[Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for “Poker Face” Season 2, Episode 1, “The Game Is a Foot.”]
Unlike Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), who is probably unbanked even as she keeps solving crimes across America, “Poker Face” has a lot of checks it needs to cash each episode. Season 2 of the Peacock series kicks off with a huge logistical challenge of a single actor portraying multiple characters, as Cynthia Erivo steps into the role of all four Kazinsky sisters.
Charlie encounters these former child actors now living in various states of desperation, from struggling Etsy artist/caregiver Amber to DJ Bebe to college professor Cece to orchard manager Delia — and a surprise fifth sister, Felicity, living off the grid as a successful mixed-media artist. Well, living in the present tense is perhaps being a bit presumptuous for Felicity, but which sister murdered whom and is now impersonating them is for Charlie to sort out.
What the filmmakers needed to figure out was how to shoot Erivo on a fast turnaround. The episode was shot in 10 days in the middle of the “Wicked” press tour. Collaborating on each of the siblings’ looks with costume designer Leah Katznelson, Erivo only had a few hours for fittings to create distinctive identities for each of the characters she plays. But the actor herself suggested something that would help her focus across the many quick changes and forced perspective shots the episode demanded.
“Cynthia had a fragrance that she wore for [the] characters,” Katznelson said. “ Now the audience won’t ever smell that, but you would walk into her room to get her dressed for the scene as the role, and you were instantly like, ‘OK, we’re in this world, we’re in this world, we’re in this world.’ This is how detail-oriented Cynthia is as an actor.”
The “Poker Face” team shared the fragrances that Erivo picked out for each sister with IndieWire, so if you too aspire to run an apple orchard, there is a scent that can help you inhabit that space. Erivo chose Cognac 66 by Krigler for Delia because of its hints of cognac and whiskey. Delia is a recovering alcoholic, after all, and with the scent Erivo could carry that past with her as well as a certain amount of freshness that comes with working on an apple farm.
For Felicity, Erivo wore Dior Oud Ispahan from Privée Dior. The scent has an even deeper, woody smell, which lines up very nicely with Felicity’s choice to live out in rural Vermont. This ends up leaving her vulnerable, of course, but even so, Erivo chose a fragrance for the real Felicity before another sister begins impersonating her.
Then for comparative lit professor Cece, Erivo combined hints of Delia and Felicity, wearing Cognac 66 and Dior Oud together. Erivo used the combination to feel connected to multiple other siblings, even when she can only be in one place at a time. Likewise, for Amber, Erivo wore pure Rosewood Oud, lighter and floral but still an Oud and so still connected to the other sisters. For Bebe, Erivo went fragrance-free to align with the DJ’s more hippie vibe.
“I could not ask for a better partner,” Katznelson said of her collaboration with Erivo. “She’s creative, open-minded, accessible, organized, everything you want from an artist.”
“Poker Face” is streaming on Peacock.
