Latest news with #Girls'
Time Magazine
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
10 Times Girls' Hannah Horvath Was the Absolute Worst
Often thought of as a more unlikeable spiritual successor to Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw, Girls leading lady Hannah Horvath was a character that fans struggled to love—or, for that matter, even tolerate—over the course of the HBO dramedy's six-season run. Created and played by Girls showrunner Lena Dunham, self-absorbed and entitled Hannah was seen as an archetype for a specific type of millennial woman, particularly the messy 20-something kind living in Brooklyn in the mid 2010s. However, much of the ire aimed at Hannah seemed to be intertwined with what viewers thought about Dunham herself, who touted the character as semi-autobiographical and was the subject of intense scrutiny during the years Girls was on the air. Dunham has defended Hannah's faults—as well as those of her pseudo-besties Marnie (Allison Williams), Jessa (Jemima Kirke), and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet)—as relatable and honest, and spoken out about how their flaws were criticized much more than the exponentially worse offenses of their male antihero counterparts. "I'm constantly being asked about these characters being unlikable, and I'm like, 'What does that even mean?'" Dunham told Vogue in 2016. "Walter White and Tony Soprano literally murder people, and everybody's like, 'I love them,' and all we do is be kind of rude and do drugs sometimes and we're unlikable." Still, that doesn't mean Hannah's behavior was always easy to watch play out on screen. So here, in chronological order, are the 10 Girls episodes where Hannah Horvath was the worst. "Pilot" (Season 1, Episode 1) Girls doesn't waste any time letting us know just what type of person Hannah is. After her parents cut her off financially in the pilot episode's opening scene, insisting she try to get a paying job at the age of 24, Hannah responds by telling them she doesn't want to see them for the rest of their visit to New York. However, she later proceeds to get high on opium tea, show up at their hotel room to confront them, and—in what has become one of Girls' most defining moments—deliver a half self-aggrandizing, half-self deprecating plea for support: "I think that I may be the voice of a generation. Or, at least, a voice of a generation." In the morning, Hannah wakes to find her parents have checked out and left behind two envelopes, one with $20 for her and one with $20 for housekeeping. She pockets both bills without pause and heads out. "Bad Friend" (Season 2, Episode 3) "Bad Friend" may be one of Girls' funniest installments, but it's also one of Hannah's most unflattering—which is saying something. After asking her downstairs neighbor Laird (Jon Glaser), a recovering addict, for a drug hook-up, Hannah goes on a Wednesday night coke bender with Elijah (Andrew Rannells) that results in him revealing he and Marnie briefly had sex in a moment of confusion. Despite the fact that he and Hannah broke up years ago and he's since come out to her as gay, this prompts Hannah to kick Elijah out of their shared apartment and show up unannounced at Booth Jonathan's (Jorma Taccone) home to accost Marnie with a self-righteous diatribe about how Marnie is the bad friend and she's the good friend. During a pit stop at a local pharmacy, Elijah succinctly sums up her bad behavior: "Leave it to you to make this whole night about you and your role in my path to honest what happened between Marnie and I had very little, nay, nothing to do with you whatsoever." To make herself feel better after terrorizing her friends, Hannah ends the evening by sleeping with Laird, who has spent the night racked with guilt over the fact that he supplied her with drugs. It's the cherry on top of a narcissistic spiral. "Video Games" (Season 2, Episode 7) While accompanying Jessa on a trip upstate to visit her estranged father, Hannah deems it appropriate to have a sexual encounter with Hannah's 19-year-old stepbrother Frank (Nick Lashaway) while Jessa is attempting to work through the issues her dad's immaturity and frequent abandonment have caused in their relationship. When Jessa questions Hannah's behavior, demanding to know whether she really "had no idea this was not supposed to be a sexcapade," Hannah blames Jessa for making her think that's what the evening was about. Later that night, she further isolates her friend by offering up the less-than-helpful advice that no one is ever in the right frame of mind to see their parents. To make matters even worse, when Frank tells Hannah the next morning that he feels like she used him for sex, she's dismissive of his hurt despite the fact that he's a literal teenager and seems to have been a virgin. Turns out actions have consequences, Hannah. "Only Child" (Season 3, Episode 5) After Hannah's editor David (John Cameron Mitchell) unexpectedly dies, she decides it's a good idea to show up at his funeral to question his widow about the fate of her forthcoming ebook. When she finds out the publisher David worked for has dropped all his projects, Hannah is more