The Group
Meet the fierce and funny females who hang out together and are about to take over Hollywood together.
By Alexis Swerdloff
Photographs by Jacqueline Di Milia // Styled by Zoe Buck
It's a really good time to be young, female, funny, smart -- and a little bit weird and awkward. Meet the members of Hollywood's unlikely new in-crowd.
Being an actress/director has its perks. Katie Aselton, who directed and starred in last fall's indie rom-dram The Freebie and plays Jenny on FX's fantasy football comedy The League, explains: "I don't get the excuse to sit on my butt and wait for the phone to ring anymore. I have proven to myself that I can make this happen on my own... which is both exciting and terrifying." As for being the sole female in The League's ensemble cast, she says, "the guys are so great and pull no punches with me, which is everything I want."
Maria Thayer's first big break came in the form of Jerri Blanks's best friend Tammi Littlenut on Strangers With Candy. Since then, Thayer's continued to be hilarious -- most notably as Jack McBrayer's sex-crazed new wife in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and as his blind girlfriend on a recent episode of 30 Rock. Thayer can currently be seen on FOX's mid-season-debuting Mixed Signals, and on the Cartoon Network's live-action comedy Eagleheart, which she describes as "Walker Texas Ranger had it been created by an insane person -- but a different insane person than Chuck Norris." Thayer's also working on a pilot with Andy and Jeff Blitz.
After graduating from Yale and moving out to L.A. last May, Allison Williams was immediately scooped up by Lena Dunham to appear in her upcoming Judd Apatow-produced HBO comedy, Girls. On working with Dunham, she says, "She seems to see things about humans and relationships of which the rest of us are completely unaware until she points them out." Williams is also working on a mini Web series for Funny or Die, and reveling in her new West Coast life. "I miss the East Coast," she says, "but I get to look at the ocean every day, which means every day is just a little north of average."
As the self-conscious cool-girl Britta Perry on NBC's Community, Gillian Jacobs has been able to watch the sitcom go from the-little-show-that-could to a full-on critical darling. While this hasn't affected the day-to-day workings on the show ("we developed a strong group chemistry during the pilot, and it has only deepened since then") Jacobs says the recent onslaught of critical and fan support has "given us the courage to take risks and do more conceptual episodes, like our Halloween zombie adventure or our Christmas stop-motion animation episode." Up next for Jacobs is the coming-of-age indie comedy Sin Bin. "I play the 'one who got away,'" Jacobs says. "It's always nice to be pined for."
Liz Meriwether, the screenwriter behind this past winter's off-beat, box-office-topping romcom
No Strings Attached (which features cover-gal Greta Gerwig as Natalie Portman's bumbling best friend), decided her look for this spread would be "Summer school teacher who awkwardly hits on you when you ask a question." In general, she found the shoot to be a fun time. "I got to hang out with my friends and try on super-hip clothes that didn't fit me. I spent half the day laughing really hard, and half the day trying not to fall down." Meriwether is currently filming a sitcom pilot for FOX.
"It's really encouraging to do a photo shoot with women who are just as uncomfortable
as I am giving sultry, sexy-time looks to the camera," says actress Lizzy Caplan. It was her role as sassy, alterna-teen Janis Ian in Mean Girls that initially won us over to Team Caplan, and her recent turn as scene-stealing Casey on the short-lived Starz show Party Down solidified our allegiance. Caplan stars in the upcoming Frankie Goes Boom, which features Ron Perlman as a transsexual. "Not to brag," she says, "but this was the second movie featuring a transsexual I did last year." The first being Queens of Country, in which Joe Lo Truglio plays Caplan's best girl friend. "When we wrapped and he grew his beard and cut his beautiful, long fingernails I was kind of devastated."
