Seeing Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now inspired Natasha Lyonne's character creation process

Sheen was far from Lyonne's only influence as an actress, but she gravitated towards male performers more often.

"[As] much as I love Bette Davis, Mae West and Gena Rowlands," she admitted, "I often found myself identifying with the Peter Falks, the Joe Pesci and the Jimmy Cagneys - all the boys. Certainly, when I was writing "Russian Doll", I saw a character who was the perfect blend of feminine and masculine."

For her character in "Poker Face", both Lyonne and series creator Rian Johnson were heavily inspired by Philip Marlowe, the private detective in Raymond Chandler's novels, the most famous being played by Humphrey Bogart in "The Big Sleep" as well as Elliot Gould in "The Long Goodbye".

"He's such an iconic type of character that we've seen permutations of it for, probably, seven decades now," Lyonne explained, so she and Johnson thought it was about time. a woman embodies this legendary role. The actress has also found another way to avoid trivial characters: hiring female writers.

"The best part isn't that the conversations take up a lot of time about how a woman can have a classic hero's journey," Lyonne confessed to The Wrap. Or you know, 'Why is she wearing black clothes' or 'Why don't we see her taking a shower?' It is troubling. You'd never ask that of, like, Elliott Gould's portrayal of Philip Marlowe." Both seasons of "Russian Doll," which Lyonne also co-created and produced, had an all-female writing staff. was not intentional, but rather a "happy accident".

"I always try to bring the Avengers together obviously, you know, (creators) Leslye Headland, Amy Poehler, Allison Silverman, real top-notch geniuses," Lyonne admitted. "And they're fucking hilarious."