The year is 2014: Beyoncé’s Drunk In Love is riding high in the charts and Lena Dunham, at the height of her fame after writing, creating and starring in cult comedy-drama series Girls, is guest editing the fifth-anniversary edition of Stylist. What follows is a crazed schedule of 3am finishes and last-minute editorial changes that culminate in an unforgettable cover image of Dunham popping up out of a giant cake. A decade later, the actor and writer sits down with us once more to catch up on the past decade (it’s been a busy one!) and talk about her new film, Treasure.

As Dunham admits herself, Treasure marks a move away from her typical projects. It tells the story of a father-daughter road trip set in 1990s Poland. In it, she plays Ruth, an American music journalist, opposite Stephen Fry as her father, Edek, a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor on a journey to his homeland. While Ruth is eager to make sense of her family’s past, Edek embarks on the trip with his own agenda. But at its heart, the film is an emotional, funny culture clash, and a powerful example of how reconnecting with the past can be an unexpected treasure.

“The moment I read the script, I was amazed to be offered a role because, frankly, when I want to play an interesting character I usually have to write it myself,” she tells Stylist over Zoom. She’s joined the call as “Lena’s iPhone” and her camera is off: “I’m wearing a shirt that says pizza and I look insane,” she laughs. 

Dunham is as warm and talkative as you would expect, particularly about the challenge of embodying Ruth. In her previous roles, she says, she’s always played a version of herself. “Whenever I’m playing a character on the surface, they’re always going to look and seem like me,” she explains. “There are some great actors who can transform and become someone new every time you see them on screen, but I’m always going to resemble myself in some way.” There were, of course, similarities she shared with Ruth’s character: being a writer, having a deep curiosity for the world and her eastern European Jewish heritage. 

But it was Ruth’s closed-off approach that took a moment for the famously open Dunham to step into. “My first response to the world tends to be one of openness, even naivete, wanting to jump into relationships and always assuming the best in people, but because of the roots of her trauma, Ruth lives in a way that is closed off. She’s able to ask other people questions about themselves, but not herself. And she thinks that if she gets to the bottom of her father’s story that will change.”

Ruth and Edek’s story also felt culturally significant. “My grandmother – a Jewish American – passed away in 2016, the last year we were shooting Girls, and she was so proud: she had a Girls poster up in her house, she came to the premiere and watched the sex scenes even though she was 95. But I felt like this was the kind of film she would be so proud and happy to see me make,” she says. “I also felt that beyond what it had to say about the Holocaust, it also has a lot to say about transgenerational trauma, which is a topic that we are all coming to understand more about. So many people are living with this type of pain and I really wanted to be a part of a film that talked about that.”

S: Are there any particular mantras that you live by now?

LD: Great question. I’ve never admitted this to anyone except my husband, but before I go into a big meeting or a day of shooting or a conversation that’s going to be hard, I say a little prayer that I wrote for myself. I don’t know where it came from. I say to myself: “Let me be open. Let me be loving. Let me receive and respond. Let me give to others while protecting myself.” I say it every single time as if it comes from a religious leader, even though it just popped into my head one day. I can’t say that it’s the right one for everyone, but I highly recommend coming up with your own personalised prayer and then saying it before you go somewhere that might cause you anxiety. Because it grounds me, it offers me peace and it reminds me of who I want to be in the world.

S: You now live in the UK permanently. Have you picked up any particular British wisdom?

LD: Something I really like about living and working in England is the way that people get on with it. Like there can be a conflict or something that doesn’t go according to plan and people are very much like ‘OK, well, we’re moving on and getting it done anyway.’ on with it. Plus, I now say motorway instead of highway.

S: What’s the biggest piece of advice you’d give to yourself from 10 years ago?

LD: Oh, man. Get off Instagram and stop wearing fast fashion. 

TREASURE is released in UK and Irish cinemas on 14 June

Images: Treasure; Seven Elephant Films