Spoiler alert: This interview contains spoilers for “too much”.
Emily Ratajkowski returned to playing after making the headlines in 2023 for shooting his team and leaving the company. At the time, she deplored the feeling of making herself “digestible to powerful men in Hollywood”, it is therefore not surprising that her first new project was not only created by a woman, but by her friend: Lena Dunham.
“Too Much”, the new series of Dunham Netflix Netflix, follows Jessica (Megan Stalter) in the months that followed his break from her ex-little friend Zev (Michael Zegen). Ratajkowski embodies Wendy, Zev’s new girlfriend, who is an influencer, and the constant flow of Instagram photos of the happy life of Zev and Wendy refers Jessica Crazy. She penetrates drunk in their apartment in New York to face them one night, while Wendy told Jessica that she seems crazy, she is surprisingly calm and generous during the meeting.
Throughout the series, Jessica records videos addressed to Wendy that she downloads from a private Instagram account. It is supposed to be an outlet for her to face her breakup, but one day, she accidentally gives the public account and the videos become viral. Shortly after, Wendy reaches Jessica and asks to meet. Rather who discuss the videos, Wendy asks Jessica details on the chronology of her break with Zev, and together, they realize that Zev was both lying. They bind in the way Zev treated them and wishes good luck, Wendy even offering Jessica advice on her current relationship with Felix (Will Sharpe).
Ratajkowski spoke to Variety About playing “the other woman”.
You and Lena Dunham have been friends for a long time. What were your initial reflections when she told you about this role?
We have always had a lot of conversations with the women you feel like you are connected in a strange way, but you don’t completely know them. And how, as we get older, we have always been pro-sister, but that when you are younger, you do not necessarily do it, because you are intimidated or because it is a defense mechanism.
Are you linked to Jessica as well as Wendy this way? Do you have these ideas on other women, but have the others who also project you?
I mean, I was Jessica and I was Wendy. I think, probably, it’s true for most people. At the beginning, Lena had written it as a lawyer, and I said to myself: “I want her to be a little moreotiable.” He was such an intelligent, perfect and incredible person who was online social justice stuff. And I said to myself: “I really want this girl to be influencer, and I don’t think it looks at stereotypes, because we will know her better, but I think the gain could be really great at the end.” This is a strange period in which we live 30 years ago, if your ex-girlfriend has a new girlfriend, you might meet her once or if you would see a photo once, but now you can have access to their daily activities. And I think it can really fuck with your brain, because it is someone with whom you share a person or a story, and there is a connection, but it is behind a screen. So I think it was really cool in the way Lena explored this.
Tell me more about wanting to feel it hateful. Was the goal of this to help validate Jessica’s feeling?
No, I just liked the idea that people say to themselves: “Oh, of course, an influencer.” There is just a lot of judgment for women who publish a lot online or who play in the attention economy. And personally, I did not think it made her moreotiable, but I could see why someone else would do it. Someone who was well intentioned was like: “Let’s do it SO intelligent. “I say to myself:” She East so intelligent. But that does not mean that she must be a lawyer, right? And she is also in opposition to Jessica in many ways.
Until this final episode, we only see Wendy through the perspective of Jessica, who imagines that she and Zev have a perfect life. But obviously, Wendy’s relationship with Zev had big problems. How do you imagine this time?
I (thought of Wendy) as a girl who lived with roommates and who had already had serious relationships before, but perhaps of a certain genre. She was like, “Oh, he’s the silly guy. He’s safe.” What happens with women in their twenties and thirties. You try different tropes, because you say, “Maybe This archetype! The sweet guy! Or the cheesy guy! They will be different! I will be safe from these things that I have known before. My vision of Wendy was that she said: “It’s such a nice Jewish boy who has a great taste for music, and sees me for whom I am all the things I like to do. And we can talk about all the cool shit that I want to talk about. It is comfortable. And, of course, he turns out to be at all like that.
And how do you think Wendy imagined Jessica? We definitely told her a story by Zev, but she also seems to have had her own perspective.
I’m sure she also tracked Jessica (online). There are probably, like, like, three girls whose life she regularly checks. And she has a crazy experience with Jess, which obviously validates a large part of what Zev probably told her. When she enters, I think she has two minds. It is like: “Okay, you are a little crazy, and I heard all these crazy things about you. But also, you crash and do not handle it well.” It is more generous – although even Jess, throughout everything, never falls thinking (Wendy) is stupid. There is a semblance of respect. I think the two characters have this. I always say that if a guy tells you that all his ex-girlfriends are crazy, it’s a red flag.
After making Jessica penetrate into the apartment in the middle of the night, then see these private videos that Jessica recorded on her, why does Wendy still want to meet her? How is she comfortable with that?
By being Gaslit, there is always a feeling. Wendy moved into this apartment, and we told her a story that was not true, but there were signs – the cupcake rosé, washing the face, things that did not add up. And it can be a really bizarre feeling when your biggest fears are validated. I imagine that Wendy at the moment being like: “Oh, Wow. All the things I didn’t want to believe, because I didn’t want to believe that my partner would lie to me, now I can see them. And as horrible as it is for her relationship, she has a very great perspective, which is: “Now, I know the truth, and it is better than living another. »»
How did you feel to turn the meeting with Jessica? It has a tone so different from the rest of your appearances in the season, which occurs from Jessica’s point of view.
I really loved it. It was the first scene that I shot for the show, and it was the first time that I am led by a woman and by my friend (Dunham). Meg and I had just met us, and even if we exchanged a few stories, it was somehow fresh. It was really good. I felt like I had helped to inform the scene, the fact that it was the first day, and we had so much fun shooting it. Meg is incredible to improvisation. She just goes. So there were taken which were very funny, but there were more tender, and it was only a pleasure.
After having finished talking about Zev, why do you think Wendy does everything possible to give advice to Jess on her new relationship?
I think she is in a very reflective moment. Wendy is the kind of girl to do a lot of therapy, and I imagine that she is like: “Okay, I will continue my life. I am open to love.” She is in a very wise place, which can happen – I think you can feel like a Zen master while crash during a break. And she obviously saw Jess’ videos. She had a real experience of the life of her entry into her house, so she puts limits around her friendship and says: “I do not try to spend time with you all the time, but if you ask me, here are some ways that I live my life.”
If “too much” is renewed, do you see a world where you would go back to this world? Do you see a future where Wendy and Jessica continue to meet?
I really do it. And Lena and I had funny little convos on what it would look like. I mean, who knows? But I really loved playing it. The world seemed so clear to me. I know (Wendy) well – I feel like I could meet her on the street in Brooklyn. It would therefore be very fun to return to her.
You’ve talked in the past to feel in Hollywood and break according to your appearance rather than your substance. Here, you can reverse this, with Wendy being described as another hot girl on the internet until we went more deeply and see who she really is. Did you feel like you are working on these difficult moments in your career through this role?
Lena was the first person to publish my writing, on Lenny Letter, but she knew me on Instagram. I had a lot of experiences, with Lena in particular, where she saw things spent at the surface and gave me so many opportunities. When I turned (“too much”), I was about to be 33 years old. I am an adult woman, with a child, and it was just very natural and just to make the kind of roles and to work with the kind of people who share the ideas I make around women and respect. So I didn’t really work, but it was really good.
This interview was published and condensed.
