Lena Dunham flashed a rarely glimpsed tattoo on Wednesday as she shot a new project with stars Natalie Portman and Rashida Jones in New York City.
The 39-year-old actor, writer and director was pictured in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park as she helmed a scene with the two actress for her upcoming feature Netflix rom-com Good Sex.
She was hot on a new project shortly after her Netflix series Too Much, which stars Hacks actress Megan Stalter and The White Lotus season two’s Will Sharpe premiered on July 10 to stellar reviews.
Lena stood out on her set in a pair of denim shorts that revealed a tattoo on her left thing with a banner reading ‘My Beastly Shadow’ and featuring a squiggly, abstract design.
Although the Girls creator catalogued several of her tattoos earlier in her career and shared the inspirations behind them, this ink has so far gone unremarked on.
She appears to have gotten the tattoo sometime in 2020.
It’s unclear if the ‘Beastly Shadow’ of the text could refer to one of her pets.
In 2018, she suffered a tragedy when her Yorkie Bowie died, and only months earlier her cat Gia Maria had died.
Dunham now appears to be a cat and dog owner again, and she regularly poses with her dog Ingrid on social media.
Dunham rounded out her casual outfit on Wednesday with a black T-shirt and red flats for a splash of color.
Natalie was seen with her between takes in a ruffled white blouse with a long black ribbon.
She showcased her legs in a black mini skirt with chic black leather loafers, and she accessorized with a semicircular black handbag.
Rashida’s costume featured a midnight blue mini dress with a jacket decorated with a brown-and-yellow lattice pattern and strappy beige sandals, though she slipped into a pair of more-comfortable black clogs when she was seen chatting with Natalie and Lena off camera.
Good Sex stars Natalie as a couples therapist who reluctantly explores the dating world at the start of her 40s following a string of relationships that haven’t worked out.
The film also stars Mark Ruffalo and Severance breakout star Tramell Tillman, while Meg Ryan returns to starring in a rom-com after rising to fame in them.
As part of her press tour for her new show Too Much, Lena chatted with Variety for a profile earlier this month.
She spoke about how protective she felt over her actors, who engage in extensive sex scenes in the show.
‘If anybody has anything to say about any of my actors — I keep my mouth shut on most things these days but try a b****,’ she said. ‘I’m not playing around here. It’s the only time that I’m going to be taking my hoops out, ready to fight.’
The comment landed her in hot water with some social media commenters, who claimed the statement was an example of cultural appropriation, while one person said she was ‘cosplaying a black woman.’
Elsewhere, she suggested she wasn’t ‘protective enough’ of herself after being body-shamed in the past, particularly for her work on Girls.
She also took ‘merciless’ body shamers to task and noted that she had experienced people’s cruel reactions to her body in multiple different states.
‘I have been in Hollywood at every size. I have been a sample size [a size two], I have had my body change because of life, illness, aging, menopause. And it is merciless wherever you are,’ she admitted.
