News Analysis India

Tag: Natasha Lyonne

  • Natasha Lyonne’s Peacock series ‘Poker Face’ adds Lil Rel Howery 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: “Free Guy” star Lil Rel Howery has joined the cast of Natasha Lyonne-led series “Poker Face”, set up at streaming service Peacock.

    The mystery drama series has been created by filmmaker Rian Johnson, known for films such as ‘Looper’, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ and ‘Knives Out’.

    Plot details for the series have been kept under wraps, though sources say the show will follow a procedural format and see Lyonne’s character working to solve different murders in each episode.

    According to Deadline, Howery boarded the project along with actor Dascha Polanco of “Orange Is The New Black” fame.

    They join Lyonne as well as actors Adrien Brody, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Stephanie Hsu, Benjamin Bratt and David Castaneda in the series.

    Johnson, who is also the writer and director of ‘Poker Face’, will executive produce alongside T-Street partner Ram Bergman and the company’s television president Nena Rodrigue.

    Lyonne also will serve as an executive producer via her Animal Pictures.

    The company’s Maya Rudolph and Danielle Renfrew Behrens will co-executive produce.

    Howery most recently starred opposite Ryan Reynolds in “Free Guy” and is known for featuring in movies like “Bird Box”, Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” and “Judas and The Black Messiah”.

  • Natasha Lyonne details story behind Marlon Brando’s ‘Scary Movie 2’ cameo

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: One of the last roles for legendary actor Marlon Brando involved holding the breast of young actress Natasha Lyonne in the horror comedy parody ‘Scary Movie 2’.

    However, the scene never made it into the final cut.

    Speaking to Entertainment Weekly’s video series ‘Role Call’, Lyonne said Brando dropped out of the project, allegedly because of illness. But before he did, he filmed a scene with her, and she retained a video copy of that memorable meeting, reports ‘Deadline’.

    The scene in question came at the start of the sequel, a scene parodying ‘The Exorcist’.

    Lyonne played a Linda Blair-esque young girl who was possessed, with two priests (played in the film by James Woods and Andy Richter) attempting to exorcise the demon. Brando was originaly in Woods’ role before dropping out.

    “I have a VHS copy of the dailies that I got because Marlon Brando’s final role – sadly for him, but luckily for me – is doing this ‘Exorcist’ opening teaser,” she said.

    She said: “I don’t know what he was thinking, really.”

    The actress continued: “He had an oxygen tank and he just kind of held my boob, because that was in the script. He was supposed to be like, ‘The power of Christ compels you.’ I just remember being like, ‘Ah, this is the surrealism that André Breton, Salvador Dali were talking about.’”

    Brando was described as “very chatty” on set, and wore an earpiece while filming, Lyonne said: “So, I had Brando with the earpiece and the hand on the boob, and the make-up, and ‘The power of Christ compels you,’ and not to curse, but, ‘Your mother sucks c-s in hell,’ and so on,” she added.

    “This was all happening at once, and I remember like, ‘You know, showbiz is all right.’ In that moment, showbiz was A-okay.”

    Brando died at age 80 in 2004, three years after Scary Movie 2 premiered.

    Lyonne’s latest project is Russian Doll, which premiered this week on Netflix.

  • Gordon-Levitt joins cast of Rian Johnson’s series

    By Express News Service

    Hollywood actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been roped in to star opposite Natasha Lyonne in the upcoming series Poker Face.

    The series is created by Rian Johnson (of Knives Out-fame). Though plot details are currently kept under wraps, reports state that the series will follow a procedural format and see Lyonne’s character working to solve different murders in each episode. Details of the role Gordon-Levitt plays are also under wraps.

    Johnson will executive produce the series alongside T-Street partner Ram Bergman and the company’s television president Nena Rodrigue. Lyonne will also serve as an executive producer via her Animal Pictures. The company’s Maya Rudolph and Danielle Renfrew Behrens will co-executive produce.

  • Netflix sets premiere date for ‘Russian Doll’ season 2

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: The second season of the American comedy-drama series “Russian Doll” will arrive on Netflix on April 20, the streamer has announced.

    Lead star Natasha Lyonne also returns as the showrunner and executive producer, reported Deadline.

    In the show, Lyonne plays Nadia Vulvokov, a game developer who repeatedly dies and relives the same night in an ongoing time loop and tries to solve it, leading to her finding Alan Zaveri (Charlie Barnett) in the same situation.

    The upcoming installment is set four years after Nadia and Alan escaped mortality’s time loop together.

    The Emmy-winning series, co-created by Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland, will continue to explore existential thematics through an often humorous and sci-fi lens.

    Alex Buono, Poehler, Headland, Lilly Burns, Tony Hernandez, Dave Becky, Kate Arend, Regina Corrado, and Allison Silverman also executive produce “Russian Doll”.

    The critically acclaimed series is also produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. The first season of the show premiered on February 1, 2019.