On Rian Johnson’s mystery-of-the-week collection Poker Face, Natasha Lyonne’s “human lie detector” character Charlie finally ends up in so much of unusual conditions in the midst of a slew of odd jobs. As a cocktail-waitress-card-shark who’s on the run from her vengeful on line casino boss, to this point on the weekly Peacock collection she’s wound up caught at a truck cease, grilling BBQ for a pitmaster, and even hiding out with retirees.
On the fourth episode “Rest in Metal,” which dropped when the present premiered on Jan. 26, Charlie’s adventures on the street see her cross paths with a touring band, the has-been, one-hit-wonder steel group Doxxxology. As the collection is not any stranger to unbelievable visitor stars (Adrien Brody, Hong Chau, Lil Rel Howry, and Judith Light simply to call a couple of), the episode stars Lyonne’s real-life BFF and frequent collaborator Chloë Sevigny as Ruby Ruin, the band’s fierce chief who’s determined for an additional hit after the success of their ’90s track “Staplehead” has lengthy teetered out. John Darnielle of the folk-rock band the Mountain Goats additionally occurs to play one of the band members, and even helped contribute to the authentic songs on the episode, together with Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed.
Just like the band’s track “Merch Girl,” Charlie finds herself behind their merch desk promoting tees, which is the place she inevitably finally ends up fixing one other crime as soon as the group’s new drummer Gavin (Nicholas Cirillo) dies all of the sudden after writing a killer, doubtlessly career-saving track. With its all-star forged, humorous but catchy metalcore songs, and blown-amp-induced dying, it is by far the most steel installment of the collection.
Because we at AltPress cannot cease singing Doxxxology’s “Sucker Punch” and we’re nonetheless not over seeing Sevigny play a metalhead rock star, we spoke to the episode’s lead author Christine Boylan and director Tiffany Johnson about how the episode came together.
[Chloë Sevigny as Ruby Ruin / Courtesy of Peacock]
How did the concept for one of Charlie’s adventures to be on the street with a band first come about?
Christine Boylan: One of the issues we did [in the writers’ room] — this undoubtedly made Rian [Johnson] giggle early on — was spherical robin money jobs that Charlie may have that may not get her picked up. A bunch of us had both been in a band or knew associates who have been roadies again in the day and a little bit bit about how that world functioned. Like, I’ve a pal who was a roadie. So, we have been like, “Oh, my God. What if it’s a has-been band metal show?” We first began from there as a result of we’re like, “Oh, that’s a good: merch table, cash only! Like, no W-2s, no tax info, drifter job. [Laughs.] We were like, “So, the roadies are kind of high tier. We’ll make Charlie the merch woman.”
Was the role of Ruby Ruin specifically written for Chloë Sevigny?
Boylan: The role was written for someone of Chloë’s stature, and we were so lucky. We didn’t want to jinx ourselves, but we got really lucky. We were certainly like, “We want somebody who’s hilarious, but in addition I consider she has lived this life.” Chloë’s got that swagger — just owns that stage in a way that not many actors can do. I believe she’s a rock goddess. I also believe she’s working at Home Depot. She just makes me believe everything.
Was Chloë actually singing as Ruby Ruin?
Johnson: Chloë didn’t record prior to shooting, but she was singing live in the room. We recorded her live, but she’s on top of playback. The vocals [come from a singer from a Judas Priest cover band] mixed with her.
I told her — especially the scene of the last performance scene at the big venue — in between takes, “You seem like you are having so a lot enjoyable.” And she was like, “I’m!” We had a live audience and I could really tell that she fed off of them and that energy. It all felt so natural for her. She just honed in on who Ruby Ruin was and made this persona — and she had a good time. There was a moment where I was like, “Oh, we’re at an actual live performance!”
Natasha and Chloë are quite a pair in real-life. What was it like working with the both of them together?
