Natasha Lyonne talks Russian Doll, and why the ‘girl parts’ never felt like it was for her

After co-creating and starring in the best new TV series of 2019, its star says she has more “sick s**t” for us.

When Natasha Lyonne was a young girl, her family moved from New York to Israel for two years “because of tax evasion”.

And you can draw a line from that act of subversion to her universally acclaimed TV series, Russian Doll, a story about a woman trapped in her own Groundhog Day-type scenario in which she keeps dying and resetting back to the same moment, staring at herself in a bathroom mirror.

Russian Doll, released in early February on Netflix, was the first great series of 2019 — clever, compelling and featuring a complex and flawed female lead in a multilayered story that hooked you from the first moment.

When Lyonne was in Israel, her father, a boxing promoter, only brought movies with tough guy characters, she told news.com.au.

“The Godfather, Rocky, Scarface — I started studying these people and I just assumed that’s what acting was. People like Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper.

“I never understood why the girl parts always felt out of my depth. I loved Jessica Lange in Frances, but it felt like those roles were going to be given to the blondes and they weren’t my parts to be had.”

Russian Doll is that beautiful alchemy of actor and material when you write the role for yourself

Lyonne, 39, has never been your “typical” Hollywood actor — she was never going to be the cute rom-com lead.

Coming to attention as a supporting character in American Pie, she’s been around the traps for a long time, usually in indie movies like But I’m a Cheerleader, before finding herself in the ensemble cast of Orange is the New Black.

But it wasn’t until she took on the role she wrote for herself — Nadia in Russian Doll — that the depth of her talent, on and off-screen, was revealed.

That the show and the character she created with Leslye Headland were so well-received has been a surreal experience.

“I’m so used to being an outsider figure so this has really taken me by glorious surprise,” she said.

“I’m immensely moved to see that my innermost self has been accepted at such a widespread level. It’s moving that such a personal work — and I worked so, so hard on this thing — it’s also a relief that it wasn’t all wasted.

“This lifetime of cataloguing horrors, my childhood, friendships, music references and the kind of art I wanted hanging on the walls to the lines I wanted people to say.

“It’s a lifetime’s of bits and bobs and trying to put them all in one thing, like this could be the only thing I ever get to make.”

Russian Doll is one of the best shows of 2019

When you speak to her, the idea that Lyonne’s head really is swirling with all these reference points from her personal experiences and her influences comes across clearly.

She can throw out filmmakers, artists, singers and actors’ names in a stream-of-consciousness spitfire — she loves Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Falk in Colombo and in John Cassavetes’ films, Italian writer and director Lina Wertmuller (the first woman to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar), Sade, Federico Fellini, Tina Turner, Bob Fosse.

She based Nadia, a female character who doesn’t just want to please everyone, mostly on Elliott Gould’s performance as Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye.

“You know the scene with Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now, and he’s looking up at that fan and he’s there thinking? That always felt like the realm of men, that they got to think on camera without necessarily doing too much.

“Why don’t women get to do that? Or just have this woman have her own experience? When you omit childbirth as the destination for a female character, it’s amazing all the other things you find.

“All these things are kind of thrown into the witches’ brew of why Nadia gets to act this way, and I wasn’t afraid of people being receptive to her or not, because, well, people have been receptive to men on camera for decades so I guess I don’t care if she’s likeable or not because that’s not my problem.”

Natasha Lyonne’s most recognisable recent role was in Orange is the New Black

Of course it hasn’t been breezy to get Russian Doll on screen — it was a years-long process — but it was always going to be honest to Lyonne.

“I would say to other creators, hang in there, because, mamma mia, it’s not easy. It’s like every time you feel like you should just quit because surely it’s not going to happen, then in that darkest hour, there’s a crumb of hope.

“Then one day, it’s somehow real.

“I’ve been in this business, and often on the fringes, for over 30 years. We work so hard to hide ourselves because I think on a core level, the experience of life creates a lot of shame.

“It almost feels like, what’s the difference, no one’s going to be listening or watching, so I might as well tell the story my way.”

While Netflix hasn’t confirmed a second season of Russian Doll is in the offing, it seems very likely given the kind of buzz the show created.

Lyonne promises she hasn’t poured absolutely everything into the first season.

“Make no mistake, if this is the sick s**t people are into, I’ve got no shortage. I have deep reserves, this is the one thing I can deliver on!”

Natasha Lyonne’s mainstream roles included playing Jessica in American Pie

But now that she’s had a taste of crafting your own story, instead of just saying other people’s words, she’s hungry for more.

“Leaving aside a Russian Do ll second season, my dream would be to get to make movies and to write other things.

“I’m looking forward to starting a production company with Maya Rudolph, and there’s a bunch of projects we want to produce for other people as well, and tell other people’s stories.

“So in many ways, it feels like the beginning of things.”

That audiences connected so deeply with Russian Doll, combing for Easter eggs and obscure references, reading into the significance of the Tompkins Square setting or about Oatmeal the cat, is spurring her on.

“People are really into it on a quantum level, and on all levels. It’s been very fun as a creator, all these things in your brain are connecting to people.

“As somebody who has made so many things that people haven’t connected with, I will say it’s a lot more fun on this side.”

Russian Doll is streaming now on Netflix.

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