Current:Home > NewsLena Dunham won't star in her new Netflix show to avoid having her 'body dissected' -Stellar Financial Insights
Lena Dunham won't star in her new Netflix show to avoid having her 'body dissected'
View
Date:2025-04-15 11:34:19
Lena Dunham is making decisions that are best for her mental health and creativity.
In a New Yorker interview published Tuesday, the "Girls" alum, 38, revealed how she's protecting herself by remaining behind the camera in her upcoming semi-autobiographical Netflix rom-com series, "Too Much." Dunham is co-creating the 10-episode project with her husband, Luis Felber, and it stars comedian Meg Stalter (HBO's "Hacks") and Will Sharpe (HBO's "White Lotus").
"I knew from the very beginning I would not be the star of it. First, because I had seen Meg Stalter’s work, and I was very inspired by her. She’s unbelievable; I think people are going to be so blown away. We know how funny she is," Dunham told The New Yorker.
"I also think that I was not willing to have another experience like what I’d experienced around 'Girls' at this point in my life. Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again," she added. "It was a hard choice — not to cast Meg, because I knew I wanted Meg, but to admit that to myself.
"I used to think that winning meant you just keep doing it and you don’t care what anybody thinks. I forgot that winning is actually just protecting yourself and doing what you need to do to keep making work."
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Though known for on-camera roles such as Hannah Horvath on "Girls" and Cat in 2012's "This is 40," Dunham has leaned into directing, writing and producing (2022's "Catherine Called Birdy," Max show "Generation") in recent years.
"I got into this because I wanted to be an artist. I actually was never a person who — as much as people may not believe this, because of the way that my work is structured and what it’s about — was unbelievably interested in attention," Dunham said. "What makes me feel powerful is making my work. It’s the only thing I want to do. It is my only love in life aside from the people who are closest to me and my pets and books."
This summer, Dunham returned to the screen in the movie "Treasure," which marked her first acting role in seven years.
Why Lena Dunham left the Lilly Collins 'Polly Pocket' movie
In the New Yorker interview, Dunham also revealed that she is no longer attached to an upcoming movie about Polly Pocket after working on a script for three years.
The move was in part due to writer and director Greta Gerwig's "incredible" feat with the last summer's phenomenon, "Barbie."
"I’m not going to make the Polly Pocket movie. I wrote a script, and I was working on it for three years," Dunham said. "I think Greta [Gerwig] managed this incredible feat [with 'Barbie'], which was to make this thing that was literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta."
She continued, "And I just — I felt like, unless I can do it that way, I’m not going to do it. I don’t think I have that in me. I feel like the next movie I make needs to feel like a movie that I absolutely have to make. No one but me could make it. And I did think other people could make 'Polly Pocket.'"
'Resentment toward women':Lena Dunham looks back on 'Girls' body-shaming
In a statement to USA TODAY Wednesday, a Mattel spokesperson said, "Polly Pocket is in active development, and we look forward to sharing updates on the project soon. Lena is a remarkable writer and creator and we wish her all the best!"
The live-action movie, announced by Mattel Films and MGM Studios in June 2021, was described as a story that "follows a young girl and a pocket-sized woman who form a friendship." Lily Collins was cast as the micro-doll Polly and is also producing the project.
Dunham also lauded filmmaker Nancy Meyers for her taste, which "manages to intersect perfectly with what the world wants," and the late writer/director Nora Ephron, a mentor who encouraged Dunham to, "Go be weird. Don’t kowtow to anyone."
Though the multi-hyphenate is also working on another Netflix show about "the idea that organizations like the C.I.A. and M.I.6 are tapping college students in, earlier and earlier," she sees her next commercial project as "another romantic comedy."
"My New Year’s resolution this year was, like, 'I’m going to try to think more commercially thirty-seven percent of the time, just because it’s an interesting challenge,'" she said.
veryGood! (79)
Related
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- Please Stand Up for Eminem's Complete Family Tree—Including Daughter Hailie Jade's First Baby on the Way
- California vineyard owner says he was fined $120K for providing free housing to his employee
- Michigan offense finds life with QB change, crumbles late in 27-17 loss at Washington
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Vanderbilt pulls off stunning upset of No. 2 Alabama to complicate playoff picture
- 'Dream come true:' New Yorker flies over 18 hours just to see Moo Deng in Thailand
- 'It was just a rug': Police conclude search after Columbus woman's backyard discovery goes viral
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- Biden talks election, economy and Middle East in surprise news briefing
Ranking
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Hilary Swank Gets Candid About Breastfeeding Struggles After Welcoming Twins
- TikToker Katie Santry Found a Rug Buried In Her Backyard—And Was Convinced There Was a Dead Body
- A $1 billion Mega Millions jackpot remains unclaimed. It's not the first time.
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Will Lionel Messi play vs. Toronto Saturday? Here's the latest update on Inter Miami star
- Washington state fines paper mill $650,000 after an employee is killed
- A Tennessee nurse and his dog died trying to save a man from floods driven by Hurricane Helene
Recommendation
Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
MLB playoffs: Four pivotal players for ALDS and NLDS matchups
Regulators investigate possible braking error in over 360,000 Ford crossover SUVs
In Competitive Purple Districts, GOP House Members Paint Themselves Green
Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
Minnesota Lynx cruise to Game 3 win vs. Connecticut Sun, close in on WNBA Finals
Ruby Franke's Daughter Slams Trash Lifetime Movie About Her Family
North Carolina lawmakers to vote on initial Helene relief