by Gill Pringle in LA
If Lena Dunham’s award-winning show Girls explored the messy joys and struggles of New York twenty-somethings, then fast forward eight years, to her latest show, taking a witty look at what women might want in their 30’s.
Better still, her Netflix ex-pat romcom, Too Much, is set in London – loosely based on her own romance and subsequent marriage to Peruvian British guitarist Luis Felber.
Having dated Fun and Bleachers musician/producer Jack Antonoff throughout Girls’ six seasons between 2012 and 2017, the end of their relationship would also coincide with the end of her show.
Suddenly finding herself on the other side of the dizzy rollercoaster that had thrust her into Hollywood’s rarefied circles, Dunham would endure a hysterectomy due to endometriosis and a period in rehab to treat an addiction to benzodiazepines.
Relocating to London in 2019, she realised that she had put an ocean between her family and friends and, even though she was surrounded by new friends, she admits that she felt lonely. “I’d have days where I’d realise that I haven’t seen anyone that I have a real relationship with,” she recalls today.
Returning to the States during the pandemic, she came back to London in 2021 to direct Bella Ramsey and Andrew Scott in adventure movie, Catherine Called Birdy. Planning to stay just three months, friends set her up on a blind date with Felber – whom she affectionately refers to as “Lu” – in February 2021, culminating in a whirlwind engagement and wedding at Soho’s bohemian Union Club seven months later, Taylor Swift serving as bridesmaid.
“I want to relive this day for the rest of my life!” she declared at the time.
And now, through Too Much, she gets to do that! Casting Hacks’ Megan Stalter as New York workaholic “Jess” and British writer-director-actor Will Sharpe as enigmatic musician “Felix”, she sprinkles her own true love story with pixie dust in this meet-cute story of opposites attract.
From the moment Jess arrives in London – shocked to learn that the ‘estate’ in her new London address refers to a council estate rather than a stately home – nothing is as Notting Hill or Bridget Jones’s Diary would have her believe.
Recalling all her own cultural shocks upon moving to London, she says, “I would say it was easier to become an English pop culture expert than it was to become an English interpersonal behaviour expert. I’m still working on that one.
“That being said, I love pop culture. I also love gossip when it’s not mean. I love gentle gossip that’s out in the ether. And I love studying up on obscure pop cultural facts,” says Dunham, 39, who admits to remaining slightly baffled by the British love of baked beans at every meal.
“And sometimes my British friends are alarmed because I know so much about the band members of Atomic Kitten and who they married and how that went for them. Or like the entire history of Katie Price’s mucky mansion,” laughs the writer, director, actor, and all-around creative force who’s sparked so many conversations – and controversies – over the years.
Unsurprisingly, a Who’s Who of talent were happy to play even the smallest roles in her quirky new series, including Stephen Fry, Naomi Watts, Richard E Grant, Rita Wilson, Kit Harrington, Rhea Perlman, Jennifer Saunders, Emily Ratajkowski and Andrew Scott
Meanwhile, Megan and Will’s characters’ sexual odyssey serves as an intimate glimpse into Dunham and Felber’s own courtship and differing ways of struggling with mental health issues.
“It’s a very anxiety filled world we live in. I remember when I was a kid being diagnosed with anxiety and thinking that it was incredibly shameful or odd,” she shares.
“And then, it’s interesting to grow up and realise that basically everyone has anxiety. It’s not like having a very specific illness that is rare and hard to understand – it makes sense in the world that we live in,” says Dunham who does however suffer from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare condition that causes joint pain and fatigue among other issues, resulting in her occasional use of a cane.
“And so, showing what some of those pressures were for these two people and also just the idea that there are certain pressures that Jess has coming from a matriarchal family,” says Dunham who plays divorcee Nora, Jess’s depressed older sister in Too Much, whom she describes as having the spirit of Eeyore.
“I also felt really lucky to have Luis’ perspective on the male character. We had really interesting conversations that really reminded me of what I was doing and why I was doing it,” says Dunham who created and co-wrote Too Much with her husband.
Often praised for de-stigmatizing various topics surrounding sexuality, she has nonetheless been critiqued for oversharing or centering herself in complex conversations.
Since her breakthrough with 2010 indie film Tiny Furniture, Dunham has undeniably helped change how women’s stories are told on the screen, making space for more honest, sometimes unlikable, fully human female characters. And whether you love her or cringe at her, you can’t ignore her as an influential and unique voice.
She understands that her signature style – raw, confessional, personal, and often uncomfortable – isn’t for everyone.
“As a result, I’m sure that my work has become more romantic or nihilistic or aggressive or cozy, depending on the moment that I’m in,” she says.
“I think the thing that motivates me to keep doing it, is that feeling that it not only explains something to me, but that it also allows me to connect to other people.
“It hasn’t always been the easiest thing for me, and I feel like writing’s really allowed me a way in. I love that this process, this job of TV, also gives me this beautiful way to connect to people and to form these deep relationships. And that’s a big deal for someone who, as a kid, didn’t have a lot of friends in school,” reveals Dunham who was destined for the creative world since childhood – her mother being Laurie Simmons, a well-known photographer and artist, and her father, painter Carroll Dunham.
An outspoken feminist, Lena Dunham enjoys her place in a community of female writers. “I certainly feel like we have a feminist generation, but I also feel that there’s a lot of different voices to it,” she says.
“And I still apologise that I put that line about being the voice of a generation in the pilot of my show [Girls], because it made people think that I was serious and not joking,” she adds.
Too Much is streaming now on Netflix
