- Erivo played five different roles in one episode of Poker Face season 2
- Production took place during Wicked press tour
- It took 11 days to shoot
Cynthia Erivo has described her experience playing multiple characters in an episode of Poker Face season two as “totally insane”.
The Wicked star plays five identical sisters in the mystery-comedy series created by Rian Johnson. She stars opposite Natasha Lyonne’s lie-detecting Charlie Cale.
Read more: What TV shows and films has Cynthia Erivo been in?
The series follows Cale, a casino worker with an uncanny ability to detect lies. As she travels across the United States, she finds herself solving crimes along the way.
Filming Erivo’s guest episode coincided with the Wicked press tour, which she was doing alongside co-star Ariana Grande. She admits it left her feeling “mentally exhausted”.
Read more: Which awards has Cynthia Erivo won in the past?
“We were in the midst of everything, doing everything, going everywhere,” she told Vanity Fair in a recent interview. “I had 11 straight days of shooting this baby in New York. To say I was mentally exhausted is an understatement. I would get to the end of the day and not even really even know my own name. I’d be like, ‘I don’t know where I am.’”
Cynthia Erivo thrived on the challenge
Erivo knew the challenges ahead when she signed up for the series – playing five people at once meant her “head would be split into many different spaces.”
Still, the Oscar-nominated star embraced the opportunity. “I thought, ‘Well, if not now, then when?’” she said. “I’m always open to trying things I haven’t done before, and I wanted to do this. I wanted to see what it would be like to compartmentalize and play different characters simultaneously – to challenge myself and see if it was possible.”
Costumes helped Erivo prepare
The Harriet actress said being in a scene with herself was “crazy”, but the costumes and different hairstyles helped her find the sisters’ unique personalities.
“The most helpful thing was finding out what they would wear, finding out what their costumes were like, finding out what their personality was like within those costumes,” she says. “The look, the hair, the makeup – all of those things that keep people very specific knowing that underneath it all is my face.”
Erivo worked with a stand-in to navigate scenes and perfect her character’s reactions. “I’d play one side, and I’d have a lovely stand-in doing the other side,” she said. “I would still have to remember what I did on one side so that my reaction would match the other way, so that it would make sense when speaking to each other.”
Acting scenes with the show’s lead star Lyonne felt more play than work, according to Erivo. “I loved it. It was so easy,” she says. “We had such a fun rapport. I’d look in her eyes and she’d look in mine, and we’d be like, ‘Oh, we’re playing. Let’s go.’” The chemistry between the two actresses can been in the exclusive clip released below:
You can catch more of Erivo and Lyonne when Poker Face season two premieres on Peacock on 8 May.
