4 hours ago
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Cheers to imposter syndrome.
Hollywood veteran Rhea Perlman doubted herself — and often — while filming Lena Dunham’s new Netflix show, “Too Much.”
“There was a lot of improv we had to do. I had never done improv, so that was scary to me,” Perlman, 77, exclusively told The Post.
The “Matilda” actress added, “I called Lena at night a couple of times, like ‘Lena, I don’t think I should have said what I said in that scene – it was a bit over the top.’”
In response, Dunham would reassure her that she wouldn’t use material that didn’t work.
Created by Dunham and her husband, Luis Felber, “Too Much” follows Jessica (Megan Stalter), a New Yorker who moves to London and finds a romantic connection with Felix (Will Sharpe, “The White Lotus.”).
Perlman plays Megan’s grandmother, Dottie, Dunham plays her sister, Nora, and Rita Wilson plays her mom, Lois.
Despite having a long and storied career, Perlman said that “Too Much” is “much more risqué than a lot of things” she’s done before.
“Meg and Lena, they’re both so free with their bodies,” she explained. “Life is different now in the world. Women can be so much freer, and be beautiful. I didn’t get to do that, but I did get to be part of it.”
The Emmy-winning actress wanted to do “Too Much” because she’s a “huge fan of Lena Dunham.”
“I watched every episode of ‘Girls,’” she told The Post. “I think everyone I know did!”
Perlman, who shares two children and three grandchildren with Danny DeVito, 80 – who she is separated from but has no plans to divorce – added that she “loved the idea of being a grandmother, because now I am a grandmother.”
“[Dottie is] a very different grandmother than I am, and my grandmother was. This grandmother I play is very modern, like an open book grandmother. She talks to her granddaughter about sex,” she explained.
“That is something I would never have heard from my grandmother. And, although I might talk to my grandchildren about sex at some point, they’re too young for me to say that now.”
The “Cheers” alum also made waves in the 2023 “Barbie” movie, playing Ruth Handler, the creator of the iconic doll.
She quipped that she doesn’t know if there will be a sequel because, “I can’t say I hang out” with Margot Robbie or Greta Gerwig.
But, the role was “a gift.”
“I’m so delighted that I was part of it. It came out to be one of the greatest movies ever. It’ll be as iconic as ‘Matilda,'” she gushed. “People come up to me on the street now, young girls walking with their parents, asking ‘aren’t you Barbie’s mother?’ That’s how they see it.”
Perlman said that movies kids love, such as “Matilda” and “Barbie,” are “something that lives forever.”
English (US)