Latest news with #romcom
ABC News
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Too Much? The return of Lena Dunham's messy white women
More than a decade after HBO's Girls made her "a voice of a generation" for white millennial women, Lena Dunham's back with Too Much, a rom-com series for Netflix. Hannah and Bev peel back their layered feelings about Lena Dunham, and get into whether Too Much, starring Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe, meets expectations. And the sidebar is in session, making rulings on Emmy nominations and Dr Orna Guralnik's fashion. Get in touch: Share your pop culture takes with us! Write or send a voice memo to stopeverything@ Show notes: Lena Dunham rises again Girls creator Lena Dunham returns with Too Much Meg Stalter is the prettiest girl in America We all want to dress like Orna
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Braless Lena Dunham embraces Natalie Portman while filming new Netflix rom-com
Lena Dunham excitedly embraced Natalie Portman, whom she teamed up with to co-produce her new Netflix rom-com Good Sex, in Manhattan's East Village on Monday. The 39-year-old writer-director bared her tattooed sleeves in a $148 GapStudio 'Draped Denim Slip' maxi-dress, matching blue neckerchief, and black Nike sneakers. Lena - who boasts 3M Instagram followers - shared a snap of her fit on Monday captioned: 'Really enjoying dressing for set and beyond this summer.' And the 44-year-old Oscar winner looked comfy in a beige T-shirt, grey sweatpants, and white Keds 'Champion Canvas Lace-Up' sneakers. Natalie (born Neta-Lee Hershlag) hauled a tote emblazoned with The New Yorker and she wore dark sunglasses over her make-up free complexion. Portman later got into costume as her newly-single character, successful couples therapist Ally, who's caught in a love triangle very similar to Celine Song's recent rom-com Materialists. The former child star slipped her slim 5ft3in figure into a $2,048 Prada 'Pleated Sablé' shirt, black mini-skirt, $1,115 Jacquemus 'The Calino' ring handbag, and patent leather long-tongue loafers. Natalie - clutching a to-go cup from Café Chrystie - also wore cat-eye sunglasses and $320 Jacquemus 'The Rond Carré' earrings as part of her costume. Portman's younger onscreen leading man - a Brooklyn hipster - will be played by Gen-Z singer Role Model (born Tucker Pillsbury) who, at 28, is 16 years her junior. The Israeli-born, Long Island-raised stunner's older onscreen leading man - successful Manhattanite Alan - will be played by Mark Ruffalo who, at 57, is 13 years her senior. The four-time Oscar nominee could be seen walking and talking with Dunham as they headed to the set. 'We are about a quarter through our shoot,' the eight-time Emmy nominee told THR last week. 'And as expected, no spoilers here — Natalie Portman is a very, very good actress. It's playing with the romantic comedy form to try to say something about our expectations about relationships, about love and about sex. I think my favorite romantic comedies — whether it's When Harry Met Sally, or Four Weddings and a Funeral, or Love and Basketball — I mean, these are movies that challenge our perceptions about what love is in the era that we live in. 'So that was the goal here, and it's just a joy to be with Natalie, Rashida Jones, Mark Ruffalo, Meg Ryan, and Tucker Pillsbury a.k.a. Role Model. They're all such interesting performers who are bringing such specificity to these parts, and I'm really enjoying my time in the trenches of this genre.' Indeed, Lena successfully courted rom-com queen Meg Ryan to play a mystery role in Good Sex after running into her at Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert in London last August. The 44-year-old Oscar winner looked comfy in a beige T-shirt, grey sweatpants, and white Keds 'Champion Canvas Lace-Up' sneakers Natalie (born Neta-Lee Hershlag) hauled a tote emblazoned with The New Yorker and she wore dark sunglasses over her make-up free complexion The former child star slipped her slim 5ft3in figure into a $2,048 Prada 'Pleated Sablé' shirt, black mini-skirt, $1,115 Jacquemus 'The Calino' ring handbag, and patent leather long-tongue loafers 'I decided, it's now or never, and I'm going to shoot my shot. She couldn't be a lovelier person,' Dunham revealed to Variety earlier this month. 'Shout-out Taylor — thank you for that. She brings everyone together; she makes the world go round.' As for the music, the Nora Ephron protégée enlisted her British-Peruvian husband of four years, Luis Felber, to compose the score just like he did with her previous projects Too Much and Sharp Stick. Back in January, Netflix won the bidding war in order to procure Good Sex for an eye-popping $55M. 