Since her start as a child actor on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Natasha Lyonne has built a career out of playing sharp-tongued, quick-witted characters. From her breakout roles in But I’m a Cheerleader and American Pie to her Emmy-nominated turns in Orange Is the New Black and Russian Doll, the 45-year-old New Yorker has established herself as a singular force in Hollywood, known for her signature mix of humor and heart. While she’s often cast as the mouthy, irreverent broad, her latest project, His Three Daughters, reveals a more subdued side. In the film, she stars alongside Carrie Coon and Elizabeth Olsen as one of three sisters forced to reunite as their father enters hospice care at home. As the estranged step-sibling who has lived with the father for years, Lyonne’s character, Rachel, must confront her own grief while navigating a family that doesn’t quite claim her as their own.
How did His Three Daughters come into your life?
Azazel Jacobs, the writer-director, called me up and said, “I’d like to hand-deliver a script to you.” He wouldn’t email it. I read it, and it was beautiful. It seemed like a fantasy that someone could dream that—and we’d find 17 days in Manhattan to shoot it. They call that a New York minute!
Despite living with her stepfather, your character, Rachel, is made to feel like an outsider in her own home when her sisters arrive. She hasn’t chosen the traditional path for adulthood.
[Rachel] is the one who really stays and looks after him. Jovan Adepo, who plays my boyfriend, says, “You’re the normal one. They’re crazy.” In that scene, it’s a triumph. It’s like, “You guys are suburban. You guys found husbands and had kids. But I’ve been staying here, living here with my dad this whole time. That’s my father too, you know?” I was accidentally very moved saying it. I cried a lot, against my will—because in many ways, I have also felt like an accidental outsider in this life. The idea that there’s somebody to say: “Hey, it’s okay. You’re living your way. That’s also valid.” I thought of all of us who don’t have traditional families, so we don’t know how to mourn properly. Like, for me, my parents are dead. I cried more for Lou Reed and Nora Ephron dying than I did my own parents, because I didn’t know how.
Your character is often silent. As an actor, you are known for being extremely verbal.
Unfortunately, that’s not always true of the characters I play. It’s probably how I ended up becoming a writer: They would hire me to punch up dialogue that was meant to be witty. As a result, the characters weren’t really full-throated. They became kind of like the quirky sidekick. When I started to write for myself, I was able to bring more color to the parts I played.
Rachel not speaking a lot was part of the reason I did the movie. I was coming off of Russian Doll season 2, Poker Face season 1, and hosting Saturday Night Live. My voice was pretty shot, and at the time I was still smoking four packs a day. Bob Fosse taught me how to do that.
Really?
Yes, he sat me down as a child and said, “These are jazz hands, and this is how you puff.” [Laughs] Never met him, but in my mind I have.
This role is definitely different from Russian Doll.
I’d seen an Instagram video of somebody talking about how a great actor never plays the same role. I was very struck by that, at three in the morning. About a decade ago, I ran into Sam Rockwell on the street. I said, “Sammy, how do you do it?” And he said, “Are you fucking nuts? I have an acting coach.” I’d never been to acting school. I began to realize that with the big hair, the accent, and the attitude problem, I was going to need to sort of diversify. [Acting coach] Terry Knickerbocker helped me. I worked very hard to distinguish Orange Is the New Black from Russian Doll from Poker Face. On the surface, they have big hair and swagger, but on the deepest level they’re all very different.
What is your pet peeve?
I have a very extensive list, but my primary pet peeve is I don’t like little talk; I like big talk. I like truth very much: big ideas, big talk. I’m deeply challenged by little talk, and I fail at it all the time. Little talk is reductive, and I think that is dangerous. When people say “How are you?”—that confuses me. I’m delighted to answer the question, but to say “Pretty good” seems so wacky to me. I’d love to hear how you really are. We have to find a way to communicate, with something better than the L.A. sound of “Everything is so amazing—I’m really in a good place.” It’s either that L.A. sound or—you go to New York and it’s the grumble fish: “I don’t know—fuck everything.” I would prefer a deep dive or real thought.
How are you with change?
I don’t like it. In her documentary, Elaine Stritch says, “New Yorkers are always complaining about how everything’s changing. Everything’s always been changing! Get over it!” I found that to be actually really grounding. When I see a new NYU building or something pop up, my gut reaction is, How dare they destroy that gorgeous piece of real estate? And my next thought is Stritch saying, “It’s always been changing.”
Do you have a go-to karaoke song?
If you must know, I only sing “Private Dancer,” by Tina Turner. Yeah, I sing it, and Tina sued. She said, “It’s too fucking good.”
Have you ever been to a psychic?
My dog, Rootbeer, has been to a dog psychic. I was curious if she was happy. And it turns out that Rootbeer was apparently my daughter who died tragically in another life. We’re so glad to be reunited. And thus I shall have no daughters in this life. So yeah, that was heavy. And kind of tragic.
Have you personally been to a psychic?
Another time, a psychic came to my house. I don’t remember how she got there. I asked some questions, and she gave me vague answers. Really, what could they tell you? We do know how the movie ends.
Lyonne wears a Valentino dress and scarf; Valentino Garavani earrings and gloves.
Style Director: Allia Alliata di Montereale. Hair for portfolio by Paul Hanlon at Dawes & Co.; makeup for portfolio by Sam Visser at Art Partner; manicures for portfolio by Michelle Saunders James. Set design by Gerard Santos at Lalaland.
Creative producer to Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott: Leonard Cuinet-Petit at January Productions; producer to Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott: Kevin Isabelle; produced by AP Studio, Inc.; executive producer: Alexis Piqueras; producer: Anneliese Kristedja; associate producer: Kimmy D’Ancona; production manager: Hayley Stephon; production coordinators: Miranda Dos Santos, Susan Lucas; photography assistants: John Neate, Jed Barnes, Chris Whitaker, Kendall Peck; digital technician: Niccolo Pacilli; digital assistant: Cassian Gray; postproduction by Dreamer Post Production; fashion assistants: Tyler VanVranken, Molly Cody, Celeste Roh, Raea Palmieri, Tatiana Isshac, Haleigh Nickerson, Lauren Marron, Savannah Steilner, Sage McKee, Frankie Benkovic, Kaley Azambuja, Tatum Sanchez; production assistants: Gigi Rosenfield, Lily Cordingley, Eli Cash, Lex Vaughn, Anderson Renno, Kat Saravia, Kyle Dekker, Wyatt Noble, Brandon Martin, Moose Krupski, Josh Muwwakkil, Bradley Gonsalves, Drew Carter, Thomas Lynch, Alex Kofman, Jackson Schrader, Anatalia Zavaleta, Joseph Wride, Matt Flynn; first AD: Steve Kemp; location manager: Kyle Hollinger; hair assistants: Kim Garduno, Ben Gregory, Marco Iafrate, Hyacinthia Faustino, Chris Foster; makeup assistants: Shimu Takanori, Laura Dudley, Brian Dean, Beatrice Sandoval; manicure assistant: Cheyenne Vander Schuur; set design assistants: Seth Powsner, Denver Stoddard, Ryan Johnson; tailors: Irina Tshartaryan, Ripsime Vartanyan, Jackie Martirosyan at Susie’s Custom Designs, Inc.
