Natasha Lyonne–director/writer/actor/producer/co-creator of Russian Doll, the Netflix series which earned 13 Emmy nominations in 2019, winning three (for Cinematography, Production Design, Contemporary Costumes)–has joined the filmmaker collective at The Directors Bureau, marking her first global representation as a director for branded content, advertising and music video projects.
Lyonne herself garnered three Emmy nominations for Russian Doll–Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actress and Writing for a Comedy Series. The first of her four career Emmy nominations came in 2014 for her performance as a guest actress (portraying Nicky Nichols) on the Netflix original drama series Orange Is the New Black.
“The Directors Bureau has always valued collaborating with people who have diverse talents in different fields, especially when they have such a strong voice as Natasha’s,” said Roman Coppola, founder of The Directors Bureau. “Natasha is someone with such dynamic, inventive, and outrageous creativity–I’m sure she’s going to make some remarkable, distinctive work, and we can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Lyonne noted, “I’m honored to be joining The Directors Bureau’s impressive body of cutting-edge directors and look forward to collaborating with Roman and his team.”
Lyonne made her directorial debut with the Kenzo short film Cabiria, Charity, Chastity, featuring the fall/winter 2017 collection. She later made a major splash with Russian Doll which in addition to the Emmy recognition received since its premiere in 2019 a Gotham Award nomination, a Golden Globe nod, and made Lyonne a two-time Writers Guild Award nominee (in the Comedy Series and New Series categories in 2020). She continues to showrun, write and direct for the series which returns this year for its second season.
In 2020, Lyonne directed Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine, a comedy/variety special dealing with issues of politics, race, gender and class, and featuring Helen Mirren, Fred Armisen, Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Hamm, Aubrey Plaza, Ben Stiller, Winona Ryder and Marisa Tomei, among others. In addition to directing, Lyonne executive produced the special through Animal Pictures, her production company with Maya Rudolph and Danielle Renfrew Behrens. Upcoming, Lyonne will executive produce and star in Rian Johnson’s mystery drama series Poker Face, which has been picked up by Peacock.
In 2019, Lyonne returned as Nicky Nichols in the seventh and final season of Orange Is the New Black for which she also directed an episode. That year, Lyonne also directed and appeared in an episode of Comedy Central’s Awkwafina is Nora From Queens, and directed an episode each of Shrill starring Aidy Bryant and the Hulu series High Fidelity starring Zoë Kravitz.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More