What To Know
- Andrew Rannells expressed regret about not being a better friend to Lena Dunham while on Girls.
- He was unaware of some of the challenges Dunham faced on set.
- Rannells reflected on being preoccupied with his own life and career at the time.
Andrew Rannells has some regrets about his time on Girls, particularly when it comes to his relationship with creator and costar Lena Dunham.
Rannells, who played Elijah Krantz on the HBO comedy, recently reflected on their years working together in an interview with The Guardian. While he told the publication that he fondly remembered being swept up in the excitement of his first TV gig, Dunham’s new memoir, Famesick, gave a different perspective on what the multihyphenate was going through at the time, which left Rannells wishing he had been a better friend.
For example, in the book, Dunham details allegedly hostile behavior from costar Adam Driver, who played her on-again, off-again boyfriend Adam Sackler on the show. In the memoir, Dunham claimed that Driver was verbally aggressive towards the cast and once hurled a chair at a wall out of frustration.
Craig Blankenhorn/HBO/Everett Collection
“That book is a great example of seeing things differently,” Rannells told The Guardian. “Girls was my first TV job, and when I showed up on set, I saw the fun, exciting part. At times, Lena would open up to me, and I’d read things in the press that were untrue or unfair. But the book was hard to read as someone who is close to her now. I felt terrible that I wasn’t a better friend.”
In the article, he pondered what he could have done differently to help Dunham. “Been more available. I let a lot of shit slide because so much was happening. I had a breakup, then a new relationship. I was doing The Book of Mormon eight times a week and working on Girls.”
“Of course, there was another part of reading her book,” he said. “I was, like: ‘Why didn’t she talk about me more?’”
As of late, Dunham starred in Netflix’s Too Much, which will not return for a second season, while Rannells recently reunited with the original Book of Mormon cast for its anniversary performance at the Tonys and starred in Hulu’s Deli Boys and HBO’s Miss You, Love You.