Note: This story contains spoilers from “Nine Perfect Strangers” Season 2, Episode 4.
While King Princess is best known for her wide-ranging catalogue of pop music, the “1950” singer is taking a leap into acting with her TV debut on “Nine Perfect Strangers” Season 2, with a character whose disconnection to her musical roots mirrors the musician’s own journey.
“Music felt really stale for a minute,” King Princess told TheWrap, quickly adding that, “it doesn’t feel that way anymore” having just announced the debut of her next album this fall, titled “Girl Violence.” “I’ve been doing music professionally since I was a kid, so I was maybe just burnt out from it … but I still wanted to do something creative, and I still wanted to feel like I was honing a craft or learning.”
After going through the audition and callback process for a number of roles, the offer for the David E. Kelley Hulu series came through, offering King Princess the chance to play Tina, a child music prodigy facing a mental block when it comes to sitting back down at the piano again.
“For my first role, it wasn’t a huge jump,” the musician continued. “She’s kind of where I was at with music, literally, except she has no therapy or therapeutic tools. She’s somebody who has rejected all forms emotional investigation … she’s definitely gone to doctors, she’s gone to psychiatrists, but she’s not getting to the root of it.”
It’s that apathy that prompts Tina’s girlfriend, Wolfie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) to bring her on the Austrian healing retreat led by Nicole Kidman’s Masha Dmitrichenko, with the hopes that gentle doses of psilocybin (a.k.a. magic mushrooms) can help unblock Tina’s trauma. Tina’s story gets a special spotlight in Episode 4 — starting with a surreal nightmare — that illuminates some revelations for both Tina and Wolfie.
Below, King Princess unpacks Tina’s tumultuous Episode 4 conversations, reveals a cut kiss between Tina and another house guest at Zauberwald and teases what’s to come for the rest of the season.
TheWrap: In Episode 4, we see things come to a head as Tina refuses to try music again. How does that conversation with Masha help her in her journey?
KP: She’s high on the shrooms, and she has this panic attack because she feels like this whole orchestra concert/jam session is being done to her, and then she takes the mushrooms and I think it’s just sensory overload, emotion overload. When she leaves and sits with Masha, this breakthrough happens — she doesn’t really want to be doing this for anyone else but herself, and right now, it’s not giving her joy, so what’s the point?
Her other big realization is like, “Oh my God, I’ve recreated my dynamic with my mother with my girlfriend — which, I’ve been there. It’s a lot of subtext — we don’t know necessarily about Tina’s Family, but I did a lot of writing what I thought her family was like, and what I wrote was that she had this mother who gave her praise when she was on stage only, and that she felt the love from her mother was conditional, and that condition was if she performed, then she got praise. And now she’s in a relationship that is clearly very triggering to her, she says, “I’m f–king my mom.”
Tina then has a difficult conversation with Wolfie, when Wolfie makes it clear she fell in love with Tina because of their connection to music. At this point does Tina think this relationship could continue?
Fair point from Wolfie. I think that’s what’s interesting about Tina and Wolfie is that they’re both right. Tina does want a partner who loves her unconditionally, and Wolf is like, “no, I don’t. I like the person that I fell in love with, who had a purpose, and that purpose was music and gave me therefore a purpose.” I think that it’s really fair what Wolfie is saying, I just think it’s really harsh and really brutal, and it leaves them at a crossroads where it’s like the people that they were when they met are not the people they are now, or at least for Tina, that’s true.
What was it like filming that nightmare scene?
Well, first of all, my mom was there, which was the first time my mom was on set. Me and Lizzy [Gardiner], the costume designer, and [director] Anthony [Byrne] made a lot of choices about what Tina would be wearing in her nightmare. We were thinking she’s this lesbian who probably used to be kind of femme, and now she’s cut her hair off, and she’s a little butch, and she’s figuring out masculinity. It’s a direct result of probably what she was forced to wear as a child. There’s a great show on Netflix all about child pianists, and [the costumes are] very flashy, it’s flashier than you think it is. Especially when you’re young kids, there’s like a pageantry to it. I was just trying to tap into the fact that this person, Tina, who we meet now is, like, this kind of butch dark cloud, and her nightmare is what she was forced to wear as a child, which is ruffly and pink and feminine.
That was the last scene I filmed before I wrapped so I literally left “Nine Perfect Strangers” covered in corn syrup, everywhere.
Wolfie has made some connections in the house, but your character hasn’t until she has moment with Imogen. Is Imogen who she feels most close to in the house at the end of Episode 4?
Imogen and her circumstantially have a conversation, because there’s nowhere to go. I don’t think that they were two people who did connect — that moment was like their first time connecting, and it was really cute. I like that Tina is capable of being kind to pretty much everyone but her girlfriend and herself, and that’s an example of that. I think Murray [Bartlett’s] character, Brian, and Tina really get along and really connect and it’s partially because of the fact that Brian was kind to Tina when she was young, and I don’t think a lot of people were interested in her for anything other than her ability. I that she [finds it] interesting and and cool that Brian is a loose cannon — I think that she’s like, “God, I wish I could f–king let out my feelings like that,” because Tina’s more passive aggressive.
I do think the moment with Imogen is really sweet, you know, I think it’s about mommy issues. They’re drunk, and they find each other in this moment, and originally, there was a kiss, which I kind of wish was still in. We filmed it and everything.
What can you tease about how the rest of the season plays out?
It gets so kooky bananas. It’s so cray-cray. It’s such a fun ride. The story lines, Nicole’s storyline and the way that it all ties together is really, really clever. If you’re a sad lesbian, this is the show for you.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
“Nine Perfect Strangers” Episodes 1-4 are now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday.
