Lena Dunham gave unconventional dog her big break
Lena Dunham has revealed how she took a chance on an 11-year-old Chinese Crested Dog and helped to make her the star of her new show.
The Girls creator has written a new Netflix series Too Much, based on her own move to London, and cast unconventional dog Mia in the role of pet Astrid - making her a canine star after years of being overlooked.
Dunham appeared on The One Show on Tuesday, 24 June with the cast of her rom com TV show, Hacks' Megan Stalter and The White Lotus' Will Sharpe. They explained how Mia was the true star of the show after dog-lover Dunham gave her her big break.
Stalter stars as Jessica in Too Much, a character based on Dunham herself, an "intense" American woman in her 30s trying to make friends with British people when she moves to London.
Stalter joked how she had been upstaged by Mia the dog on the red carpet at a preview screening of the show in London on Monday night. She told hosts Roman Kemp and Alex Jones: "I will say, this is Miss Mia who plays Astrid, and I will say that, I'm not allowed to cuss, but was p-d off at her because she was upstaging me with her dress. I could barely hold her because the dress was taking up my dress, but with that being said, she felt very at home on the red carpet."
Dunham added: "The other thing I'll say is that she is 11. And she had never gotten a modeling job, and because people didn't think she fit the classic mold - many people's story. And then I saw her and I said, 'This is exactly who I've been looking for.' And now she's been on the red carpet; she's been in Vogue; she's about to be in a major music video; and she's starring in the show. So I think she's maybe got the biggest narrative of any of us here."
Dunham moved to the UK in 2019 to direct an episode of BBC drama Industry and ended up falling in love with British culture, as well as English-Peruvian musician Luis Felber.
Stalter revealed Dunham and English actor Sharpe had tried to introduce her to certain aspects of British culture while making the show - and she had not been a fan of some of the food she had tried.
She confessed: "[Kendall mint cake.] I don't like it. But I like the other one. Jaffa cake."
Read more: Too Much
Lena Dunham: I Used 'Too Much' to Take Stand on Abortion Rights During 'Pivotal Moment' (IndieWire, 2 min read)
Lena Dunham Describes Her Netflix Series 'Too Much': 'When a Loud, Messy Jewess Descends on a City of Deeply Repressed People' (The Hollywood Reporter, 14 min read)
Move Over 'Girls' — Why Lena Dunham's Neflix Series 'Too Much' Is Going To Be Your New Rom-Com Obsession (Elle, 3 min read)
Retired footballer and TV star Ian Wright was also a guest on the show and Dunham revealed she is a big fan of his.
She said: "I am a big Ian Wright fan of my husband's going to have a freak out that I'm beside him! But I am working with Natalie Portman on a film we're about to start shooting, and she's one of the owners of Angel FC. And so I'm really excited to hopefully get to go to a game with her, and she's been sharing her passion from the rooftop. So I've put in a request for a jacket. We'll see if it arrives."
The One Show airs on BBC One at 7pm on weekdays.
Too Much lunches on Netflix at Thursday, 10 July.
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