Lena Dunham Reveals What She Said That Made Her Fail An Audition

Lena Dunham reveals she had a major audition fail as a young actress during a recent discussion with SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle.

The 36-year Girls actress revealed that when she was 12 years old, she auditioned for director and producer Penny Marshall‘s Riding in Cars with Boys, starring Drew Barrymore

Jess asked her how she was treated during the audition. Lena said, “I was treated actually really well…there was no cruelty.

The only thing I’ll say is I understand why I didn’t get the role because she asked all of the young actors to say our name, our height, where we were from and smile.

And I said, ‘I’m Lena. I’m from New York. And I don’t smile on command.’ And Penny Marshall said, ‘It’s called acting, honey.’”

“The thing is, it’s like, she was right,” Lena continued. “Like, would you hire an actor who was like, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t smile on command’?”

“I’m with, the thing is I’m with Penny on this one. And I remember going home and knowing that I had screwed the pooch so to speak.