Down, girls!
The cast and producers of HBO’s “Girls” went on the defensive Thursday at the winter Television Critics Tour in Pasadena.
According to Deadline Hollywood critic Lisa de Moraes, show creator and star Lena Dunham was startled when Tim Molloy, TV critic for The Wrap said, “I don’t get the purpose of all the nudity, particularly by you.”
“It’s a realistic expression of what it’s like to be alive, I think, and I totally get it,” Dunham shot back. “If you’re not into me, that’s your problem, and you are going to have to kind of work that out with whatever professionals you’ve hired.”
Trying to come to her aid, Judd Apatow, who serves as an executive producer on the show, which returns Sunday night for its third season, tried to intimidate Molloy. “Do you have a girlfriend? Does she like you?” He then instructed the reporter to repeat the question he asked Dunham to his girlfriend and “let me know how it goes tonight.”
Accustomed to being told they are geniuses by the New York media, the “Girls” gang did not react well to having their creative decisions challenged out west. “I’m in such a rage spiral about that guy!” Girls exec producer Jenni Konner squawked later.
“Looking at him, I’m going into such a rage! Accusing a woman of showing her body so much! It just makes me sort of sick.”
Another lionhearted reporter had the temerity to ask Dunham if she would ever be friends with the characters on her show, saying that she puts them in “terrible situations, and they act so ugly. I just wonder, is that an exercise in writing for you?”
Dunham shot back, “You seem to like Walter White,” a reference to the meth dealer played by Bryan Cranston on “Breaking Bad.”
While Apatow was needling Tim Molloy in Pasadena, his wife, actress Leslie Mann, was a guest on The Tonight Show.
After telling a humorous story about her 16-year-old daughter’s high school adventures, Mann, wearing a white blouse and a black skirt slit up the thigh, asked Leno how many shows he has left.
“About 20,” he said. Then Mann went into a whole story about how Jay was her rock when she moved to LA 22 years ago to become an actress. She started crying and blowing her nose.
Leno seemed shocked and confused by the outpouring of emotion.