{"id":11344,"date":"2025-07-15T09:56:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T09:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/11344\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T09:56:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T09:56:03","slug":"emily-ratajkowski-on-too-much-and-parasocial-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/11344\/","title":{"rendered":"Emily Ratajkowski on ‘Too Much’ and Parasocial Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers for \u201cToo Much<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEmily Ratajkowski<\/a> has returned to acting after making headlines in 2023 for firing her team and leaving the business. At the time, she lamented<\/a> the feeling of making herself \u201cdigestible to powerful men in Hollywood,\u201d so it\u2019s no surprise that her first new project is not only created by a woman, but by her friend: Lena Dunham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cToo Much,\u201d Dunham\u2019s new Netflix comedy series, follows Jessica (Megan Stalter) in the months following her breakup from her ex-boyfriend Zev (Michael Zegen). Ratajkowski plays Wendy, Zev\u2019s new girlfriend, who is an influencer, and the constant stream of Instagram photos from Zev and Wendy\u2019s happy life together drives Jessica crazy. She drunkenly breaks into their New York apartment to confront them one night, while Wendy does tell Jessica she seems crazy, she\u2019s surprisingly calm and generous during the encounter.<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout the series, Jessica records videos addressed to Wendy that she uploads to a private Instagram account. It\u2019s meant to be an outlet for her to cope with her breakup, but one day, she accidentally makes the account public and the videos go viral. Soon after, Wendy reaches out to Jessica and asks to meet up. Rather that discuss the videos, Wendy asks Jessica for details on the timeline of her breakup with Zev, and together, they realize Zev was lying to them both. They bond over the way Zev treated them and wish each other well, with Wendy even offering Jessica advice about her current relationship with Felix (Will Sharpe).<\/p>\n

\n\tRatajkowski spoke to Variety about playing \u201cthe other woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tYou and Lena Dunham have been friends for a long time. What were your initial thoughts when she told you about this role? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019ve always had a lot of conversations around women that you feel like you\u2019re connected to in strange ways, but you don\u2019t totally know them. And how, as we\u2019ve gotten older, we\u2019ve always been pro-sisterhood, but that when you\u2019re younger, you don\u2019t necessarily do that, because you\u2019re intimidated or because it\u2019s a defense mechanism. <\/p>\n

\t\tDo you relate to Jessica as well as Wendy in that way? Having those ideas about other women, but having others project onto you as well?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI mean, I\u2019ve been Jessica and I\u2019ve been Wendy. I think, probably, that\u2019s true for most people. At first, Lena had written her as a lawyer, and I was like, \u201cI want her to be a little bit more hateable.\u201d She was such a smart, perfect, amazing person who was, like, posting social justice stuff online. And I was like, \u201cI really want this girl to be an influencer, and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s leaning into stereotypes, because we\u2019re going to get to know her in a better way, but I think the payoff could be really great at the end.\u201d It\u2019s a weird time we live in. 30 years ago, if your ex-boyfriend got a new girlfriend, you\u2019d maybe meet her once, or see a picture once, but now you can have access to their everyday goings-on. And I think that can really fuck with your brain, because it\u2019s someone that you share a person with or history with, and there\u2019s a connection, but they\u2019re behind a screen. So I think it was really cool the way that Lena explored that.<\/p>\n

\t\tTell me more about wanting to make her feel hateable. Was the purpose of that to help validate the way Jessica\u2019s feeling?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, I just liked the idea that people are like, \u201cOh, of course, an influencer.\u201d There\u2019s just a lot of judgment for women who post a lot online, or play into the attention economy. And I personally didn\u2019t think that made her more hateable, but I could see why someone else would. Somebody who was well-meaning was like, \u201cLet\u2019s make her so smart.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cShe is so smart. But that doesn\u2019t mean she has to be a lawyer, right?\u201d And she also is just in opposition to Jessica in so many ways. She\u2019s really cool and collected, and she\u2019s creatively fulfilled, and all these things that Jessica can\u2019t relate to. But then, of course, we get to see that she\u2019s also this dynamic character in the final episode.<\/p>\n

