Acting veterans Rita Wilson and Rhea Perlman have opened up about their time working with Lena Dunham on her new Netflix romcom series, Too Much.
Out Thursday, the show stars comedian Megan Stalter (Hacks) as newly single Jessica, a New York City workaholic, who decides to move to London to mend her broken heart. There, she meets Felix (Will Sharpe), a walking red flag, with whom she forms an unusual and undeniable connection.
Co-created by and starring Dunham, 39, as Jessica’s older sister, the 10-episode miniseries additionally features Wilson, 68, who previously appeared in the creator’s hit series Girls.
The Sleepless in Seattle actor and wife of Tom Hanks plays Lois, Jessica and Nora’s mother, who finds herself in a romantic escapade.
“I feel liberated working with Lena,” Wilson said in a new interview with The New York Times. “I felt that way on Girls, and I felt that way on Too Much.”
Meanwhile, 77-year-old Cheers legend Perlman, a self-described Girls fan, makes a guest appearance alongside Wilson as Jessica and Nora’s grandmother.
“Lena has a way of creating and directing that makes people feel free,” Perlman added.
“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.”
Too Much marks Dunham’s long-awaited return to TV. While she’s appeared in a handful of movies over the years, her latest on-screen TV appearance was in a single 2017 episode of American Horror Story.
Dunham’s rise to fame was fueled by the success of Girls, the eight-season drama she co-created and starred in.
However, while the show was airing, Dunham’s physical appearance became a major point of online discourse.
“Having my body dissected was a reason that I chose in general to step back from acting a little bit more and focus on my writing and my directing,” the Emmy-nominated multi-hyphenate recently told The Independent, “and also just make different kinds of choices as an actor.”
Dunham was often condemned for her nude scenes in Girls. Asked if she had any reservations about putting Stalter in a similar position, given the number of intimate scenes in Too Much, Dunham recalled Stalter being asked in an earlier interview how she might feel if she experienced body shaming.
“I start to give this very honest, sincere answer, and Megan just said, ‘If you want to leave a comment on my Instagram that says that I’m fat, let’s face it, you’re in love with me and you want to have sex with me,’” Dunham remembered.
She added: “I was like, that’s a perfect response. You have this covered. I was out here doing a full therapy session, and you are just like, we’re handling it and we’re moving on. She probably has to worry about me more than I have to worry about her.”
All 10 episodes of Too Much premiere Thursday on Netflix.
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