concerned with trying to suss out the name of another potential publisher than the fact that she's surrounded by David's grieving family members. In turn, she earns the only acceptable response to such an ill-timed and callous request: 'If I do give you another name, will you get the f-ck out of here?' "Beach House" (Season 3, Episode 7) During a weekend getaway to Marnie's mom's friend's beach house in North Fork that Marnie organized in hopes of healing the girls' fractured friend group, Hannah invites Elijah and his pals (including a new boyfriend literally named Pal who's played by Danny Strong) to come over without even checking to see if it's OK with the others. She then rudely laughs at everyone's jokes about how little food there is at dinner, a problem that only exists because Marnie thought she was shopping for four people not eight. Does Marnie's response to her plans getting derailed come off as a bit neurotic? Yes. Does that cancel out how inconsiderate Hannah is? Certainly not. "I Saw You" (Season 3, Episode 11) As Adam (Adam Driver) prepares for his first Broadway role, Hannah reverts to full on clingy mode, even going so far as to show up at Ray's (Alex Karpovsky) apartment, where Adam is temporarily staying, and interrupt his vocal exercises when she wants attention. Later, even though Adam is a guest in Ray's home, she barges into Ray's room after proclaiming that "everything" is her business to find him having sex with Marnie. She then proceeds to scream at a humiliated Marnie that she's never allowed to judge her again. With friends like these who needs enemies? Sadly, that's not all. Hannah also blows up her latest professional gig by going on a tirade against her fellow GQ colleagues for working in what she describes as a "sweatshop factory for puns"—all because she's insecure about her own faltering writing career. This quickly provokes her boss (played by Jenna Lyons) into firing her. "Two Plane Rides" (Season 3, Episode 12) In the Season 3 finale, an increasingly flailing Hannah finds out she got into the Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate program she applied to. This is a cause for celebration, but she selfishly chooses to deliver the news to Adam in the minutes before he's set to take the stage on opening night of his Broadway play. The unnecessary added stress of her announcement leads to Adam delivering what he judges to be a not-so-perfect performance and ultimately results in what appears to be a near-relationship-ending fight between the two. Hannah obviously isn't the only one at fault in their downfall as a couple, but her decision making certainly leaves something to be desired. "Ask Me My Name" (Season 4, Episode 7) On her first date with fellow teacher Fran (Jake Lacey), Hannah sabotages what seems to be a positive new connection in her life by dragging him to Adam's new girlfriend Mimi-Rose's (Gillian Jacobs) art show. Once Fran gets wise to the fact that she's using him as a pawn in her twisted attempt to interact with Adam, he quickly dips. But that doesn't stop Hannah from spending the night making herself and everyone around her miserable by trying to get to know Mimi-Rose, who clearly has some personality disorders of her own. Hannah's inner turmoil over her life trajectory is on full, chaotic display here. "Homeward Bound" (Season 5, Episode 8) After agreeing to go on a three-month summer road trip with Fran despite their issues, Hannah figures out before the first pit stop that she doesn't actually want to be with him anymore. But instead of handling the situation like an adult and having a conversation, Hannah chooses to lock herself in a rest stop bathroom and refuse to talk to him. She then rejects Fran's offer to drive her home and opts to call on Ray to come pick her up in his fancy new coffee truck. As a completely misguided thank you, Hannah tries to perform a very hesitantly accepted sexual favor for Ray, which causes him to drive off the road and tip over his recent $50,000-investment. She then hitches a ride with a stranger, leaving Ray on the side of the road to deal with the busted-up truck on his own. It's difficult to justify pretty much any of Hannah's actions in this one! "Goodbye Tour" (Season 6, Episode 9) Hannah's overall arc in the series' penultimate episode is a step in the right direction for her. But there is one glaring misstep that recalls the Hannah of old. After ignoring Shoshanna for months and neglecting to even tell her she was pregnant, Hannah shows up at her apartment uninvited to say goodbye. Only, it turns out Shosh has gotten engaged in the meantime and is in the middle of her engagement party, which Hannah was decidedly not invited to. Hannah's longtime disinterest in Shosh is particularly egregious considering how Shoshanna leapt to her defense over the whole Mimi-Rose situation and even stood up to Jessa after she shacked up with Adam (even if that wasn't really what she had a problem with). As Shoshanna says her fiancé Byron helped her realize, she can't be friends with the others anymore because of 'how exhausting and narcissistic and ultimately boring this whole dynamic is." You tell em, Shosh.