\t\tUntil that final episode, we only see Wendy through the perspective of Jessica, who imagines that she and Zev have a picture-perfect life together. But obviously, Wendy\u2019s relationship with Zev had big problems. How do you imagine that time?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI [thought of Wendy] as a girl who was living with roommates and who had had serious relationships before, but maybe of a certain kind. She was like, \u201cOh, this is the dorky guy. He\u2019s safe.\u201d Which happens with women in your 20s and your 30s. You try out different tropes, because you\u2019re like, \u201cMaybe this archetype! The sweet guy! Or the nerdy guy! They\u2019re going to be different! I\u2019ll be safe from these things I\u2019ve experienced before.\u201d My vision of Wendy was that she was like, \u201cHe\u2019s such a nice Jewish boy who has great taste in music, and sees me for who I am all the things that I love to do. And we can talk about all the cool shit that I want to talk about. He\u2019s cozy.\u201d And, of course, he turns out not to be that way at all.<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd how do you think Wendy was imagining Jessica? She was definitely being told one story by Zev, but she seems to have had her own perspective too.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m sure she also has stalked Jessica [online]. There\u2019s probably, like, three girls whose lives she checks in on regularly. And she does have a crazy experience with Jess, which obviously validates a lot of what Zev was probably telling her. When she breaks in, I think she\u2019s of two minds. She\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, you\u2019re kind of crazy, and I\u2019ve heard all these crazy things about you. But also, you\u2019re just crashing out and not handling it well.\u201d She\u2019s more generous \u2014 although even Jess, throughout the whole thing, never falls into thinking [Wendy] is stupid. There\u2019s some semblance of respect. I think both of the characters have that. I always say, if a guy tells you all of his ex-girlfriends are crazy, that\u2019s a red flag.<\/p>\n

\t\tAfter having Jessica break into the apartment in the middle of the night and then later seeing these private videos Jessica recorded about her, why does Wendy still want to meet up with her? How is she comfortable with that?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWith being gaslit, there\u2019s always a feeling. Wendy moved into this apartment, and she was told one story that was not true, but there were signs \u2014 the Cupcake ros\u00e9, the face wash, stuff that didn\u2019t add up. And it can be a really weird feeling when your biggest fears are validated. I imagine Wendy in this moment being like, \u201cOh, wow. All the things that I was not wanting to believe, because I didn\u2019t want to believe my partner would be lying to me, now I get to see them. And as horrible as that is for her relationship, she has a really great perspective on it, which is, \u201cNow I know the truth, and that\u2019s better than living this other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did it feel to shoot the meet-up with Jessica? It has such a different tone from the rest of your appearances in the season, which happen from Jessica\u2019s perspective.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI absolutely loved it. It was the first scene I shot for the show, and it was my first time being directed by a woman, and by my friend [Dunham]. Meg and I had just met, and even though we exchanged a few stories, it was sort of fresh. That felt really nice. I felt like it helped inform the scene, the fact that it was the first day, and we had just so much fun shooting it. Meg is amazing at improv. She just goes for it. So there were takes that were very funny, but there were some that were more tender, and it was just a pleasure.<\/p>\n

\t\tAfter they finish talking about Zev, why do you think Wendy goes out of her way to give Jess advice about her new relationship?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think she\u2019s in a very reflective moment. Wendy\u2019s the type of girl to do a lot of therapy, and I imagine that she\u2019s like, \u201cAlright, I\u2019m going to move on with my life. I\u2019m open to love.\u201d She\u2019s in a very wise place, which can happen \u2014 I think you can feel like a zen master while crashing out during a breakup. And she\u2019s obviously seen Jess\u2019 videos. She\u2019s had a real life experience of her breaking into her house, so she\u2019s putting boundaries around her friendship and being like, \u201cI\u2019m not trying to hang out with you all the time, but if you\u2019re asking me, here\u2019s some of the ways that I\u2019m living my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tIf \u201cToo Much\u201d is renewed, do you see a world where you\u2019d return to this world? Do you see a future where Wendy and Jessica continue to cross paths?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI definitely do. And Lena and I have had fun little convos about what that would look like. I mean, who knows? But I absolutely loved playing her. The world felt so clear to me. I know [Wendy] well \u2014 I feel like I could run into her on the street in Brooklyn. So it\u2019d be very fun to return to her.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019ve spoken in the past about feeling pigeonholed in Hollywood and cast based on your looks rather than your substance. Here, you get to subvert that, with Wendy being portrayed as just another hot girl on the internet until we get deeper and see who she really is. Did you feel like you were working through those hard moments in your career through this role?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLena was the first person who published my writing, on Lenny Letter, but she knew about me from Instagram. I\u2019ve had a lot of experiences, with Lena specifically, where she has seen past surface level things and given me so many opportunities. When I shot [\u201cToo Much\u201d], I was about to turn 33. I\u2019m a grown ass woman, with a child, and it just felt very natural and right to be doing the kind of roles and working with the kind of people who share the ideas I do around women and respect. So I wasn\u2019t really working anything, but it felt really nice.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers for \u201cToo Much.\u201d Emily Ratajkowski has returned to acting after making headlines…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[11318,88,1066,1249],"class_list":["post-11344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-emily-ratajkowski","tag-entertainment","tag-lena-dunham","tag-too-much"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}