'I really just want people to sit on a couch with their moms and their besties and lean in,' Lena told Variety. 'I love watching other filmmakers fight for the theatrical-release element — but I don't think this will live or die by that.' HarperCollins will publish Dunham's second memoir Famesick on September 1. Lena successfully courted rom-com queen Meg Ryan (R) to play a mystery role in Good Sex after running into her at Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert in London last August Darren Aronofsky's 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan - which earned Natalie her Academy Award - is returning to over 200 IMAX theaters on August 21 and 24 in honor of the 15th anniversary. Portman famously fell for her ex-husband - choreographer/dancer Benjamin Millepied - on the set of Black Swan in 2009 while he was still dating Isabella Boylston. Last year, the Fountain of Youth action star divorced the 48-year-old Frenchman following 11 years of marriage amid cheating allegations, and they're co-parents of son Aleph, 14; and daughter Amalia, 8.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Will Sharpe reveals intense scene in Netflix hit Too Much left him bruised
Will Sharpe revealed he sustained a facial bruise and burst blood vessels while filming an intense, improvised scene for the new Netflix romcom miniseries Too Much. The 38-year-old British actor, known for The White Lotus, injured himself by repeatedly slapping his face during a breakdown scene with co-star Megan Stalter. Lena Dunham, who co-wrote and directed Too Much with her husband Luis Felber, instructed the actors to improvise the scene. Dunham cast Sharpe for his perceived 'curiosity and depth', believing he embodied the qualities desired for his character, Felix. The series, loosely inspired by Dunham and Felber's relationship, explores themes of adulthood and the challenges of a tumultuous relationship.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
How Sexy K-Comedy ‘Forbidden Fairytale' Avoided Censorship
Park Ji-hyun and Choi Si-won fall in love while discussing the details of adult content. Yoon Dan-bi is an aspiring children's book writer in the Korean film Forbidden Fairytale. To pay the bills she gets a civil service job and plans to write at night. However, the job is not quite what she imagined. As a member of the Youth Protection Team at Korea's Communications Standards Commission, her job involves monitoring X-rated media. Which scenes should be censored? Which body parts should be blurred? This entertainingly risqué rom com takes a lighthearted look at the serious topic of censorship and in so doing risked being censored. That was something director Lee Jong-seok considered from the start. Lee waited for a decade to make this film because he liked "the way it covered the topics of censorship and creative freedom.' He also wanted to make a comedy. His last film was The Negotiation, which stars Son Ye-jin as an ace crisis negotiator and Hyun Bin as a kidnapper. While that film featured some comic moments, it often brought him to a dark place. 'I was always thinking about how to kill someone," said Lee. "That was just so top of mind that I was mentally exhausted ' Making viewers laugh was a welcome change of pace. 'I just love comedy and could see myself trying to make something funny,' said Lee. "So, even though it is really a serious story and features serious situations, that kind of comedy gives people some kind of release.' Three friends discuss their romantic encounters in 'Forbidden Fairytale.' Casting was not going to be easy. He sent the script to a few actresses and found that it wasn't an easy sell. The script was funny, but the topic risked controversy. 'Most of the actresses turned it down because this story is a sexy comedy," said Lee. 'They all said oh, it's going to be really fun to watch, but I'm sorry. So, okay, Ji-hyun also read it and actually called me and asked to have a meeting." A rising star in Korea, Park appeared in the dramas Reborn Rich, Yumi's Cells and Flex-X Cop. 'I was surprised to find out how openminded she was,' said Lee. Once Park signed on to the project, he sent the script to Choi Si-won (She Was Pretty, My Fellow Citizens, Love Is For Suckers). They had a meeting and Choi was on board. Ultimately they had a great time collaborating. 'The three of us really got close to each other,' said Lee. 