I get to experience these wonderful people and the fact that it's so much fun to go out and meet new people!”

Along with Rhea Perlman (no relation to Ron), who will return as "season two's big bad" after a purely singing role in season one, Johnson and Lyonne cast the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Aubrey Plaza, Ted Danson, Dennis Franz , Joe Pesci and Forest Whitaker as Dream for the second season. "I'm taking notes!" jokes Howe, adding that Whitaker was in a few episodes of the first season but was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. In addition to Perlman's role, Howe said, "I feel like Rhea's character is going to be really scary. I'm excited to see who we can surround her with."

Bratt's villain and DuVall's sister Cale are two other roles likely to return (although no official talks have started yet). “For season two, I think this overarching storyline of Rhea's character would be similar in function to Ron [Perlman's] character in season one,” says Johnson. “But it's not necessarily what the season is about. Wherever Charlie lands will still be the mystery of the week.

Then Johnson has his thirdknife awaymovie, and while Lyonne still has the third season ofRussian popShe says she is putting all her energy into producing her first Johnson-inspired feature film. But both say they don't want to waste too much time before releasing a second season.Poker Face. PossiblePoker Facewill even make its own appearance next yearknife away. “In the world of Benoit Blanc [the star detective played by Daniel Craigknife awayMovies], his girlfriend is named Natasha at a concertPoker Face.Maybe he can visit the set," Johnson reflects on the future Easter egg. "That's pretty meta!" says Lyonne, adding, "I could only have been so lucky."

The couple also reaffirms their hopes of staying together for many seasons to come. (Colomboran for 10.) "We keep kidding that we want to use every actor on the planet," says Johnson. “Eventually, we will run out of active actors. It fits into our list of dreams we talk about. There are many."

This story first appeared in the June 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter.Click here to login.