Lena Dunham talks about directing ‘very unfiltered’ film on Emily Ratajkowski’s pregnancy
Dunham calls the film the ‘opposite of a People Magazine baby announcement’
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Your support makes all the difference.After announcing that she is pregnant with her first child, Emily Ratajkowski has debuted a new short film dedicated to her unborn baby and directed by Lena Dunham.
The two-minute film named “Who Will You Be?” was posted on Vogue’s website with Lena Dunham sharing behind the scenes details about the film.
Narrated and shot by Ratajkowski, the film shows a series of short clips and stills of the model and actress navigating her pregnancy in everyday scenes at a doctor’s surgery, at home and in her local neighbourhood.
“It was important to me that it feel very unfiltered and authentically present", Dunham told Vogue.
Describing the film as the “opposite of a People Magazine baby announcement”, Dunham explained that she wanted to show all of the mundane experiences of pregnancy by focusing on her inner monologue rather than what the outside world thinks.
“I have talked a lot about my own infertility and how the culture of baby announcements and Instagram can make women feel excluded or less than, but actually early pregnancy is a very confusing and complex time—how could we capture all that but also feel the hope and joy of growing new life?” she says.
The "Girls” writer also praised Ratajowksi for her writing, saying: "I was amazed at how nimble she was in saying things that felt both moving and new.”
The friends met five years ago after Ratajkowski appeared on Dunham’s podcast, Women Of The Hour. The following year, Ratajowski wrote an essay entitled Baby Woman for Dunham’s Lenny Letter website.
The film also features Ratajkowski’s boyfriend Sebastian Bear-McClard.
The couple broke the news that they were expecting a child on Monday 26 October 2020 with a digital cover of Vogue, in which Ratajkowski cradles her bump.
In an accompanying essay the 29-year-old explained that her and her partner do not plan to reveal the baby’s sex.
Joking that no one will know the child’s gender until they ask them at age 18 the actress said: “Everyone laughs at this. There is a truth to our line, though, one that hints at possibilities that are much more complex than whatever genitalia our child might be born with: the truth that we ultimately have no idea who - rather than what - is growing inside my belly.”
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