The Knockturnal was on the red carpet for the New York Premiere of the sixth and final season of HBO’s “Girls.”
The screening was held at Alice Tully Hall and a fabulous party followed at Cipriani 42nd Street.
OJ Williams: Talk about where he goes this season.
Ebon: Yeah. He starts kind of broken, and he doesn’t get any less broken. I feel like he’s a bit of a puddle, and then that puddle just sort of keeps getting larger and larger, and ruining people’s shoes and stuff.
OJ Williams: I’m sure it’s been a very fun character for you over the years. Talk about working with Lena to put this character together. How did you come into the role ultimately?
Ebon: Well Lena was always really cool with me about … I feel like she and I kind of created this character together, and along with Jenni and Judd. She was always really curious to hear my take on things, in a much more inclusive way then I’ve ever experienced in any other show that I’ve worked on. I don’t know whether that’s me being exploited, or whether that’s a collaboration. I’m not sure yet, I got to figure that out maybe.
OJ Williams: Talk about your character Desi, and ways he parallels to you in your real life. How you guys are both similar or different?
Ebon: I guess sort of in my needier infantile moments we sort of bump up against each other. Those would maybe be the intersections.
OJ Williams: Lastly. What are you going to miss most about doing this show?
Ebon: I’m going to miss everything about this show. This has been just absolute pleasure. I’m going to miss Lena, and Jenny, and Allison. I always look forward to coming to work on this show, and that’s not always the case.
OJ Williams: This is true. Yeah. Very true.
OJ Williams: Finish this this sentence. Hannah and Elijah in 20 years are …
Andrew Rannells: Dead.
OJ Williams: Dead?
Andrew Rannells: No, they’re not dead.
OJ Williams: Dramatic.
Andrew Rannells: Elijah’s probably married to like a Rupert Murdoch type, and Hannah is probably writing books and talking about how hungry she is.
OJ Williams: True to who they are.
Andrew Rannells: Yeah.
OJ Williams: Your character this season decides he’s going down the pursuit of acting. Talk about his journey there, and why it took so long to get to him being an actor.
Andrew Rannells: It does. It took him a second to figure out what it is he wanted to do with himself.
OJ Williams: We all knew right away.
Andrew Rannells: What he wanted to do?
OJ Williams: Like he’s an actor.
Andrew Rannells: Well yeah, but it was interesting to … I was happy to get to see him sort of pull his sh-t together a little bit. I wasn’t sure if he was going to get to, so it’s nice that he got to.
OJ Williams: Which character on Girls are you most nervous about them pulling their sh-t together?
Andrew Rannells: I was for Elijah, I got to be honest for myself, but then low and behold he might’ve been the last one to do it, but he gets it together.
OJ Williams: Really? Not even Jessa?
Andrew Rannells: No she’s fine. She’ll always be fine.
OJ Williams: Speak about playing Ray.
Alex Karpovsky: He is older than the rest of of the Girls on the show, which I think is a big part of who he is, and it’s big part of how he interacts with the rest of the crew. He often kind of gives advice, and I think that’s largely because he feels he needs to because he’s older than the rest of the people.
OJ Williams: Is Ray the Yoda of Girls?
Alex Karpovsky: That would be a sad thought wouldn’t it? For a man so tortured, and broken at times, and insecure at times to be a fan of wisdom is pretty messed up I think.
OJ Williams: It’s pretty messed up, but it reflects the times we’re in.
Alex Karpovsky: Perhaps.
OJ Williams: We’re getting deep.
Alex Karpovsky: Perhaps so.
OJ Williams: You’re also a bit of a babe magnet on this show. You have shagged, on the show, three of the girls. Talk about working with all the ladies throughout the years.
Alex Karpovsky: Well one was just a fellatio.
OJ Williams: One was just a fellatio to clear up. It was a gift.
Alex Karpovsky: Yeah, exactly. What was your question? I just need to make that clarification.
OJ Williams: Talk about working with the ladies over the years.
Alex Karpovsky: It’s amazing they’re all so different, both as characters and as people. They’re all amazing improvisors. I think Lena encourages all of us to not just be robots who say lines as actors, but actually have our own ideas, and kind of bend the words a little bit every now and then when we need to to make them more authentic, and natural, and funny at times. All the ladies do that in their own weird and different ways, and I think we’ve all kind of found, I found a way to kind of make it work with them over the years. It’s been really fulfilling in that way.
OJ Williams: I’ve been talking to everyone to tell me about how Lena’s such a collaborator, and you’ve worked with Lena before prior to Girls. Talk about working with Lena, and the collaboration process of putting your character together.
Alex Karpovsky: She draws a lot from autobiography based on her own life, but also based on characters that she knows. She knows me really well, and there’s a lot of me in Ray. I often think of Ray as a character of who I was 10 years ago. I think of my fears, vulnerabilities, insecurities, half baked ambitions from 10 years ago, and I just amplify them for comedic and dramatic effect. She kind of started that process. She knows my life very well, and she knew how to kind of make a character of who I use to be. She started that.
OJ Williams: Not to give it away, just a little bit of a hint, but are you kind of in a love triangle this season? Do you talk about Ray’s choice between Shosh and Marnie? Where he might lean towards?
Alex Karpovsky: I think Ray has a lot of growing up … He does a lot of growing up this season. I think he slowly wraps his mind around what truly does make fulfilling relationship, what does truly challenge him, what challenges is he ready for that he wasn’t ready for before. That very much reverberates to what women he’s going to choose to date. Outside of Marnie and Shosh there’s another woman that enters the picture as well that he’s also dating. I hope he’ll figure out and negotiate with all these issues.
