Lena Dunham lost Riding in Cars with Boys part aged 12 because she refused to ‘smile on command’

The actress revealed an awkward encounter with director Penny Marshall in an ealry audition (Picture: Getty) Lena Dunham has revealed that she auditioned for Riding in Cars with Boys – but failed the audition due to a bit of an attitude problem. In another story of finding out what could have been when it comes to Hollywood casting, The Girls star and filmmaker revealed in a new interview that her favourite film of all time is baseball drama A League of Their Own, directed by Penny Marshall. However, when she got the chance to audition for the director aged 12 for Riding In Cars With Boys, she ‘screwed the pooch’ (as she put it) by refusing to smile.

Recounting the audition, she confessed: ‘I understand why I didn’t get the role, because she asked all the young actors to say our name, our height, where we were from, and smile – and I said, “I’m Lena, I’m from New York, and I don’t smile on command. ”’ It seems that Penny wasn’t too fazed by Lena’s clapback, as the 36-year-old recalled: ‘And Penny Marshall said, “It’s called acting, honey. ”’ Appearing on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, Lena appears to be over her previous attitude and the embarrassing encounter, as she added: ‘The thing is, she was right.

Would you hire an actor who is like, “I’m sorry, I can’t smile on command”? Penny, who also directed A League of Their Own, was seemingly unbothered by young Lena’s attitude (Picture: Getty) Lena knew that she had messed up (Picture: Anthony Harvey/Rex/Shutterstock) ‘I’m with Penny on this one. I remember going home and knowing that I had ‘screwed the pooch’ so to speak, and my mother says that I laid in bed for like a week and moaned “My career is over”. ’ Luckily for Lena, that didn’t prove to be the case, as she became an eight-time Emmy nominee for her work on hit TV show Girls, which she wrote, created and acted in, as well as directing some episodes.

Riding in Cars with Boys was released in 2001 and starred Drew Barrymore, Brittany Murphy, Steve Zahn and James Woods, and was the last feature film Penny directed before her death in 2018. With husband Luis Felber at the premiere of her latest film, Sharp Stick (Picture: Getty) More: TrendingArchie Battersbee’s mum pleads for ‘last chance’ before son’s life support endsI’m A Celebrity is officially returning to Australia for 2022 seriesTwo arrested for murder month after nurse went missing from her home It was based on Beverly Donofrio’s autobiography of the same name, following her journey to overcome various difficulties to obtain a master’s degree. Meanwhile, Lena’s latest directorial effort – feature film Sharp Stick – faced tough critics at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, with The New York Post likening it to ‘a cinematic javelin to the head’.

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