IOL News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Lena Dunham's 'Too Much': a deep dive into love and trauma
Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe deliver stellar performances in 'Too Much'. Image: X 'Too Much', the new romantic comedy created by Hollywood actress Lena Dunham, has been earning worldwide acclaim for its take on modern relationships. The Netflix series delves deep into the universal experience of not feeling safe in relationships. As the title suggests, it emotionally relates to the legions across the globe from different walks of life who have ever felt, well, 'too much.' The series also unpacks the struggle of making relationships work as both parties have to commit to creating a safe space for each other, while juggling other challenges like careers, family and friends - all while carrying decades worth of personal trauma. Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe in 'Too Much'. Image: X With its sharp humour and an impressive casting of A-listers to breakthrough talents, the rom-com has been sparking debates worldwide as it continues to rank amongst the most-watched shows on the streaming giant, including in South Africa, where it has remained in the Top 10 since its premiere on Friday, June 11. 'Too Much' is the brainchild of the 'Girls' writer and star, with whom she worked on it with her husband, Luis Felber. The actress has explained in an interview that the series draws inspiration from her own life as, like the show's protagonist, she moved from New York to London in 2021, where she ended up meeting her husband, who, like the main character's love interest, is also a British musician. Despite this, Dunham has insisted that 'Too Much' is not meant to directly mirror her life, opening the possibilities for a creative exploration. Meanwhile, Working Title Films, the production company behind the 'Bridget Jones' movie franchise, also produced the show. It centres around Jessica, who is portrayed excellently by 'Hacks' breakout star Megan Stalter. Following a devastating break-up, the chaotic New Yorker in her mid-thirties decided to move to London. It is here where she meets a struggling bar singer Felix, played by 'The White Lotus' actor, Will Sharpe. On her first day in the city, she meets Felix at a pub and their connection is immediate and intense. Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe deliver stellar performances in 'Too Much'. Image: X While Jessica struggles to be away from her family in America as she adjusts to life in the UK, one thing that starts to go well in her life is her relationship with Felix, which continues to strengthen. They spend hours walking through London and talking on their first date, and the couple move in together after just a few months. But as their quirky and heartwarming love story plays out, Jessica and Felix are forced to contend with their individual traumas. Jessica comes from a complicated female-dominated family, including her sister (Dunham), her mother (Rita Wilson), and her grandmother (Rhea Perlman). She is also still processing the pain for her ex-boyfriend, Zev (Michael Zegen), leaving her for a social media influencer, Wendy Jones (Emily Ratajkowski). Meanwhile, Felix is also still traumatised by past relationships and is also battling with his strained family relationships. In his mid-thirties, he lacks ambition and is a recovering addict. And despite their connection, Jessica and Felix must also overcome dating red flags in order to keep their love alive. What truly sets 'Too Much' apart in the rom-com world, with its abundance of offerings, is the stellar performances. The chemistry between Jessica and Felix is electric, despite the cringy awkwardness, which I found to be genuine and authentic. Stalter and Sharpe must be commended for their stellar performances. The manner in which they bring this powerful and modern love story to life resonates with many, and they are brilliant in displaying a range of emotions, from euphoria to heartbreak. The supporting cast, including Dunham in the background as Nora, Jessica's older sister, as well as Ratajkowski, Wilson and Perlman, also delivered heartwarming performances. The storyline is also incredibly powerful as 'Too Much's' themes of grief, heartbreak, personal growth and love are ones that many streamers will be able to relate to. The show's take on personal insecurities and the desire for romantic relationships to be a safe haven has also been intriguing viewers. The intelligent infusion of humour in 'Too Much' also solidifies its success as it acts as satire and opens the door for deeper reflection while also adding balance to this nuanced and emotional story. Some other elements which I enjoyed on the show are Rita Ora's surprise appearance as well as Fergie's 'London Bridge' aptly being used as the soundtrack for this honest and hilarious love story. * I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
