Amsterdam Empire (Netflix)

[BluBonnet]

Netflix’s Cannabis Drama ‘Amsterdam Empire’ Gives Famke Janssen the Role She’s Been Waiting For – and She Finally Gets to Speak in Dutch

Famke Janssen gets a meaty role in upcoming weed-centered crime drama “Amsterdam Empire,” heading to Netflix later this year.

“My character, Betty, is a former pop star from the 90s who had one hit called ‘Forever.’ Her husband owns the biggest weed empire. Then she finds out he’s cheated with a younger woman and now, she’s pregnant,” she tells Variety at Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

“He wants to buy her off with some money, but she won’t come after the money: she’ll come after the whole weed empire. And destroy him in the process.”

Betty has a score to settle, but Janssen says: “She’s not enraged the whole time. I wanted to make sure of that, because it could get a little tiresome. But I also thought: ‘Go and get it,’” she laughs.

“I wanted to challenge myself, even by doing a music video and learning to dance and sing. We looked at everyone for inspiration, at Paula Abdul and all these other women who were performing at the time. Their fashion, choreography.”

Her character’s complexity is no accident – following “GoldenEye” and “X-Men,” where she played Jean Grey-turned-Dark Phoenix, the industry has seen the Dutch actor as a villain for way too long.

“I think there are certain actors who get typecast. I don’t know, it might have to do with me being a woman, it might have to do with being a foreigner. I’m a strong woman. I look like a strong woman, at least. But the whole point of doing this job is getting to show different facets of yourself,” she says.

[John Powers]

Looking forward to this one.