Allison Williams and Ebon Moss-Bachrach played toxic couple Marnie Michaels and Desi Harperin on HBO's 'Girls.'
When Girls stars Allison Williams and Ebon Moss-Bachrach reunited at Condé Nast Studios, they revealed secrets about the music that bound their toxic on-screen couple.
The two sat down for the first time in seven years to talk to Vanity Fair about making music together on their hit HBO show and their characters being the original members of Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Department.
On Girls, which ran for six seasons from 2012 to 2017, Williams portrayed Marnie Michaels, who was in a disastrous relationship with Desi Harperin, played by Moss-Bachrach. The Bear actor and Fellow Travelers actress revealed that many of Marnie and Desi's songs were actually discarded tracks meant for Kelly Clarkson, with some having been written by Jack Antonoff, who was dating Girls creator and star Lena Dunham at the time.
"I found out the other day that most of our songs were discards from Kelly Clarkson," Moss-Bachrach said. "Some of them were," Williams corrected. "I think the song 'Breathless' was written by Jack Antonoff for Kelly Clarkson."
"I like that song," Moss-Bacharach said. Williams added, "It's a great song, she should've done it! But we got it, as a result."
Given Antonoff's recent success collaborating with Swift and Dunham's close friendship with the singer, it isn't surprising that Williams and Moss-Bachrach also feel that it's only right that their characters' on-screen love story was the subject of one Swift song.
After being asked if she had ever seen the Marnie and Desi Tortured Poet Department memes, Williams exclaimed, "Have I ever! I'm an insane Swiftie. I'm so honored. I love the idea of Marnie and Desi being in The Tortured Poets Department where someone who won't be named is running, dashing out with their typewriter."
Moss-Bachrach looked lost so Williams quickly explained the album lore to him, saying, "It's the titular song off of the most recent Taylor Swift album. There were a lot of memes about us being the original, the tortured poets. It feels right. It feels canonically accurate."
She continued, "This man, who shall not be named, would've fit right in with our world and would've, I think, probably really livened up our music in a way. But also, you know, it feels right."
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