USA Today
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Too Much': How Lena Dunham made the year's most devastating episode of TV
Spoiler alert! The following story contains major details about "Pink Valentine," the fifth episode of new Netflix series "Too Much" (now streaming). There's that oft-repeated chestnut: It takes half the time you dated someone in order to fully get over them. Lena Dunham thinks that's bogus. In her semiautobiographical new Netflix series 'Too Much' (now streaming), a frenetic thirtysomething named Jessica (Megan Stalter) moves from New York to London after a scarring breakup, where she falls in love with Felix (Will Sharpe), a mellow indie rocker and recovering addict. But even as they let their guards down with each other, Jessica is still haunted by the specter of her disapproving ex, Zev (Michael Zegen). 'When you're young, you're like, 'Oh, maybe if I am still thinking about an ex-partner, it means that I'm still in love with my ex-partner,'' says Dunham, 39, who married British musician Luis Felber in 2021. But 'what you're put through and what it leaves you feeling stays with you, no matter what. Especially as you get older and accumulate more exes, it's complicated.' Review: Lena Dunham's 'Too Much' is actually just enough Jessica struggles to move on from Zev throughout the frequently surreal first season, as he invades her sexual fantasies and she catches herself repeating their old rituals with Felix. But in the show's standout fifth episode, 'Pink Valentine,' we find out why, exactly, Jessica is so plagued by Zev's memory. In an episode-long flashback spurred by ingesting too much ketamine, Jessica reflects on their impossibly sweet meet-cute at a Brooklyn bar, followed by rapid-fire romantic milestones such as meeting her family and moving in together. They eventually begin to grow apart, as Zev starts to nitpick every little thing that Jessica does: how she dresses, what TV she watches and even which cushions she likes. He begins spending time with Wendy (Emily Ratajkowski), a chic social media influencer, and starved for approval, Jessica sleeps with a mop-haired assistant (Beck Nolan) at work. Dunham wanted viewers to develop their own opinions about Jessica, both good and bad, before pulling back the curtain on her backstory. 'It's like her Rosebud, finally seeing what really happened between Jessica and Zev,' says Dunham, who created and starred in HBO's lightning rod 'Girls' from 2012 to 2017. 'It was really important to see her in all of her dysfunction first. There might be people who are like, 'Girl, why are you acting like that?' And then once you see in Episode 5 how uncertainly she's moving through the world, you can have a different appreciation. When she has her ketamine incident, it helps her realize that she does love Felix and she has something she needs to leave behind.' Part of what makes the episode so heartbreaking are the subtle wounds that Zev inflicts, making Jessica second-guess herself and apologize for who she is. In the most crushing scene, Jessica tells Zev that she's pregnant and considering an abortion, which he stoically shrugs off. Through tears, she tries to explain how he's bulldozed her self-worth. 'You don't even know how lonely you've made me feel,' she says. 'I used to feel so special about me.' Stalter improvised that line, which 'just blew me away,' Dunham recalls. We all know what it's like to grow up and have the world slowly beat us down: 'You go from feeling full of possibility to feeling like you're constantly walking on eggshells and living in fear.' Most people know Stalter from her viral videos and for playing chaotic fan favorite Kayla on HBO Max's 'Hacks.' But part of what makes her such a great comedian, Dunham says, is that she can tap into a deep well of emotions. 'You can tell Meg a story about a pig you saw wearing boots and she'll cry these big, dewdrop tears,' Dunham says. 'I've never seen such pretty tears – I always tell her, 'Meg, you were made to cry on television.'' Dunham, too, was amazed by Zegen ('The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'), who didn't play Zev as a villain even as his character does and says unimpeachable things. 'Two people can be really good people, but in a relationship, they're their worst selves, and both leave each other feeling unseen,' Dunham says. 