Surprise! Lena Dunham Shot Her Second Film Ever in Secret

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Maybe Lena Dunham's learned some lessons. If it seems she's spent less time trending on Twitter recently, maybe it's because she's been busy as hell. Not only has she recently directed episodes of the buzzy HBO show Industry and is producing the upcoming (and very, very queer) HBO Max show Generation, but she also found time in lockdown to secretly direct her second movie ever, Sharp Stick.

News of the film's very existence took most of Hollywood by surprise this morning. There had been no news that Dunham was even filming something. Though, apparently, it's already at the stage where Dunham will screen footage for potential distributors at the European Film Market during the Berlin Film Festival.

Details are being kept under wraps, but according to The Wrap, Dunham says it's a story about the complexity of female sexuality.

Dunham will star in the film alongside Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom breakout Taylour Paige, Jon Bernthal, Kristine Froseth, and Scott Speedman. Filming was completed in Los Angeles under strict COVID-19 safety protocols.

“I made my last feature film 11 years ago in my family home with just a few close friends. It’s a testament to FilmNation and my incredible producers, cast, crew and—especially—my COVID-19 compliance team that this experience felt just as intimate and creatively free,” Dunham said in a statement according to The Wrap. “This story is incredibly personal to me and a continuation of my career-long mission to create a free dialogue around the complexities of female sexuality and to turn the idea of the ‘likable’ female protagonist on its head—and you can’t do that in this business on any scale larger than your mother’s living room without forward-thinking partners. I feel very lucky.”

Dunham's first feature Tiny Furniture caught the eye of producer Judd Apatow which eventually led to HBO ordering her series Girls. Dunham's career seemed to hit a snag in the immediate aftermath of that show's finale (does anyone even remember Camping?), but she's apparently on another hot streak.

Indeed, plans for what will now be her third movie are already underway. Dunham will direct a film adaptation of the YA book Catherine, Called Birdy. Game of Thrones' Bella Ramsey will star as the daughter of a knight in medieval England.