Dunham starred, wrote and directed the dramedy she describes as a 'fable.'
Lena Dunham has high praise for her Sharp Stick co-star Jon Bernthal, referring to him as "gentle" and "thoughtful" during their sex scenes.
In an interview with W Magazine, the 36-year-old actress, writer and director was asked about particular challenges she faced while making the dramedy that she hadn't previously encountered in other projects. Dunham, at first, opened up about scenes that she described as "anxiety-inducing" even though she wrote them in the script herself, but then pivoted on how she met those challenges with the help of an unsung hero: Bernthal.
"I knew the ways I’d felt, even when I was directing myself -- overexposed, or scared, or not seen," she said. "I worked with an amazing crew on Girls, but sometimes just the fact of having to enact these scenes, even though I wrote them, was anxiety-inducing under the best circumstances."
"Now, at 35, all I wanted was to create an environment that allowed people to talk about sexuality that was actually safe," she continued. "I have to give credit to Jon Bernthal -- I always joke that he should give a class on how to be a man in a sex scene. He is so gentle and so thoughtful, he could literally have a side hustle as an intimacy coordinator."
Dunham, who starred, wrote and directed the film, follows Sarah Jo, a naive 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood with her mother and sister. Sarah longs to be seen, and when she begins an affair with her older employer (played by Bernthal), she is thrust into an education on sexuality, loss and power. Dunham plays Bernthal's character's wife.
Dunham's praise isn't limited to Bernthal's delicate approach to sex scenes. Dunham recalled the way Bernthal made her feel as a director, powerful.
"I feel like there’s always been this anxiety I’ve had with directing men, this fear that I wouldn’t be strong enough or tough enough or show them what a boss I was," she explained. "I feel a lot of female directors have this self-consciousness about being able to match or show up to the way the guys do it. Jon let me be exactly the director that I am; he heard me and I didn’t have to be loud, scary, or dominate. He was coming right off the set of King Richard and he could have been so tired. Instead, he just held us all up. I used to joke that if I could direct shows with only women in them, I would. And now, I love directing men because [with] Jon, I didn’t have to yell through a megaphone.
Sharp Stick, also starring Taylour Paige, Luka Sabbat, Liam Michel Saux and Scott Speedman, hits theaters Friday.
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