'We could do that episode from Zev's perspective and Jessica might've said 15 things that cut at his sense of who he was. They are two people who probably should've stayed together for six months and instead stayed together for six years. And in the process, they broke each other.' The flashback ends with Jessica getting an abortion and adopting a scrappy shelter dog who's 'beautiful' and 'traumatized,' just like her. Reeling from the breakup, she moves back in with her grandma (Rhea Perlman), older sister (Dunham) and mom (Rita Wilson), who drives around in a creaky taco truck. In one drolly melancholy scene, she starts belting Carole King's 'It's Too Late' as Jessica sobs on her sister's shoulder in the passenger seat. 'I was little bit inspired by that video of Kim Cattrall scatting,' Dunham says. 'When Rita started singing, it was so beautiful and tender. Then I was like, 'Rita, can you bring a little scat to this?' It's the classic thing where your mother's trying to make you feel better, but then she gets too into the song and suddenly it's just her performance. And it was better than anything we could've dreamed.'
Time Magazine
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
How Lena Dunham's Netflix Series 'Too Much' Mirrors Her Own Life
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Too Much. In the near-decade since Lena Dunham's groundbreaking HBO dramedy Girls aired its final episode, its creator and star has taken a big step back from the spotlight. Though she has written, directed, and produced a handful of projects in the intervening years—including the 2018 HBO comedy series Camping and 2022 medieval comedy film Catherine Called Birdy—Dunham herself has said she took an "intentional break" from the public eye in response to the intense scrutiny that surrounded her during Girls' six-season run (especially in relation to a number of controversies for which she was facing backlash). 'I didn't really understand how to distinguish between what was and wasn't necessary for the public. I felt confused about how I was supposed to respond,' she told The Times in an interview published in June. 'I thought if I explain properly who I am, or give a glimpse of who I am, people are going to have a different perception of me, that we would be friends. But no one cares—and that's fine.' Now, Dunham is returning to the small screen with Too Much, a new 10-episode romantic comedy series available to stream on Netflix. This time around, while Dunham does appear in the show in a supporting role, Megan Stalter takes the lead as Dunham's semi-autobiographical stand-in Jessica Salmon, a 30-something workaholic New Yorker who moves to London in the wake of a devastating breakup with her longtime boyfriend Zev (Michael Zegen). Across the pond, she meets a troubled musician named Felix Remen (Will Sharpe) and the two strike up a whirlwind romance that forces them both to confront their individual issues. Those who have kept track of news about Dunham's personal life in the years since Girls ended will likely recognize several apparent similarities between the plot of Too Much and Dunham's own story, particularly with regard to her 2018 breakup with music producer Jack Antonoff, subsequent move to London, and later marriage to Peruvian-British musician Luis Felber, who co-created Too Much. As for just how much her life influenced Too Much, Dunham told Variety, 'It's certainly not quote-unquote based on a true story, but like everything I do, there is an element of my own life that I can't help but inject.' Here's everything to know about how Too Much mirrors Dunham's life. The breakup After meeting on a blind date in 2012, Dunham and Antonoff dated for five years (throughout the entire run of Girls) before news of their breakup emerged in January 2018. Later that month, Us Weekly reported Antonoff had moved on with model Carlotta Kohl in a story that included a quote from an anonymous source who claimed Dunham and Antonoff "had been slowly breaking up for the last six months." Antonoff and Kohl eventually ended things and, in August 2021, he began dating actor Margaret Qualley, whom he married in August 2023. In Too Much, Jessica and Zev break up after seven years together and Zev pretty much immediately starts dating Wendy Jones (Emily Ratajkowski), a knitting influencer he meets at a party while he and Jess are still together. When Wendy asks to meet up with Jess in the finale and reveals she's done with Zev, she explains he had originally told her that he and Jess had been separated for six months before they officially broke up—which Jess says is untrue. Too Much also makes a point of emphasizing Jess' obsession with checking Wendy's social media after she gets together with Zev, a storyline that—judging by a November 2018 profile of Dunham in which she admitted it pained her to look at Antonoff's new girlfriend's Instagram stories—seems to be pulled from Dunham's own experiences. "[B]eing the hysterical ex-girlfriend is kinda like the weirdest, funniest, public performance," she told The Cut. 