‘Too Much’s Meg Stalter On “Essence” Of Lena Dunham’s Love Story

For Megan Stalter‘s first leading TV role, she hopped the pond to London for a modern twist on classic British romantic-comedies.

Speaking to Deadline about Lena Dunham and husband Luis Felber’s Too Much, Season 1 of which is now available to stream on Netflix, the actress said she felt “none of that pressure” to portray them any specific way.

“I loved how it was kind of capturing the essence of them and not just a direct documentary about them,” explained Stalter. “They never wanted us to do impressions of them, it was more so like, ‘We’re married and this is kind of this thing we’re doing together, but it’s your characters, and you take it as your own.’ And not all of the stuff happened, but it’s just more the energy of them together.”

Too Much stars Stalter as Jessica, a New Yorker who moves to London after a disastrous breakup and sparks a romance with musician Felix (Will Sharpe). Co-created by Dunham and Felber, the series is inspired by the couple’s love story.

For her onscreen romantic lead, Stalter noted “it was always Will [Sharpe] that we wanted” to play the directionless musician Felix.

“He is just so sweet. He made me feel so comfortable, and from the moment we started filming, I felt like, ‘OK, we can be silly together, and he likes me joking around, and he doesn’t find me off-putting,’ recalled Dunham. “I feel like there’s certain British people that maybe would find me being too much and sort of off-putting and loud, and I was happy to know that he liked those things. And I think he really has a weird, funny sense of humor, and he was so perfect for this part.”

With Stalter on hiatus ahead of Season 5 of HBO Max’s Hacks, she noted the team behind Too Much is “open to doing another season” as well.

Read on for Megan Stalter’s experience starring in Too Much, now available to stream on Netflix.

DEADLINE: I just saw this Fergie video. Can you tell me about shooting that? That’s iconic. 

STALTER: Fergie is literally so amazing. She is so sweet. I would literally start crying watching her, and I would be like, ‘you are so in your element,’ like I’m seeing literally a bright shining star. I was also really tired because we started early, so I was very sensitive and emotional, but I also think even if I got any sleep, I would still feel this way. Then I would tell her that, and she’s so present that she’d start tearing up, and she’s just so amazing and she loves too much.

DEADLINE: That was such a song of my youth.

STALTER: Me too! ‘Clumsy’ was me and my gay boyfriend’s song in high school and so I would be like, ‘That’s our song.’ So it was very crazy. I can’t believe we got her to do it. She looks amazing.

DEADLINE: I know it’s semi-biographical, but tell me about kind of adapting Lena’s love story into this British rom-com, but also a self-love story. 

MEGAN STALTER: Yeah, I loved how it was kind of capturing the essence of them and not just a direct documentary about them. They never wanted us to do impressions of them, it was more so like, “We’re married and this is kind of this thing we’re doing together, but it’s your characters, and you take it as your own.” And not all of the stuff happened, but it’s just more the energy of them together. And I feel really proud and excited for what we made, cause I feel like it was just so much fun to make something that’s based off of them and not like, you had to make sure everything was accurate and do this impression of them. There was none of that pressure on us. 

DEADLINE: What was it like having her play your sister? And also the whole family, with Rita Wilson and Rhea Perlman. 

STALTER: It was just the best day ever. I couldn’t believe she was on screen with me. I feel like I still can’t believe that I got to work with her, and I just want to keep doing it cause I’m just the biggest Girls fan. And then to see her in the scene, and then Rita be in the scene, it was just so crazy because I’ve loved them all for so long and they’re just all so funny. I just think that’s one of my favorite scenes, the one of us all in the living room. I love all the scenes, but it was so much fun to be with them and surreal to have kind of a Girls reunion, and I’ve just been so obsessed with the show. 

DEADLINE: Yeah, Girls is definitely making such a comeback lately, so it’s cool to see Lena’s next phase. Tell me about building the chemistry with Will Sharpe because you had such a fun onscreen dynamic. 

