Lena Dunham on why she cast Megan Stalter instead of herself in Netflix series Too Much: 'I was just not up for having my body dissected again'

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By Cassie Carpenter For Dailymail.Com

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Lena Dunham explained why she cast Megan Stalter instead of herself in her semi-autobiographical 10-episode comedy series Too Much, which premieres next year on Netflix.

'I was not willing to have another experience like what I'd experienced around [my HBO series Girls] at this point in my life,' the 38-year-old Treasure producer-star explained to the New Yorker on Tuesday.

'Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again. It was a hard choice, not to cast Meg — because I knew I wanted Meg — but to admit that to myself. I used to think that winning meant you just keep doing it and you don't care what anybody thinks. I forgot that winning is actually just protecting yourself and doing what you need to do to keep making work.'

Lena continued: 'I remember looking at Meg and being, like, "You are my muse. You inspire me every single day to go home and tap out pages upon pages." I definitely don't want to be my own muse.'

Dunham gushed over how 'inspiring and unbelievably talented' the 33-year-old Hacks star is as her thinly-veiled character Jessica, who falls in love with a British musician called Felix (Will Sharpe) after moving from New York to North London.

Lena Dunham (L) explained why she cast Megan Stalter (R) instead of herself in her semi-autobiographical 10-episode comedy series Too Much, which premieres next year on Netflix

Lena Dunham (L) explained why she cast Megan Stalter (R) instead of herself in her semi-autobiographical 10-episode comedy series Too Much, which premieres next year on Netflix

The 38-year-old Treasure producer-star explained to the New Yorker on Tuesday: 'I was not willing to have another experience like what I'd experienced around [my HBO series Girls] at this point in my life. Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again' (pictured in 2012)

The 38-year-old Treasure producer-star explained to the New Yorker on Tuesday: 'I was not willing to have another experience like what I'd experienced around [my HBO series Girls] at this point in my life. Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again' (pictured in 2012)

The eight-time Emmy nominee also happens to be a New Yorker who had a bad break-up (Jack Antonoff) and moved to London where she married British-Peruvian musician Luis Felber, who's the composer and co-creator of Too Much.

'It's not a huge leap. But I knew from the very beginning I would not be the star of it,' Lena noted.

'I was thinking a lot about, like, What is it that allows women to be complicated on TV and still be embraced and seen and understood? There's an openness to Meg's presence that I think goes a long way. She has whatever the opposite of resting bitch face is. She has resting angel face.'

Dunham continued: 'Meg is one of the beautiful women working today. She is so alarmingly gorgeous. The fact that she is not a size 0, or that she's not part of the new class of Ozempic-thin women, is not part of it...It's really important to me that there be a love affair between a guy and a girl where the fact that she is not teensy-weensy doesn't drive it...We were, like, "We don't want anyone to think we're doing a show about a beautiful man doing someone a favor."'

However, the tattooed millennial does have a small acting part in Too Much as the spouse of the character played by Andrew Rannells, who previously played her Girls character Hannah Horvath's gay best friend Elijah.

'I'm in the show! I think I just accidentally revealed that,' Lena confirmed.

'But it's a smaller part. Not a walk-on, but it's not a lead.'

The ensemble cast also includes Emily Ratajkowski, Richard E. Grant, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Rita Wilson, Andrew Rannells, Janicza Bravo, Rhea Perlman, and Stephen Fry.

Lena continued: 'I remember looking at Meg and being, like, "You are my muse. You inspire me every single day to go home and tap out pages upon pages." I definitely don't want to be my own muse' (pictured March 26)

Lena continued: 'I remember looking at Meg and being, like, "You are my muse. You inspire me every single day to go home and tap out pages upon pages." I definitely don't want to be my own muse' (pictured March 26)

Dunham gushed over how 'inspiring and unbelievably talented' the 33-year-old Hacks star (L, pictured December 11) is as her thinly-veiled character Jessica, who falls in love with a British musician called Felix (R, Will Sharpe) after moving from New York to North London

Dunham gushed over how 'inspiring and unbelievably talented' the 33-year-old Hacks star (L, pictured December 11) is as her thinly-veiled character Jessica, who falls in love with a British musician called Felix (R, Will Sharpe) after moving from New York to North London

The eight-time Emmy nominee also happens to be a New Yorker who had a bad break-up (Jack Antonoff) and moved to London where she married British-Peruvian musician Luis Felber (L), who's the composer and co-creator of Too Much

The eight-time Emmy nominee also happens to be a New Yorker who had a bad break-up (Jack Antonoff) and moved to London where she married British-Peruvian musician Luis Felber (L), who's the composer and co-creator of Too Much

Lena noted: 'I was thinking a lot about, like, What is it that allows women to be complicated on TV and still be embraced and seen and understood? There's an openness to Meg's presence that I think goes a long way. She has whatever the opposite of resting bitch face is. She has resting angel face'

Lena noted: 'I was thinking a lot about, like, What is it that allows women to be complicated on TV and still be embraced and seen and understood? There's an openness to Meg's presence that I think goes a long way. She has whatever the opposite of resting bitch face is. She has resting angel face'

However, Dunham does have a small acting part in Too Much as the spouse of the character played by Andrew Rannells (L, pictured May 22), who previously played her Girls character Hannah Horvath's gay best friend Elijah

However, Dunham does have a small acting part in Too Much as the spouse of the character played by Andrew Rannells (L, pictured May 22), who previously played her Girls character Hannah Horvath's gay best friend Elijah

The tattooed millennial confirmed: 'I'm in the show! I think I just accidentally revealed that. But it's a smaller part. Not a walk-on, but it's not a lead'

The tattooed millennial confirmed: 'I'm in the show! I think I just accidentally revealed that. But it's a smaller part. Not a walk-on, but it's not a lead'

The ensemble cast also includes Emily Ratajkowski (R, pictured June 3), Richard E. Grant, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Rita Wilson, Andrew Rannells, Janicza Bravo, Rhea Perlman, and Stephen Fry

The ensemble cast also includes Emily Ratajkowski (R, pictured June 3), Richard E. Grant, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Rita Wilson, Andrew Rannells, Janicza Bravo, Rhea Perlman, and Stephen Fry

Lena is currently starring in a major motion picture set in the English countryside that she 'cannot yet discuss,' and she's 'almost done writing' her second memoir Famesick which will be published on September 1 (pictured Tuesday)

Lena is currently starring in a major motion picture set in the English countryside that she 'cannot yet discuss,' and she's 'almost done writing' her second memoir Famesick which will be published on September 1 (pictured Tuesday)

Dunham will next portray art teacher Ms. Lyons in Tommy Dorfman's critically-acclaimed feature directorial debut, I Wish You All the Best, which Lionsgate will soon release

Dunham will next portray art teacher Ms. Lyons in Tommy Dorfman's critically-acclaimed feature directorial debut, I Wish You All the Best, which Lionsgate will soon release 

Dunham is currently starring in a major motion picture set in the English countryside that she 'cannot yet discuss,' and she's 'almost done writing' her second memoir Famesick which will be published on September 1.

The Finding Your Roots guest star will next portray art teacher Ms. Lyons in Tommy Dorfman's critically-acclaimed feature directorial debut, I Wish You All the Best, which Lionsgate will soon release.

The big-screen adaptation of Mason Deaver's 2019 non-binary coming-of-age novel stars Corey Fogelmanis, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Alexandra Daddario, Cole Sprouse, Amy Landecker, Lexi Underwood, Lisa Yamada, Judson Mills, and Brian Michael Smith.