Priyanka Chopra Credits Bollywood For Her Stunt Skills & 'Citadel' Is Her 'Hardest' Action Yet
"I never rest on my laurels."
Priyanka Chopra as Nadia Sinh in 'Citadel.' Right: Priyanka Chopra and 'Citadel' co-star Richard Madden.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas was a Bollywood star before crossing over to Hollywood with Quantico, and the actress says those roots are a big part of her action-packed performance in Prime Video’s new spy thriller, Citadel.
The series follows Nadia Sinh (Chopra) and Mason Kane (Richard Madden), two former members of a now-defunct global spy agency called Citadel. The show picks up eight years after Citadel fell and the two had their minds wiped, and they are soon pulled out of their new lives and back into the fight when a former Citadel colleague (Stanley Tucci) comes calling.
"It's a very complex show," Chopra told Narcity. "My character is really deeply affected by the person that she was and the person that she became in these eight years."
The show is produced by Joe and Anthony Russo, directors of Avengers: Endgame and Marvel's Captain America movies. The Russos have clearly got some Marvel-like ideas for the future, with Citadel spinoffs in the works for different global markets.
“We love the idea of trying to create a global community because stories are one of the last things we have left that binds us together," Joe Russo said. "There’s a lot of division in the world today, and stories bring you together.”
Russo added that Amazon's "unique" reach makes it perfect for a project like this, and Chopra's crossover stardom also made her a great fit to start the franchise.
“There are very few international stars that hold the world's attention the way that she does. And it's an incredible, strong female lead character who kicks a lot of ass in the show, and Priyanka is gifted physically. I've never seen anybody so ready to go for a stunt sequence or a stunt fight,” said Russo.
“The choices that she makes, they're very clever. And I gotta be honest, I was surprised at how much she actually loved the stunt fighting and doing her own stunts. She's almost like the female Tom Cruise,” he said.
We spoke with Priyanka Chopra Jonas ahead of the April 28 premiere date to discuss her new series and the next phase of her career.
Joe Russo said you loved the stunt fighting in Citadel. What made you want to do it yourself?
"I'm not someone who wants to do my stunts because I have pride or I want to show off or whatever. But I've done them because my training in Bollywood was to be able to do your own stunts. So I come in with experience and I come in with expertise.
"The reason why Joe Russo is so excited about me doing my own stunts is because of Bollywood and everything that I learned in the movies back then."
You've always said that the bare minimum is not a standard you set for yourself. How did you push yourself harder for this role?
"It's just the hardest I've pushed myself in every way both physically and emotionally. Honestly, we shot it during COVID, I was away from my family, we couldn't meet anyone, we shot it for a year and a half.
"It's a very complex show. My character is really deeply affected by the person that she was and the person that she became in these eight years (after her mind was wiped).
"And at the same time, you know, it was physically very much on my shoulders because of my character's skill sets in the show. So the physicality of it training every week, every single day, trying to find time to go into stunts, learning combat training, learning weapons, all that is very daunting for a long duration.
"I never rest on my laurels. I don't believe in that. I believe that you have to find the next thing after you’ve finished with one and Citadel is the most I've pushed myself in a long time."
If every character is a little bit of the actor who plays them, how much of Priyanka is in Nadia?
"Very little actually. I try to never play myself. My method is to be able to familiarize myself so much with the character that I'm playing, that I disappear. So I try not to be similar, but I think Nadia and I have a similarity, which is when something bad happens, we're not going to run; we will stand right there and we'll deal with it."
You have this huge platform on a global stage with the world watching on Prime Video. Do you feel pressure?
"No, I just treat it like my job.
"I know being an actor and having a career as long as I've enjoyed, I have a lot of people that discuss me and my life and I'm consumed publicly; I’m a dinner table conversation.
"If I spend every day thinking about it, you can't be sane, so I just like having a really normal approach to what I do. I go to work, and I go home."
On the show, the characters have their memories wiped. If you could hold on to one memory from your Citadel journey, what would it be?
"Premiering the show in Mumbai. Watching it in an IMAX theater with the industry that I grew up in front of and friends and family that have seen me since I was 20 years old and watching them watch me on the big screen doing that, I think that is a core memory that will stay with me for a long time."
This interview has been edited and condensed.