British actress Lucy Punch, who stole the show as a "psycho sex maniac" in last summer's
Dinner for Schmucks and then several months later as a "trashy hooker" in Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, is about to steal the show yet again, albeit with some
slightly sweeter roles. In the upcoming comedy A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, she says, "I play the boring straight friend who doesn't get invited and therefore has nothing whatsoever to
do with the orgy." And in Bad Teacher, she plays Cameron Diaz's nemesis, a "good teacher," competing for Justin Timberlake's affections. "I've no idea in what universe that would
actually happen, but it was a lot of fun," she says.
PICTURE ONE: (L-R) KATIE WEARS A TOP BY TIGERLILY, PANTS BY LEYENDECKER, SHOES BY ALDO AND BRACELETS AND A NECKPIECE BY PAMELA LOVE. LUCY WEARS A CARDIGAN BY CHARLOTTE RONSON AND A TOP FROM THE WAY WE WORE. LIZZY WEARS A CARDIGAN BY ODYLYNE AND A DRESS BY JOIE. LIZ WEARS A TOP BY VANESSA BRUNO, SKIRT BY CURRENT/ELLIOTT AND SHOES BY CHARLOTTE RONSON. MARIA WEARS A DRESS BY ROBIN AND SHOES BY ALDO. GILLIAN WEARS A TOP BY JOIE, A NECKLACE BY ETTEN ELLER, A BRACELET BY YARBOROUGH JEWELRY AND SHOES BY FIEL. ALLISON WEARS A DRESS BY JOIE, SHOES BY ALDO AND A NECKLACE BY IM:MORTAL
PICTURE TWO: KATIE WEARS A TOP BY TIGERLILY, PANTS BY LEYENDECKER AND BRACELETS AND A NECKPIECE BY PAMELA LOVE. MARIA WEARS A DRESS BY JOIE.
PICTURE THREE: ALLISON WEARS A DRESS BY JOIE AND A NECKLACE BY IM:MORTAL.
PICTURE FOUR: GILLIAN WEARS A SHIRT BY LEYENDECKER.
PICTURE FIVE: LIZ WEARS JEANS BY CURRENT/ELLIOTT AND A NECKLACE BY IM:MORTAL. LIZZY WEARS A TOP BY CHARLOTTE RONSON AND PANTS BY SOLD DESIGN LAB. LUCY WEARS A SWEATER FROM THE WAY WE WORE AND A SKIRT BY LEYENDECKER.
HAIR: STEPHEN LEWIS AT EXCLUSIVE ARTIST MANAGEMENT USING SEBASTIAN PROFESSIONAL AND TONY VIN FOR KERASTASE AT THE MAGNET AGENCY
MAKEUP: KC FEE AT EXCLUSIVE ARTIST MANAGEMENT USING AMOREPACIFIC AND SAGE MAITRI FOR COVERGIRL AT THE MAGNET AGENCY.
ASSISTANT: SUZANNE MEJEAN
Being an actress/director has its perks. Katie Aselton, who directed and starred in last fall's indie rom-dram The Freebie and plays Jenny on FX's fantasy football comedy The League, explains: "I don't get the excuse to sit on my butt and wait for the phone to ring anymore. I have proven to myself that I can make this happen on my own... which is both exciting and terrifying." As for being the sole female in The League's ensemble cast, she says, "the guys are so great and pull no punches with me, which is everything I want."
Maria Thayer's first big break came in the form of Jerri Blanks's best friend Tammi Littlenut on Strangers With Candy. Since then, Thayer's continued to be hilarious -- most notably as Jack McBrayer's sex-crazed new wife in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and as his blind girlfriend on a recent episode of 30 Rock. Thayer can currently be seen on FOX's mid-season-debuting Mixed Signals, and on the Cartoon Network's live-action comedy Eagleheart, which she describes as "Walker Texas Ranger had it been created by an insane person -- but a different insane person than Chuck Norris." Thayer's also working on a pilot with Andy and Jeff Blitz.
After graduating from Yale and moving out to L.A. last May, Allison Williams was immediately scooped up by Lena Dunham to appear in her upcoming Judd Apatow-produced HBO comedy, Girls. On working with Dunham, she says, "She seems to see things about humans and relationships of which the rest of us are completely unaware until she points them out." Williams is also working on a mini Web series for Funny or Die, and reveling in her new West Coast life. "I miss the East Coast," she says, "but I get to look at the ocean every day, which means every day is just a little north of average."
