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| Apatow, Konner, and Dunham in a press event last January. |
“It see seems to really strike a chord [anywhere],” she
said, but clarified that while many
involved in the sex comedy show’s creation were fans of “Sex and the City,” the
main characters “don’t grow up to be those girls.”
The grittier and considerably less fancy “Girls,” which
recently had its third season launch here, is coexecutive-produced by filmmaker
Judd Apatow (“Knocked Up,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”).
“Judd is like our Charlie, like in ‘Charlie’s Angels,’”
Konner said. “He’s in LA with an incredibly clear perspective that we don’t
always have, because we’re right next to it. He reads every script; he watches
every cut. He calls us, ‘You have to shoot that again.’ [We’d say,] ‘Come on,
we’re so tired.’ ‘No, you know you have to reshoot that.’ And we do.”
On the show’s creator, writer-director-actor Lena Dunham,
Konner described her as “really truthful and candid.” Dunham, who plays the
beleaguered writer Hannah, is also an executive producer. “Lena
learns how to do things…If she spends 10 minutes in this room, she’s gonna know
how to be a journalist tomorrow. She’s very quick!”
In a separate interview at the launch, Dunham related that
the success of “Girls” could be attributed to the focus on the stories, and
staying uncompromised. “These girls behave in ways that [some] people don’t
want girls to behave. And so we’re always thinking about that, but at the same
time we’ve chosen not to [make changes] because of what a certain audience
doesn’t want to see.”
On actress Zosia Mamet, who plays the finicky student
Shoshanna, Konner described her as “really different” from her character. “It’s
a big, incredible stretch for her and she’s really good. I’ve seen her in ‘Mad
Men’ and ‘The Kids are All Right,’ two vastly different parts. [She’s a]
fine, reality-based actor.”
“I think that Shoshanna’s best feature is that she does
everything sincerely, without apologizing for it,” said Mamet in another
interview. The daughter of playwright-filmmaker David Mamet, however, added
that her character has a weakness that she related to. “Her worse feature is,
she’s just f—ing anxious all the time. I’m a worrier. I’m from a family of
worriers. I’m sure that’s gonna shorten my life,” she said.
Allison Williams plays the oft-unsure but eager Marnie,
whose job changes every season. “Allison is a wonderful control freak and I
love her,” Konner said. “Her beauty is insane…she seems to get more beautiful
by the second.”
“At this point, Marnie and I are very different,” Williams
revealed during her turn. “That’s really fun for me to play. The writers
thought that I could pull it off; it’s such a compliment. She has no idea why
this has befallen her and who couldn’t want her. ‘Why am I working in a coffee
shop, like Hannah?’ Her life is so different from what she thought it was going
to be.”
Jemima Kirke, who plays the volatile eccentric Jessa, was
unable to attend the launch. According to Konner, the actor can be as
unpredictable as her character: “I can never anticipate what will come out of
her mouth…[but] she’s very different from her character, too. She’s married and
has two kids, leads a very different life, but can access that character so
brilliantly. Jemima is a complete natural.”
The Brit-American Kirke proved herself a patient person,
unlike the irritable Jessa, Konner said. “We have to tell our camera guys, ‘OK,
we have enough of those [shots]. Because they just fall in love with her and
will do 15 takes of her waking up in the morning. She’s stunning!”
(“Girls” airs Sundays, 10
p.m. , on HBO Signature.)
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