Editor’s Note: The following story contains some spoilers for “Poker Face” Season 2, Episode 6.
Season 2, Episode 6 is not your typical episode of “Poker Face.” Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) has been working as lunch lady at a local elementary school, where she meets the terrifying Stephanie (Eva Jade Halford), a student whose ambition compels her to humiliate one of her peers and indirectly kill the class pet.
It’s a demanding role even on paper, and one brought to life superbly by the 12-year-old Halford (the episode premiered on her birthday), who goes toe to toe with Lyonne, Margo Martindale, and Adrienne C. Moore throughout the episode. It’s enough to shake a seasoned pro — but Halford is already on her way to being just that, having just wrapped “The Last Day” with Alicia Vikander, Victoria Pedretti, and Wagner Moura, from first-time feature director Rachel Rose. As a child, she’s used to getting cast for flashback scenes (she plays the young Vikander) but had a feeling that “Poker Face” was more than that from the first auditions.
“My mom was like, ‘I think a flashback scene, because you tend to get those auditions,’ and then I was reading it and was like, ‘That’s probably not a flashback scene…’”
The scenes pointed toward the heavy lifting required of her in the episode; speaking boldly to adults, intimidating classmates, and some light blackmail. Stephanie is hardly reformed by the consequences of her actions, and the ending suggests that this is one miscreant Charlie might have to watch out for in the future.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
IndieWire: Tell me about how you got this part.
Eva Jade Halford: I got an audition from, I think, my manager, and I did the audition, and then I sent it in and was like, “I’ll probably not get that because it’s kind of a big part.” My mom was like, “Yeah, maybe not, but little small things first.” Then I got a callback, and I was super excited because they said they really liked me, and I was like, “Ooh, yay!” It was super fun, and I got excited because when I was about to leave, [director Adam Arkin] said, “See you soon. You’ll be hearing from us.” So I was like, “OMG, I might get this part.” When I got the email that I got in the part, I got super excited and was jumping everywhere.
I bet! Do you remember what scene you read?
I read scene where I’m on the slide, and she’s just at the end of the slide waiting for me. I read the scene where I’m backstage with Elijah, and he finds out that the projector has his baby picture, and I think I also did the bathroom scene.
Oh wow, three big ones. What did you think of the character when you first read even those scenes, or the whole episode once you got the part?
When I got the script, I was super excited, so I was reading through it a lot of times. I was like, “OK, diva, she’s super baddie! Yes, blackmail your principal!”
So was it hard to play someone like her?
I mean, not necessarily, because my sister says I act like Stephanie all the time. So it wasn’t really hard, but it was really fun.
Yeah, it’s fun to play the baddie. The first part of this episode, when we don’t exactly know what’s happening, you have to do a lot of acting with just your face, which is really hard for even some seasoned pros. What was some stuff that you did to try and show Stephanie’s emotions and help us get to know the character before she really says a lot?
Well, I’m a very emotional person myself, so I like to use my facial expressions and furrow my eyebrows a bit, or twitch my eye or flare my nostrils, or make sudden little movements with my face that you can just tell is like, “Oh she’s pissed,” or “Oh she’s happy,” or like, “Oh she’s planning to murder a gerbil.”
What was your favorite scene to shoot?
My favorite scene — although it was the hardest, it was definitely the funnest — was definitely the bathroom scene.
What was especially fun and difficult about it?
It was fun because I got to hang out with Natasha and Margo. [The crew] were removing walls and removing the ceiling to get all the different shots and I thought it was really cool because it was on the soundstage. It was really fascinating — having to remove the walls and then setting up the camera again, and then placing back the walls and removing a different wall and placing the camera there and getting different angles. I thought it was really cool. Something difficult about it was probably the singing, because when I skip off and I’m singing, they didn’t give me any tunes; they only gave me lyrics. They didn’t give me a melody or anything. I kind of just had to improv it when I was singing, so it no two takes for the same.
Oh, that’s fun. You mentioned working with Natasha and with Margo, so what did you learn from them and the other pros on this shoot?
It was really fascinating to watch the process and how they do things. I didn’t really develop any habits from them, but for example — Adam was super particular with every single take that he would just want it to be just perfect. I think he had a vision, and I think he definitely made it come to life.
This is such a juicy role to do, what do you want to do next?
I just finished this feature film with Alicia Vikander, and it was really fun. And I’m hoping to do maybe a show on Broadway, or another big show where I’m a bigger part instead of like a little kid part, because I think it’d be super exciting.
If you met Stephanie in real life, what would you say to her?
I think I would see her, and she’d be like, “Who are you?” And I’d be like, “I’m you.” And then she’d be like, “Oh, that’s pretty cool.” And then I’d be like, “Do you want to go get some stars?” She’d be like, “Yeah.” And then we’d just skip off into the sunset.
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