‘Girls’: Why Jemima Kirke Initially Turned Down Role on the HBO Comedy
For six seasons, Girls on HBO provided millennial women with an authentic representation of what struggling to come to terms with adulting looked like for 20-something women. Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and Shoshanna tried and failed many times at juggling work, friendships, romantic relationships, and everything in between. The Lena Dunham-created show became iconic, nearly instantly. But as it turns out, Jemima Kirke nearly missed out on her chance to contribute to the critically acclaimed series.
Jemima Kirke reveals why she initially turned down ‘Girls’
Much of the storylines and characters in the show are inspired by Dunham’s real-life situations or those of her friends. Kirke is one of Dunham’s childhood best friends who has remained in her close circle throughout her adulthood.
“Jemima’s been one of my best friends since like 5th grade,” Dunham explained in an HBO special about the ending of the show. “We’ve known each other for like 20 years now and she’s always been a remarkable and iconoclastic and unusual person.” Kirke added of Dunham, “She’s drawn to dark situations, dark people.”
While Kirke was in the pilot, once the show was given the OK from the network, Kirke was in a different stage in her life and turned the show down. “At the point the pilot got greenlit, she was 9-months pregnant with her first child and was like, ‘I’m not coming to do a TV show, sorry dude. Like I don’t even really want to be an actor.’”
Kirke was firm on her stance. “I didn’t want to do it and I did say no and a couple of weeks later, Lena came back and asked me again, and I said yes,” Kirke explained.
She starred in the series all six seasons
Kirke played the role of the bohemian and free-spirited friend of the bunch, Jessa Johansson. She is considered to be the most open-minded and adventurous one of the foursome, at least on the surface. Viewers meet Jessa when she travels back to New York from overseas to live with her cousin Shoshanna. Jessa is originally from England. She met Marnie and Hannah while briefly attending Oberlin College.
Her character arc is the most all over the place for many fans. She goes from one casual relationship to the next, doesn’t maintain a stable job or home, floats from one person’s home to another, gets married and divorced, attends rehab for drugs and alcohol, and often damages her friendships due to her behavior and tendency to run from her problems.
Things nearly get to a point of no return when she falls in love with Hannah’s ex, Adam. Their relationship is toxic, and her guilt about betraying Hannah causes much tension. She also learns that Adam still has feelings for Hannah. But by the end of Season 6, Jessa and Hannah make amends.
The ‘Girls’ alum provided her own wardrobe for her character
Kirke brought a lot of herself to the character, including Jessa’s fashion choices. “Her style is anything that’s unpredictable,” she said in the special.
In one episode of the first season, Jessa wears a bikini and a sheer white dress to a babysitting job. Kirke says it came directly from her own options.
“That was my dress. She liked it because she liked the silhouette, you could see the body underneath. I know because I feel that way too,” she explained. “All those clothes that season were mine, most of them. The pilot episode, I don’t think was the best outfit for her but I think it set the tone for her being bohemian, which I don’t think she is…I think her attitude is but I don’t think that’s how she dresses and I didn’t feel like it was right. So, we went to my closet. The fun thing about dressing that character Jessa is that you can really put her in anything. She’s not self-conscious, so the things she picks is because she likes them.”