'I thought I was kind of proving weird girls can have love too. And now he's dating somebody who looks regular and normal and like girls are supposed to look." (In addition to being an actor, Ratajkowski is also a model.) Other details from Dunham and Antonoff's relationship that Dunham has spoken about in the press also seem to be alluded to in the show, such as in a flashback scene from Episode 5 in which Zev tells Jess she needs to cut back on her pink home decor when they're moving in together. In an essay penned for Domino magazine's Fall 2019 cover story, Dunham wrote about how Antonoff disliked her decorating taste. "[H]e hated it. He didn't want to hate it. He tried not to hate it. But he didn't like living among the insides of my mind," she said. "I felt sick every time I made a design concession or covered up pink with dove gray. Love can only survive so much." Read More: Megan Stalter Is Reinventing the Rom-Com Heroine The dogs As part of the flashbacks to Jess and Zev's relationship that play out in Episode 5, we see that at one point they adopted a dog named Cutesie at Jess' behest. But after Cutesie has an aggressive encounter with another dog at the park, Jess is forced to give him away. This plot point seems to draw from what happened in real life with Dunham and her rescue dog Lamby, who she gave up to a Los Angeles canine rehabilitation facility in 2017 after originally adopting him from the BARC shelter in Brooklyn. Dunham said in an Instagram post that the decision had been made due to "four years of challenging behavior and aggression" that was caused by abuse he suffered as a puppy. However, Lamby's rehoming ended up turning into quite the internet controversy after an employee from BARC wrote an email to a Yahoo reporter claiming Lamby had been totally fine until he met Dunham. 'You can say a lot of sh-t about me, but I am a very committed pet owner. Ask anybody who works with me on a pet level,' Dunham told The Cut in response in 2018. 'Also, what animal-shelter guy is like, 'I'm an electronic DJ, and I'm also looking to talk to Yahoo! Celebrity'? But dragging him through the court of public opinion like that doesn't get me anywhere. It's better just to kick back and be like, 'Okay, sir, you can extend your career by telling people what a bad dog owner I was.'" Of course, it didn't help matters with her critics that, the year after Lamby was rehomed, Gia Marie, a Sphynx cat Dunham had adopted who had lung damage after surviving a house fire, and Bowie, her 13-year-old Yorkie, both died within months of each other. The series of unfortunate events led to an online conspiracy theory that Dunham was killing her pets, which she quickly shut down, pointing to the fact that many of the animals she'd adopted were of advanced age. In Too Much, following her breakup with Zev, Jess adopts a hairless chihuahua named Astrid who becomes her closest companion. Sadly, in the finale, Felix hears Astrid struggling to breathe and rushes her to the vet but her heart gives out before Jess arrives to say goodbye. The marriage After moving from New York to London in January 2021, Dunham met Felber on a blind date set up by mutual friends. "The first time we hung out, we didn't stop talking for, like, eight hours," Felber told the New York Times later that year. "I think it was sort of incredible, you know, I walked into that. I'd been on quite a few dates in the past year. As someone who's quite open, I find you hold a lot back on your first three dates. Or first 10 dates. I was just a bit fed up with that, so I just walked into the situation very myself, shall I say. And Lena liked that. And she's the same." By that September, Dunham and Felber had married in an impromptu wedding at Soho's Union Club with just about 60 guests present. This is obviously similar to what happens between Jess and Felix in Too Much after they meet at a bar on the night Jess moves to London. However, Stalter says the show isn't intended to directly echo Dunham and Felber's relationship. "[Lena and Luis] always made it really clear that it wasn't just based on them. There was no pressure to do an impression of them," Stalter told TIME. "Me and Will were able to take it and add things in of ourselves and what we thought the characters should be...