'We had a script meeting and then we talked about the script and the scenes and locations. Some of the things they brought up did not make it to the final film, but we shot many of the ideas they brought up.' The 10-year-old script required more significant updates than finding new locations. The last decade has seen some cultural shifts in perspective. Ten years ago it's not likely that a Korean film would have featured women talking about sexual encounters, but that's what Dan-bi needs to listen to so she can find her calling. While still hoping to realize her dreams of writing children's books, Dan-bi accidentally runs her bike into the expensive car owned by a publisher. He wants damages, an exorbitant amount not covered by her salary, so she agrees to write erotica for him, using the stories her friends share about their intimate encounters. As an expert in erotica, Choi Si-won's character helps Park Ji-hyun's character spice up her ... More stories. A decade ago men might have discussed sexual encounters in a film, said Lee, perhaps, but not girls, at least not in Korean films. According to Lee, having the women discuss their fantasies and adventures makes the film more relatable to a modern audience. 'In the original version of the script they don't talk much to each other, so I just wanted to bump up the relationship to each other,' said Lee. "The original script didn't focus as much on the women and their point of view. That original script is more attached to the story of the father and daughter. So I wanted to make it more like the woman is the main character. It's more about finding herself, knowing what she wants to do.' At first Dan-bi struggles with writing erotica but then discovers she's really good at crafting this very different kind of fairy tale. She enlists the help of her co-worker Jeong-seok, played by Choi to read her stories and tell her how effective they are. While dispassionately discussing new ways to excite her readers they slowly fall in love. Their relationship seems quite G-rated compared to her X-rated stories. It makes for an endearing and ironic twist yet it wasn't necessarily planned that way. About 30 minutes of footage wound up being deleted. 'There were quite a few deleted scenes that we had to take out from the original footage," said Lee. "More scenes depicting the progression of the relationship between the two characters. For example, there's a scene where they spend their first night together, but that had to be unfortunately deleted from the final edit. So there's another scene that I really liked, which is when they're walking in the park and they kiss. They start kissing, and that part is in the film, but there's more of what happens after that. So they start kissing passionately and one thing leads to another. There's a moment when they actually charge into a public bathroom and they spend just the entire night there. That is also deleted. So it can seem like the progression is slow.' Choi Si-won's character is really tired of his day job monitoring porn. Lee did have to worry that his film about censorship might be censored. "So really the whole process was really a process of balancing out what was too much, what was too little, how would we be able to maintain what we wanted while also balancing out the different tones and colors." The Youth Protection Team at Korea's Communications Standards Commission really exists and it's only a short walk from the director's house. 'I actually met the people who work there, saw how they work, but obviously there's just too much content out there to look out for individually,' he said. 'So what they usually do is people will submit complaints—parents or Internet users—they'll say, 'I think this is violating such and such.' And so they will be checking those reports. But the actual workload, I will say is pretty heavy because those things come in constantly and so they need to keep checking the list.' Forbidden Fairytale passed Korea's censors with flying colors and opened at the New York Asian Film Festival on July 13. 'Because we thought there could be issues in terms of those standards, we actually submitted for review,' said Lee. 'We were thinking maybe middle schoolers would be able to watch this. So we submitted it for a 15 and up viewing criteria, but we ended up getting 18.' It takes a while for Dan-bi to accept where her talents lie and feel proud of her creations. While writing adult content may be looked down, Lee notes that looking at it is popular everywhere and writing such content can be lucrative. 