Lena Dunham on fatphobia, courting recommendation and her new London rom-com Too A lot

Lena Dunham is sort of synonymous with New York Metropolis. The US actress, author and director rose to fame together with her award-winning semi-autobiographical sequence Ladies, which adopted 4 20-something girls as they navigated love, life and friendship within the Massive Apple.

However her fiscal activities challenge – a Netflix rom-com loosely based mostly on her life over the previous couple of years – is ready on the opposite aspect of the Atlantic.

Too A lot follows Jessica (Megan Stalter), who strikes from New York to London after breaking apart together with her boyfriend, and falls in love with punk musician Felix (Will Sharpe).

Simply as Dunham did when she moved to London in 2021, Jessica shortly learns the essential issues concerning the UK: everyone loves Paddington, the Jaffa Cake debate is very contentious (it is positively a biscuit) and a “housing property” is not the sprawling gardens of a lavish manor home.

Dunham tells the BBC that whereas Too A lot has “superficial similarities” to her life and is “about 5% autobiographical”, she did not see herself ever taking part in the present’s protagonist in the way in which she did in Ladies.

“I did not think about Jessica to be me – she’s impressed by my life however is her personal character and was written with Megan in thoughts,” she says.

Megan Stalter says Ladies “was all about intercourse and Too A lot is about falling in love”, which is a much like how Dunham sees the present.

There was additionally one more reason she selected to step away from the highlight. Whereas filming Ladies, in her 20s, Dunham’s physique was closely scrutinised and final yr, she advised the New Yorker she “was not up for having my physique dissected once more”.

She explains that physique shaming was a part of the rationale she stepped additional behind the digital camera. “Simply being perceived was overwhelming,” she says.

Dunham has spent the previous few years specializing in writing initiatives that do not centre her as an actor.

She believes society has made some strides in the direction of being extra physique optimistic, however says the tradition we dwell in remains to be “so deeply fatphobic, misogynistic, racist and ageist and that informs our dynamic with our physique”.

The 39-year-old has been vocal about challenges she’s confronted together with her well being, notably her endometriosis, which led her to have a hysterectomy aged 31.

Requested how her relationship together with her physique has modified since then, she says she’s developed a brand new love for the way she appears to be like.

“I have been capable of have a relationship with my physique that exists exterior of the cultural pressures and I really feel fortunate for that.”

In addition to reflecting on how her self picture has modified, Dunham additionally says she’s discovered rather a lot since her 20s.

Having been within the highlight for greater than decade, the actress has had her justifiable share of controversies.

In 2017, she defended Ladies author Murray Miller when he was accused of sexual assault. Dunham later apologised, saying it was “completely the unsuitable time” to share her perspective. Miller vehemently denied the claims and was not charged.

She additionally apologised for a “distasteful joke” she had made on a podcast saying she wished she’d skilled a termination when discussing the US abortion.

“I assumed, again then, it was essential to only maintain going and be powerful it doesn’t matter what occurred,” she displays.

“I used to be so targeted on work and never letting any of the noise in however I want I had allowed myself to take extra time and area. All of us must acknowledge our personal complexities and sensitivities nevertheless it’s laborious to wrap your head round that if you’re in your 20s.”

Dunham’s new 10-episode sequence stars Hacks actor Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe, finest identified for taking part in Ethan Spiller in The White Lotus and movies similar to A Actual Ache.

Sharpe, 38, says he pertains to the challenges his character faces, as “everybody carries baggage from their earlier relationship” and feels susceptible after they enter a brand new one.

Stalter pertains to her character too. The 34-year-old says she usually “felt like she was an excessive amount of” in her 20s however with time, has come to be happy with her who she is.

Written with Dunham’s husband, musician Luis Felber, Too A lot focuses on the evolution of 1 romantic relationship.

It is refreshing in its realness – from severe conversations between Jessica and Felix to the actual fact Jessica’s media wage stretches to a housing property in east London quite than a Bridget Jones-esque flat in Borough Market.

I ask Dunham if she has any courting ideas for ladies of their 20s, given she’s been via the rollercoaster of looking for a life companion.

She says the idea of courting has modified through the years, and again within the late noughties, it was “thought of a final resort or an odd factor to satisfy somebody on-line”.

Wanting again, Dunham needs she would have allowed herself to grasp what she actually wished quite than simply seeing the cultural expectations that had been positioned on her.

“If I used to be letting myself perceive my very own want, my 20s would have seemed actually totally different romantically.”

Too A lot is launched on Netflix on 10 July.