[It wasn't] like we were playing them, but bringing to life a story that has elements of them in it, and ourselves." Despite its happy ending, Dunham has said she still wanted Too Much to reflect the challenges that two people who have their own lifetimes' worth of baggage can face both individually and as a couple while trying to make a relationship work. "Everything I've ever made is romantically pessimistic. Even the most romantic episodes of Girls—when Marnie and Charlie reunite, a heroin needle falls out of his pants," she told the New Yorker of Too Much's optimistic tilt. "This is such a mortifying answer, but I think that it had to do with meeting Lu, and being, like, 'Oh, there actually is a feeling that you can have that it might be OK, that the thing might last, that you're not always running as fast as you can and then realizing you're on a treadmill.' It was wanting to make something that was about that feeling, but also acknowledging that, when we met each other, we had both experienced an enormous amount of life, trauma, complexity, and addiction, separately. So what does it look like when you meet and you're both just trying to be the best versions of yourself, the version that you can live with, and then you welcome someone else into that?"
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Too Much' Trailer: Lena Dunham Directs Her Semi-Autobiographical Series with Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe
Lena Dunham wants audiences to lean into being 'Too Much' sometimes. The 'Girls' creator is back on TV — this time writing, directing, and executive-producing the series 'Too Much' for Netflix. 'Hacks' breakout star Megan Stalter plays the Dunham-esque Jessica, who relocates from New York to London to start fresh after a breakup. Despite planning on being alone forever, Jessica soon meets musician Felix (Will Sharpe), who challenges her to reevaluate her 30-something crisis. More from IndieWire Wayward Teens Find Solace in Horse Country During Sundance Award-Winning 'East of Wall' Trailer David Harbour Admits He's Ready for 'Stranger Things' to End: 'How Much More Story Is There?' Dunham co-created the series with her real-life husband, Luis Felber, who also serves as an executive producer and provides original music. The 10-episode show was announced in 2023. Dunham is the creator, writer, director, and executive producer, and helms eight out of 10 episodes. The official synopsis of 'Too Much' reads: Jessica (Stalter) is 'a New York workaholic in her mid-30s, reeling from a broken relationship that she thought would last forever and slowly isolating everyone she knows. When every block in New York tells a story of her own bad behavior, the only solution is to take a job in London, where she plans to live a life of solitude like a Brontë sister. But when she meets Felix (Will Sharpe) — a walking series of red flags — she finds that their unusual connection is impossible to ignore, even as it creates more problems than it solves. Now they have to ask themselves: do Americans and Brits actually speak the same language?' 'Girls' alums Rita Wilson and Andrew Rannells also star, along with Andrew Scott, Emily Ratajkowski, Naomi Watts, Stephen Fry, Michael Zegan, Janicza Bravo, Richard E. Grant, Leo Reich, Daisy Bevan, Adele Exarchopoulos, Dean-Charles Chapman, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Rhea Perlman, Kaori Momoi, and Adwoa Aboah. Dunham told Vanity Fair that 'Too Much' is a departure from her 'Girls' TV tone. 'I didn't even appreciate the luxury I was given on 'Girls' to do things like bottle episodes, where I stayed with two characters for a night, or let three characters circle around each other. It was just what made sense to me because I'd always written for low budgets,' Dunham said. 'I always felt that I had to give people the traditional A, B, and C storylines until episode five. Now I'm much more living under the motto of, 'If you feel it, go for it.' We never know how many we're going to get. You don't get six seasons of everything.' Dunham will next direct a feature about the rise and fall of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Dunham will adapt the screenplay from Michael Lewis' New York Times-bestselling book, 'Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon.' The Apple Original film comes in partnership with A24. 'Too Much' premieres on Netflix July 10. Check out the trailer below. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See