STALTER: That’s so nice. He is just so sweet. He made me feel so comfortable, and from the moment we started filming, I felt like, “OK, we can be silly together, and he likes me joking around, and he doesn’t find me off-putting.” I feel like there’s certain British people that maybe would find me being too much and sort of off-putting and loud, and I was happy to know that he liked those things. And I think he really has a weird, funny sense of humor, and he was so perfect for this part. And I remember Lena, when she asked me to do this, it was always Will that we wanted. He’s just so funny and so sweet. 

DEADLINE: One scene I really loved was in the finale with Emily Ratajkowski, that whole self-acceptance and closure that you reached at the end. Can you tell me about reaching that point for that character? 

STALTER: Yeah, I love that scene too. That was like one of the scenes where, anytime I’d read it in the script, I would cry because I just thought it was so sweet. And Emily is just so amazing, and I feel like she’s a real girl’s girl in real life, so it was so easy to connect with her in that scene. I think it’s the first thing we filmed together. I think it’s the first day we met, but I just felt so excited to do that scene. And it’s funny cause like Jessica goes like too hard and she’s like, We’re best friends.” And it’s kind of like, “OK, we’re not there.” But it just is one of the love stories of the show, I think, is Jessica accepts herself, but then also is kind of realizing that she didn’t need to be mad at this woman, and it’s not her fault.

DEADLINE: And there are some pretty iconic guest stars from Andrew Scott, Naomi Watts, Janicza Bravo. Did you have anyone that you were so excited to work with? 

STALTER: Everyone, I was so excited to work with. I just couldn’t believe the cast, and I would get nervous to be like, “I can’t believe I’m doing a scene with Naomi Watts.” And then every single person that came on was so sweet and down to improv and be silly. I really clicked with Andrew Scott, we couldn’t stop laughing. I was truly depressed on his last day. We went to one amazing dinner once and it was one of the best dinners with a new friend I’ve ever had, and I’ve wanted to work with him since the moment I’ve seen him on screen. But we got to become closer friends. Also Adèle [Exarchopoulos] is so funny. I’ve never seen her in a role like this, and I loved being in scenes with her and Emily. I couldn’t believe the people that we got. 

DEADLINE: Yeah, it’s a pretty awesome cast. Tell me about filming in London and channeling these pieces of UK literature and romantic comedies and stuff like that. 

STALTER: It was just so exciting. I think London is really romantic and I think the whole idea that this character fantasized about this experience and then it’s not what she thinks, but then I think what you end up with in the show is even sweeter than she imagined. So I think that London was such a beautiful backdrop for the whole show, and it felt like really funny and interesting and sweet… And the food is not good there. 

DEADLINE: I heard that it’s a limited series, but is there a possibility for Season 2? Has there been any discussion around that? 

STALTER: I have no news, but I think they are open to doing another season. We want to. So, I’m not sure yet, but I hope that everyone watches it and loves it and that we get to do another, cause I just can’t stop thinking about the show. It’s just so exciting, and I’m just so impressed by Lena and Will and everyone. 

DEADLINE: This season of Hacks was just so amazing, through and through to the very end. Can you tell me, have you all started shooting Season 5 yet or do you have any update on that? 

STALTER: They’re writing the scripts now. I haven’t seen them yet and I’m always begging to know what happens. It’s so exciting when we do a read-through cause I don’t get the scripts until then. And so just reading where the story goes, it’s like, I’m such a fan of the show too, so it’s so exciting. I have no idea. I hope Kayla’s pregnant or something. 

DEADLINE: But I have seen people on social media saying that Kayla and Jimmy need a spin-off. Is that something you all have ever discussed? 

STALTER: We need to start discussing it, don’t we? Because I really think that that would be really fun. I don’t know, how long do you wait until the show is over to do a spin-off? 

DEADLINE: Who says you have to wait till it’s over? 

STALTER: I know, I think we should just do it.