'It's interesting because even the protagonist looks down on it herself and goes through a journey of changing her viewpoint," said Lee. " I think ultimately the story that we're trying to tell is that being diverse is not good or bad. We're not trying to make value judgements on it if we're just saying that everyone has different likes and dislikes and that should be respected. I think especially in the day and age we live in, I feel like we should have that sense of tolerance and even acceptance for different preferences and different viewpoints.' Lee describes making the comedy as a joyful experience. His favorite scenes involved Dan-bi and her two best friends. 'I do really love the scene of the three friends, three women friends talking about their sexual experiences," he said. "These talks are usually depicted among men and how men are talking about the women they've slept with and they're in sort of an objectifying manner. I wanted to flip that and say, no, this is a conversation that also women can have and women should have. So that is one of my favorite scenes." His next film will also feature the female perspective. It centers on the story of a female boxing promoter who worked in the industry during the 80s and promoted other boxers. 'Back in the eighties, Korean patriarchy was alive and well, even more so than now it was a very, very male dominated society. Within that context, you have this woman who is probably the only woman in this very male dominated boxing society, and she is very justice oriented, social justice oriented and very fair-minded. She literally cooks for these kids who are trying to become boxers. She's literally bringing them up from the beginning of their careers into their professional careers. The title for now is The Promoter. I'm working on the script.' Forbidden Fairytale airs on on July 24.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Every A-List Cameo In Lena Dunham's Too Much, Explained
Lena Dunham's TV genius is finally back on our screens with her new Netflix rom-com Too Much. The feel-good comedy-drama stars Hacks' Megan Stalter as kooky New Yorker Jessica, who moves across the pond to London after a breakup before falling for aspiring musician Felix, played by The White Lotus' Will Sharpe. We've already looked at the impressive cast and their various past projects, including many familiar faces like Rita Wilson, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Girls star Andrew Rannells. But there's also a host of cameos and smaller guest roles throughout the 10 episodes. Here's your guide to all of them… Emily Ratajkowski The US model and actor plays Megan's ex's cool and stylish new fiancéeWendy Jones. Emily has been friends with Lena for a long time, so it doesn't come as much of a surprise that the Girls creator found a perfect casting in her. 'We've always had a lot of conversations around women that you feel like you're connected to in strange ways, but you don't totally know them,' Emily told Variety of her role recently. She also explained that Lena had initially envisioned her character as a lawyer, before Emily suggested that she be an influencer instead. Andrew Scott If there's one actor who's guaranteed to make a splash no matter how big or small the role, it's Andrew Scott. The Sherlock star plays a divorced ad director called James Wenlich-Rice, who's hired to shoot the advert Jessica is overseeing. Unsurprisingly, he ends up having some of the best (and most cringeworthy) lines in the whole series. Andrew previously starred in Lena's 2022 movie Catherine Called Birdy, and it turns out he had a pretty big part in getting Megan cast in the first place. In an interview with Glamour, Lena revealed that the Fleabag star first introduced her to Megan's viral comedy videos and insisted they meet. '[He] basically said, 'You two have to meet, you have something to make together',' she recalled. Kit Harington Since his starring role as Jon Snow in Game Of Thrones, we've been able to watch Kit Harington demonstrate his range in projects like Eternals, The Beast Within and Industry. Now he appears in Too Much's flashback scenes as Jessica's late father, who died of Parkinson's disease when she was young. Richard E. Grant The legendary British actor isn't quite a fleeting cameo, since he plays a key role as Jessica's UK-based boss, Jonno Ratigan. In one scene he makes his employee reel off a list of problems he has with Jessica, including her pungent lunches and smelly feet. Unsurprisingly, he manages to strike a hilarious balance between personable and passive aggressive – he even gets into