How Stevie Nicks Inspired Natasha Lyonne’s ‘Poker Face’ Character
Stevie Nicks has been a muse for countless artists and musicians, and she recently inspired Natasha Lyonne’s Poker Face character, Charlie Cale. Here’s what the creators behind the Peacock show said about using the Fleetwood Mac star as their inspiration.
Natasha Lyonne plays a human lie detector in Peacock’s ‘Poker Face’
Poker Face is a new series available for streaming on Peacock. The first batch of episodes launched in January.
The 10-episode “case-of-the-week”-style murder mystery follows actor Natasha Lyonne as the main character Charlie Cale, a casino worker who is also a human lie detector. She travels across the US, encountering new characters and solving mysterious homicides along the way.
The show features several recurring and guest stars, including Adrien Brody, Chloë Sevigny, Dascha Polanco, Ellen Barkin, Jameela Jamil, Clea DuVall, and more.
Stevie Nicks’ signature look inspired Natasha Lyonne’s ‘Poker Face’ character
Since Poker Face is set in the 1970s, show creator Rian Johnson took inspiration from pop culture icons from that period; specifically, singer Stevie Nicks was the muse behind Natasha Lyonne’s character, Charlie Cale.
“We were really pulling a lot of references of Stevie Nicks from like the late ’70s, early ’80s where she had this kind of mullet, this in between texture of curly and straight, and it just kind of looked very like raw and real in a sense,” said the show’s hair department head, Marcel Dagenais (via IndieWire).
The Poker Face team also took inspiration from the Fleetwood Mac singer’s wardrobe to achieve a retro, Southwestern aesthetic. Costume designer Trayce Gigi Field described Cale’s clothing as “Stevie Nicks from the late ’70s” attire (per Vogue).
Stevie Nicks revealed she cut her own hair in her signature style
Nicks explained to Harper’s Bazaar how she put together the signature look that inspired Natasha Lyonne’s Poker Face character. Once she became the frontwoman on Fleetwood Mac, she knew she had to find a way to stand out.
“I didn’t want to look like anyone else – like Janis Joplin or Grace Slick,” she told the publication in 2011. “That’s why I never went to any of the big designers. I drew a stick figure of what I dreamed up and gave it to my costume designer, Margi Kent, who I still work with. It was a handkerchief dress with a jacket, long, droopy chiffon sleeves, and velvet platform boots.”
She also cut her own hair in the shaggy, banged look that Charlie Cale rocks in the Peacock series. “I’d take the top, measure it with my fingers, and chop it off. I did it pretty well,” Nicks said.
“No one had done this look before,” Kent, Nicks’ costume designer, said. “I remember I went on the road with them, and there were hundreds of Stevie look-alikes. Everyone wanted to look like her.”
