On June 5, the IndieWire Honors Spring 2025 ceremony will have a good time the creators and stars liable for a few of the most spectacular and fascinating work of this TV season. Curated and chosen by IndieWire’s editorial workforce, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the creators, artisans, and performers behind tv nicely value toasting. Within the days main as much as the occasion, IndieWire is showcasing their work with new interviews and tributes from their friends.
Forward, Lyonne’s long-time greatest good friend Melanie Lynskey tells IndieWire in regards to the many qualities that set our Maverick Award aside, each as a performer and as a pal.
There’s a second when Melanie Lynskey talks about Natasha Lyonne that type of says all of it.
“If she chooses you, you’re going to be her good friend,” she mentioned. “That’s simply it.”
For greater than 20 years, Lyonne and Lynskey have been ride-or-dies bonded by bizarre nights, nice scripts, and deep mutual respect. They’ve starred in three motion pictures collectively, together with “However I’m a Cheerleader” and “The Intervention” (that one directed by their nice pal and “Cheerleader” co-star Clea DuVall).
In order Lyonne will get her flowers at IndieWire Honors, Lynskey is right here to remind us why there’s no person like Natasha.
“She’s all the time been insanely gifted,” Lynskey mentioned. “However now, she is aware of precisely what she’s able to — and the world is aware of it too.”
That features writing, directing, producing, and starring in not one however two groundbreaking exhibits (“Russian Doll” and “Poker Face”), all whereas championing the individuals she loves. “If she loves you, she desires you to be doing every little thing to the utmost of your skills,” Lynskey mentioned. “She’s everybody’s greatest cheerleader.”
Their friendship kicked off in Toronto throughout filming for the 1999 movie “Detroit Rock Metropolis,” when a shy, New Zealand-based Lynskey arrived on set. “Natasha took me out for the night time and that was it. We have been bonded for all times,” she mentioned. That night time included a Halloween KISS live performance, an tried on line casino journey (denied on the door: no passport), a persistent limo driver attempting to crash the afterparty, and vodka. A lot of vodka. “If we tried that now, it will take me two weeks to get well.”
Lynskey nonetheless lights up when she talks about how Lyonne works. “I actually type of envy the looseness she has in her physique, just like the drapey-ness and the type of physicality that may be a bit bit masculine at instances. It’s actually enjoyable,” she mentioned. “She’s very free, particularly in ‘Poker Face.’ She has an actual type of looseness to her limbs. And I really feel like there’s all the time part of my mind that’s like, ‘What do I do with arms?’— there’s simply this swagger. In the meantime, I’m over right here like, ‘What do I do with my arms?’”
Even earlier than “Poker Face,” Lyonne’s spirit helped form Lynskey’s path — generally actually. When Lynskey was auditioning for the function of a New Jersey woman in “Coyote Ugly” and couldn’t afford a dialect coach, she leaned on her interpretation of Lyonne (by no means thoughts that she was very a lot born and raised on the Higher East Aspect). “It morphed into one thing else after I received solid, however I type of primarily based it on Natasha, yeah,” she mentioned with fun. “I don’t know the way impressed she was about that: ‘I did that audition, too.“ I used to be like, ‘Effectively, sorry about that.”
Now, at the same time as Lyonne’s busy working the present, she’s nonetheless hyping her buddies. “She’s everybody’s greatest cheerleader. I bear in mind one time I received a message from her, and he or she was searching for performing coach or a dialect coach and he or she mentioned, ‘You’re the most effective actor I’ve in my telephone.’ Such a selected praise. I cherished the way it wasn’t hyperbolic,” Lynskey mentioned.
They don’t see one another as a lot as they’d like, though Lynskey has an upcoming guest-star slot on episode 8 of “Poker Face” — however after they do, nothing’s modified. “We had this nice night time just lately, simply hanging at Natasha’s home and speaking for hours. That’s the good things.”
So what’s left to say?
“She’s such a treasure to all of us,” Lynskey mentioned. “There’s no person like her, so it’s actually so particular to see her being acknowledged.”
Learn Natasha Lyonne’s full IndieWire Honors profile.