a physical altercation with Felix in one scene. Naomi Watts TheMulholland Drive actor appears in the series as Ann Ratigan, the posh wife of Jonno who forms an instant bond with Jessica (over a few lines of cocaine, no less). Envisioning the A-lister in a comedy role was exciting to Lena, who told The Hollywood Reporter that she wanted to write her something that was 'not an elegant lady role, that's like an elegant lady to the left role, like an elegant lady who's railing cocaine role'. Jessica Alba The Fantastic Four actor stars as herself in the first episode of Too Much, playing a client of Jessica's agency on a commercial shoot. When a misogynistic director tries to 'punch up' the script, Jessica Alba asks Too Much's Jessica (Megan Stalter) to step in and collaborate with her, before she becomes overwhelmed and runs off in a panic. Adwoa Aboah The British actor and model appears in a few scenes as Felix's recent ex Linnea. While she's proven her acting talents playing Becks in Top Boy, Lena explained that hiring models for the series was very intentional. 'And I think modelling is such an expressive art and models are very often really good actors because they have to do that,' she told Radio Times. 'What I love about Emily [Ratajkowski] and Adwoa [Aboah] is that, in addition to being models, they're so outspoken in their activism, in their writing, in their creative expression,' she added. Stephen Fry The British actor and presenter plays Felix's dad Simon in the series, who finds himself in financial hardship. He appears in episode seven – which sheds some light on Felix's upbringing – and the finale titled The Idea Of Glue. This also isn't his first collaboration with Lena, having played the writer-director's father in the 2024 tragicomedy Treasure. Rhea Perlman The Cheers and Matilda actor features as Jessica's cheeky grandmother Dottie, who does her best to offer advice on her chaotic love life. 'Lena has a way of creating and directing that makes people feel free,' the actor said in an interview with The New York Times. 'Maybe some people would be turned off by that much sex and that much talk of sex,' she continued. 'But she made it so funny and so real.' Carlos O'Connell Fans of Dublin post-punk heroes Fontaines D.C. will have instantly recognised Carlos O'Connell's pink hair in Too Much, with the guitarist appearing as Felix's bandmate Eoin. Their fictional band The Feelers actually features original music from Attawalpa, the band of Too Much co-creator and Lena's husband Luis Felber. This marks the musician's latest foray into acting, having made a cameo in Andrea Arnold's 2024 movie Bird. Don Letts Another real-life musician appears in the series in the shape of legendary British DJ Don Letts. The Big Audio Dynamite co-founder features as a club emcee called Jonah The Ox. There's also a few more details sprinkled throughout the show for real music buffs, like when Jessica's ex Zev (played by Michael Zegen) is featured wearing an Idles T-shirt in one scene. Rita Ora The Anywhere singer appears late in the series as herself to play Santa Claus in a Christmas advertising campaign, and also hypes Jessica up after her social media scandal. The pop star posted on social media that she had 'so much fun filming' in the show, which she shared alongside a picture of her with Lena. Jennifer Saunders The Absolutely Fabulous star is in episode nine's clubbing scene, appearing briefly as an older woman called Fiona who sleeps with Felix in a moment of self sabotage. Felix remarked in an interview with Netflix's Tudum how 'every week, there'd be somebody new that is a hero of yours' appearing in the show. Lena said that even she was starstruck, adding: 'I was like, 'I cannot fucking believe this is happening'.' Alix Earle If you've ever watched a 'Get Ready With Me' video on TikTok, there's a good chance one of them was by internet personality and model Alix Earle. She appears as herself in episode nine, posting a video in support of Jessica's viral videos. Jake Shane The US comedian and influencer known as Octopusslover8 also appears as himself in episode nine to show his support to Jessica. It's also a bit of a reunion with Jessica, having previously featured in three episodes of Hacks season four in the role of Social Media Girlie. Related... Megan Stalter Makes Surprising Admission About THAT Outrageous Too Much Spit Scene Thought The Stars Of Too Much Looked Familiar? Here's Where You've Seen The Cast Before Is Too Much Lena Dunham's 'Worthy Successor To Girls' Or A 'Total Disappointment'? Critics Can't Agree
