Lena Dunham alleges Girls co-star Adam Driver subjected her to volatile behaviour
Opening up about their time making the hit show together, Lena Dunham has alleged her Girls co-star Adam Driver displayed volatile behaviour towards her during the filming of Girls.
Lena Dunham has alleged her Girls co-star Adam Driver displayed volatile behaviour towards her during the filming of the series.
The 39-year-old writer and actress, who created and starred in Girls between 2012 and 2017, made the claims while promoting her memoir Famesick in an interview with The Guardian.
Adam, 42, who played her character Hannah Horvath’s partner Adam Sackler, is described in the book as having been “spectacularly rude” on set.
Lena alleged incidents including a chair being thrown at a wall near her, a hole punched in a trailer wall, and occasions where he apparently screamed in her face.
The show, which followed the lives of four women in their 20s, also starred Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke and Zosia Mamet.
Lena said: “At the time, I didn’t have the skill to… it never entered my mind to say, ‘I am your boss, you can’t speak to me this way’.”
She added: “And, at that point in my 20s, I still thought that’s what great male geniuses do: eviscerate you. Which is weird, because I was raised by a male genius who would never do that.”
Lena was referring to her father, Carroll Dunham, and contrasted those experiences with other collaborators she praised. She said: “Judd (Apatow) is a great hero of mine; Tim Bevan at Working Title is a huge part of my life and so is cinematographer Sam Levy.”
Lena added: “I just worked with Mark Ruffalo, the most thoughtful, sensitive, politically engaged, beautiful person.”
Adam has not responded publicly to the claims.
But in a 2012 interview with Interview Magazine, he spoke positively about his experience on Girls.
He said: “Lena’s characters – especially her female characters – are so three-dimensional and never seem in any way stereotypical, which was amazing to be a part of.”
Adam added: “It was such a collaborative group of people on-set that you couldn’t ask for better circumstances. It was just so open and young.”
He also said: “(Lena is) also perpetually happy, which is awesome to be around – having her in the room is really the best scenario if you’re gonna spend that much time being really intimate with someone.”
And Adam praised Lena for possessing “insight beyond her years”.
