Priyanka Chopra’s ‘Citadel’ Opens to Mixed Reviews; From ‘Absurdly Fun Spy Thriller’ to ‘Bland’
- The Indian American star of the $300 million series reveals that she earned a scar during the shooting of what one critic called a “televisual crack.”
There seems to be nothing Priyanka Chopra Jonas can’t do. Acting, singing, producing, and doing her stunts. But if given a choice, the “Citadel” star would rather not do stunt work. “I didn’t want to do my stunts,” she told Variety, revealing that she had “a scar after shooting the Amazon Prime Video series when her left eyebrow had an unfortunate run-in with a camera.”
She recalled the incident which happened “at the end of a rainy London day.” The cast and crew were rushing as they were losing light, she said. “The ground was wet, and I went an inch in front of where I was supposed to stop. So the camera came an inch closer to me and the matte box took out my eyebrow. But you know, I have a cool scar and a good story to tell. I just put some surgical glue on her and closed her up and finished the day.” However, she “didn’t want to come back and have to do that whole thing again. “I was just like, ‘Let’s just get it done.’ I had fake blood and mud and stuff on my face anyway so you couldn’t event tell.”
Released on April 28 on Amazon Prime Video, high-stakes drama is executive produced by the Russo Brothers’ AGBO and showrunner David Weil, and stars Richard Madden, Stanley Tucci, Lesley Manville, and Ashleigh Cummings in main roles. The story follows elite agents Mason Kane (Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Chopra Jonas), who had their memories wiped as they narrowly escaped with their lives after the independent global spy agency Citadel’s fall.
The first two episodes are out, and reviews for the highly anticipated series have been mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, “Citadel” opened to an average 57% score. The Guardian calls it “an absurdly fun spy thriller,” which is “basically televisual crack,” while Peter Travers of ABC notes that what the series “lacks in originality, it makes up for in mind-blowing action.”
CNN says the series has “a feel of an old-fashioned spy show, dressed up with sleek leads.” In a review in The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg writes that “so far, it isn’t good enough to stick with for pure entertainment or bad enough to require rubbernecking. For all of its globally expansive, forward-looking aspirations, Citadel had me mostly looking backward and thinking of the sci-fi and spy shows that covered the same ground previously.” Variety’s Alison Herman calls it “a business plan in search of a show.”
Calling it “a $300 Million Disaster for Amazon” Rolling Stone says the series is “bland.” While Chopra Jonas and Madden “are serviceable,” Alan Sepinwall writes that “neither pops off the screen in the way they have in other roles. Like most of ‘Citadel,’ they’re not terrible, but nor are they doing anything worth getting excited about.”