A “Girls” stoop sale (from left): Lena Dunham, Zosia Mamet, Jemima Kirke and Allison Williams. (
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On “Girls,” Hannah Horvath is the picture of calculated hipster dishevelment, with neon mesh tops, boxy denim skirts and the absence of foundation garments, but on set at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Lena Dunham, the dynamo who plays her, is chic in a dark shirt, leopard print trousers and black Rachel Antonoff shoes.
Obviously, today she’s not acting.
Dunham, 26, is directing this episode of the series, which finds Hannah’s former roommate Marnie (Allison Williams) hanging out with Ray (Alex Karpovsky), the guy Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) is dating. Ray doesn’t appear to be wearing anything except Shoshanna’s trademark peace-sign Snuggie.
“The scene is pretty basic,” says Williams, who has the knack of constantly improvising dialogue as the scene is filmed a dozen times. “Marnie is playing with the application garage band in the bathroom.”
While the crew takes care of lighting issues, Dunham and Williams are raving about “Downton Abbey.” Williams says, “Oh my God. I met Michelle Dockery. She’s the best.” And Dunham mentions that, like the characters on the award-winning British drama, the characters on her show wear the same outfits over and over.
“It’s so rare that you see that a woman wearing the same garment twice on a TV show. I’m very proud that we do it,” she says.
Watching the actors film is co-executive producer Murray Miller, tan and scruffy with a baseball cap, and executive producer Ilene S. Landress, the “on-set policeman” who honed her skills on many New York-based series including, most notably, “The Sopranos.” When one of the scene takes doesn’t match up with its predecessor in terms of continuity, she calls Dunham’s attention to it.
“It’s a fast scene,” Dunham says.
“I know it’s a fast scene,” says Landress. But she wants to redo it.
Landress and executive producer Jenni Konner are the two guiding lights that help Dunham put “Girls” together. “It’s a group effort all the time. A lot of the production things and the look of the show,” Landress says. “My job is to make sure people are doing their specific jobs. What we see on the screen.”
Says Dunham, “Jenni, who I run the show with, and Ilene, who is the queen of making New York City TV, are so inspiring and centering. I’m really lucky.”
Dunham’s miraculous ascension from indie filmmaker to Dylan-like voice of a generation has been endlessly documented. With one film, “Tiny Furniture,” to her credit, Dunham was a fresh voice and HBO, hoping to strike “Sex and the City” gold again, wanted to be in business with her, even though she had no television series experience. The network signed her to a blind script deal.
“They say we want to be in the business with this person and ‘We’re not going to make your pitch anything. We’re going to give you some money and trust what you produce,’ ” says Konner, calling from Los Angeles. (In true LA-style, Konner has pulled over in her car to do the interview.) “They wanted her voice but also wanted a show runner. I was so vocal about stalking her,” she says.
Dunham was a good pupil. “At the beginning there were questions like, ‘What are ratings at HBO?’ She always wants to hear [executive producer] Judd [Apatow] and I on our opinions. Do I look sick to you? Do I have a fever?’
“Everything that happens to her is [fodder for] the show,” Konner says. “Anything that comes from her life. Nothing is off-limits.”
That probably includes Hannah’s relationship with her twisted ex, Adam (Adam Driver), who was hit by a car in last season’s finale and this season requires Hannah to stop by to listen to him moan about life (and hold a makeshift bedpan). The portrait is so well-drawn — and well-acted — that it must be based on reality, right?
“Adam is the bad boyfriend that every New York woman has to have,” Dunham says, adding, “I would never accept behavior like that from a guy. By the end of last season, people were saying, ‘I want you two to stay together.’ ”
When Season 2 opens, the characters talk like they’ve been in analysis too long. It’s one of the funniest aspects of the show. Following the Adam breakup, Hannah says, “This opens up space for the kind, sexy, responsible boyfriend I’ve always wanted but never had.” After her estrangement from Ray, Shoshanna says, “I may be deflowered but I’m not devalued.” And Adam says to Hannah, “My affection for you cannot be repressed.”
Dunham laughs after hearing these three lines of dialogue repeated in succession. “I have a therapeutic language addiction,” she admits. “It’s not cool but it’s constant, the side effect of talk therapy starting at age seven. We have a writers’ room who are all working out their issues in a professional setting, so it’s bound to rear its head.”
Now that the show has been anointed by the media, the guest stars are piling on, to be on TV’s hippest show. In Episode 1, Rita Wilson plays Marnie’s mother and delivers a great line: “You look like you’re 30 years old.” Patrick Wilson, whose series “A Gifted Man” lasted one season on CBS last year, also appears.
“We have a very nice time with him,” says Konner. “Is he Hannah’s boyfriend? No, I couldn’t call anyone her boyfriend except for Adam occasionally. He’s playing a romantic interest. That’s really a simple version of what it is.”
We’ll also see Rosanna Arquette, John Cameron Mitchell and most improbably, singer Judy Collins.
When Hannah’s no-nonsense parents visit later in the season, they go see Collins at the Cafe Carlyle. HBO filled the club with extras. “Poor Judy Collins had to sing two songs six times, for five or six hours,” says Landress. “The scene plays while she’s singing.”
Dunham’s fantasy guest stars for Season 3, which hasn’t been announced yet, are: “Elaine May, Taylor Swift and Obama!”
With all the acclaim’s she received, Dunham could easily have become the most obnoxious pain in the neck, but she’s not. In person, she’s charming, funny and thanks to all that therapy, able to talk a blue streak, whether it’s about why she hates chick lit or why voting is like losing your virginity, which she did in an ad for Obama. Her turn in the spotlight has arrived so early in her career, there’s no ceiling on the amount of money people will pay for her views ($3.5 million for a Random House book) — doesn’t Dunham worry that it’s all too much?
“Simple as it sounds, I just focus on keeping my head down and continuing to grow as a writer and thinker,” she says. “It’s all that is in my control!”
GIRLS
Today, 9 p.m., HBO