Emmy Nominees: Lena Dunham of ‘Girls’

Lena Dunham, the creator and star of the HBO comedy “Girls,” was nominated on Thursday for Emmy Awards for lead actress in a comedy series and directing the episode “On All Fours.” “Girls” was also nominated for outstanding comedy series. Here in  excerpts from the conversation, Ms. Dunham talks about her nominations and another provocative year for her series.

Q.

How are you and your TV paramour Patrick Wilson reacting to your nominations this morning?

A.

Patrick Wilson and I got some croissants and we’re just hanging around the garden and reading some old issues of The Believer. I honestly woke up to a call from my publicist, and I was like, “What   did I do now? What did I say that’s been taken heinously out of context, and I now have to decide whether or not to release a statement about it? What she actually was calling about was pretty great.

Q.

You encountered a lot of audience reaction in the first season of “Girls” that I’m sure was unexpected. Did you think that in Season 2 it would all be smooth sailing?

A.

I always knew that there was no such thing as clear sailing, now that Twitter exists and I’m a person who’s fairly active in social media. I knew after that first season, oh, this is the climate we’re dealing with. The nominations all mean a lot to me, but the directing nomination in particular, that’s an episode â€" “On All Fours,” where Adam Driver has that dark sexual encounter with his ex-girlfriend â€" that’s an episode a lot of people had a really strong reaction to. Just to be recognized on a craft level was very lovely. My dad was like, “We should never back away from our true artistic intentions.” And I was like, “That’s one way of looking at it. That’s a version of it.”

Q.

Adam Driver is a nominee for best supporting actor in a comedy, too.

A.

Adam getting nominated is all my dreams come true on every level. I called him and he answered in his usual way. He was like, “Hello?” I was like, “You got nominated for an Emmy.” And he was like, “I heard.” But he’s insanely happy. He’s having his calm ex-Marines reaction.

Q.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but how are you approaching Season 3 right now? Do you think there will be potential conversation starters/land mines in there?

A.

It’s funny, we never know which ones they will be. We’re always surprised by what takes the cake. There’s been couple where we’re like, Wonder how that’ll make people feel? But at this point we can’t even venture to guess. We’re approaching it as we always approach it. We never try to approach it like, Oh, hey, last year we scandalized a few people, let’s try to do that again. We write what feels exciting to us, and if it makes people horrifically angry and/or confused, then that’s a side effect. [away from phone] Lamby, in! [back on phone] I’m trying to get my dog into his crate because I’m going to work, and he can’t be trusted alone.