Lena Dunham Promises More Diversity on ‘Girls’
The second season of Girls will feature several new characters as part of a more diverse cast, creator Lena Dunham said yesterday at Fortune magazine’s annual Most Powerful Women Summit, Reuters reports.
Dunham took to heart criticism that the hit HBO show featured mostly white actors despite being set in a city as diverse as New York, and said she felt “heartbreak at the idea that the show would make anyone feel isolated.”
“All I want to do is make women feel excited and included by the show,” she added, noting that there will be “a multitude of new characters” when the second season begins in January. “There are some of color. Some are not. Some are Caucasian.”
Dunham, who is just 26 and one of the youngest people to write and star in her own TV show, also spoke about the pressures of best representing young women so she doesn’t create a backlash and hurt others trying to break into Hollywood: “I don’t want to do anything that is going to make them think ‘this is why we don’t give shows to 25-year-old girls,” she said. Joking, she added, “I’d love to have a small dog, [but] I don’t think it would be good for all of us if I were to carry a small dog to set with me.”
Girls was recently up for a four Emmy awards, and while it went home empty handed, Dunham made a riotous cameo in host Jimmy Kimmel’s opening video bit that found her naked on a toilet eating a birthday cake. During her talk, Dunham addressed her frequent nude scenes, admitting “Most situations it’s probably not a good idea to be naked on television,” and said that she probably would not strip down for another director.
But Dunham added. “I like doing it because I’m my own boss. I’m writing it. I’m directing it. I’m producing it.”