Johnson: When you have people who already have a built in relationship and rapport, it makes everything so much easier. They obviously had worked together, and they’re best friends. It was fun to just watch them work. [As a director], I tend to let the [cast] show me first and then massage and maneuver it around. Natasha’s a legend and icon and can do this in her sleep. So, getting to see what she brings, and what Chloë brings, we all found it together.
[John Darnielle / Courtesy of Peacock]
From the band name to the detail of Ruby Ruin removing green M&Ms from the candy bowl backstage, there’s so many great bits that make up Doxxxology. How did you go about crafting the metal band?
Boylan: [The whole writers’ room] came up with a bunch of things about how these guys are getting by. A lot of time what you do is write this whole life for a character. Like, the idea of Eskie (G.K. Umeh) getting his law degree — we had scenes and scenes about Eskie and his law school stuff. The key is always overwrite, and then cut it all the way down to the bare essentials.
So, we went through and we were like, “Okay, the place is Ruby scrappy and the place is she like, ‘This is the life I ought to have had.’ That M&M second is an ideal second the place that is how she desires to be, and that is who they get to be at the finish in the scene with caviar. They’re so shut they will scent it, after which all of it will get taken away from them.
Johnson: This is Spinal Tap was a film that I like and rewatched to get in the headspace as a result of I’m not a metalhead in any respect. I watched that to get into the fun-ness of that world.
John Darnielle and Jamey Jasta contributed to the songs on the episode, however are you able to clarify how they came together?
Boylan: It began in the author’s room. We came up with a bunch of humorous shit that might be the songs, and that might be in the songs. Rather a lot of us in the room are a bit musical and have written songs earlier than. Like, I’ve undoubtedly written songs for TV reveals. I’ve written songs alone. They have been purported to be placeholders, however we put sufficient stuff in there that, by the time Rian and the Mountain Goats came together, they turned actual songs. In post-production, Rian actually took the reins, they usually came out nice. I used to be actually shocked at how [the song Darnielle’s character Al is writing in the episode] “You Can’t Un-murder Someone” was a joke we had after which turned this type of stunning, darkish, poetic plea.
[Natasha Lyonne / Courtesy of Peacock]
Were there every other music-related deaths thought of earlier than the workforce went with killing Gavin by an amp?
Boylan: Every single episode, each dying, we’d undergo 5 or 6 other ways we may kill this particular person. I do not like to offer myself credit score or toot my very own horn for something, however I’ll say there was a day the place I came into the writers room with a diagram of how we may electrocute this child. I’m simply saying it occurred to a man in the Yardbirds in 1977. I introduced in a bunch of YouTube movies. I watched some grisly stuff on YouTube. All writers’ Google searches are incriminating, however I’ll take credit score for coming into the room and being like, “We can electrocute him just like this!” It came into his character — the steel sticks, the naked toes, getting too near the mic, the classic amp, and every part that Deuteronomy says about these amps is completely true. Rian is the one who came upon it was known as a dying capacitor, so we needed to write that in.
There are so many copyright lawsuits in music these days, however the payoff in the episode is so good once you understand the band’s potential career-saving track “Sucker Punch” is ripped from the Benson sitcom theme, which Gavin was watching all through the episode. How did that concept come about?
Boylan: We love traditional TV, [it] is the factor that brings us all together. Benson was one of these reveals that all of us liked. [Laughs.] I am unable to keep in mind whose pitch it was, but it surely was such a good suggestion. It has a jaunty theme track, which you kind of cannot unhear when you hear it. So, I took that and mentioned, “He’s got to be a magpie. He’s got to be like a Shakespearean type of writer where everything around him is fodder.”
That finally ends up being Charlie’s clue path as a result of she is with him throughout the artistic course of. She noticed it occur in actual time, in the means he absorbed the Benson theme however did not understand he was perpetuating it. There’s so much of unconscious creativity and the magic of unconscious creativity occurring for these guys in this episode.
This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.
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