As the self-conscious cool-girl Britta Perry on NBC's Community, Gillian Jacobs has been able to watch the sitcom go from the-little-show-that-could to a full-on critical darling. While this hasn't affected the day-to-day workings on the show ("we developed a strong group chemistry during the pilot, and it has only deepened since then") Jacobs says the recent onslaught of critical and fan support has "given us the courage to take risks and do more conceptual episodes, like our Halloween zombie adventure or our Christmas stop-motion animation episode." Up next for Jacobs is the coming-of-age indie comedy Sin Bin. "I play the 'one who got away,'" Jacobs says. "It's always nice to be pined for."
Liz Meriwether, the screenwriter behind this past winter's off-beat, box-office-topping romcom
No Strings Attached (which features cover-gal Greta Gerwig as Natalie Portman's bumbling best friend), decided her look for this spread would be "Summer school teacher who awkwardly hits on you when you ask a question." In general, she found the shoot to be a fun time. "I got to hang out with my friends and try on super-hip clothes that didn't fit me. I spent half the day laughing really hard, and half the day trying not to fall down." Meriwether is currently filming a sitcom pilot for FOX.
"It's really encouraging to do a photo shoot with women who are just as uncomfortable
as I am giving sultry, sexy-time looks to the camera," says actress Lizzy Caplan. It was her role as sassy, alterna-teen Janis Ian in Mean Girls that initially won us over to Team Caplan, and her recent turn as scene-stealing Casey on the short-lived Starz show Party Down solidified our allegiance. Caplan stars in the upcoming Frankie Goes Boom, which features Ron Perlman as a transsexual. "Not to brag," she says, "but this was the second movie featuring a transsexual I did last year." The first being Queens of Country, in which Joe Lo Truglio plays Caplan's best girl friend. "When we wrapped and he grew his beard and cut his beautiful, long fingernails I was kind of devastated."
British actress Lucy Punch, who stole the show as a "psycho sex maniac" in last summer's
Dinner for Schmucks and then several months later as a "trashy hooker" in Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, is about to steal the show yet again, albeit with some
slightly sweeter roles. In the upcoming comedy A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, she says, "I play the boring straight friend who doesn't get invited and therefore has nothing whatsoever to
do with the orgy." And in Bad Teacher, she plays Cameron Diaz's nemesis, a "good teacher," competing for Justin Timberlake's affections. "I've no idea in what universe that would
actually happen, but it was a lot of fun," she says.
PICTURE ONE: (L-R) KATIE WEARS A TOP BY TIGERLILY, PANTS BY LEYENDECKER, SHOES BY ALDO AND BRACELETS AND A NECKPIECE BY PAMELA LOVE. LUCY WEARS A CARDIGAN BY CHARLOTTE RONSON AND A TOP FROM THE WAY WE WORE. LIZZY WEARS A CARDIGAN BY ODYLYNE AND A DRESS BY JOIE. LIZ WEARS A TOP BY VANESSA BRUNO, SKIRT BY CURRENT/ELLIOTT AND SHOES BY CHARLOTTE RONSON. MARIA WEARS A DRESS BY ROBIN AND SHOES BY ALDO. GILLIAN WEARS A TOP BY JOIE, A NECKLACE BY ETTEN ELLER, A BRACELET BY YARBOROUGH JEWELRY AND SHOES BY FIEL. ALLISON WEARS A DRESS BY JOIE, SHOES BY ALDO AND A NECKLACE BY IM:MORTAL
PICTURE TWO: KATIE WEARS A TOP BY TIGERLILY, PANTS BY LEYENDECKER AND BRACELETS AND A NECKPIECE BY PAMELA LOVE. MARIA WEARS A DRESS BY JOIE.
PICTURE THREE: ALLISON WEARS A DRESS BY JOIE AND A NECKLACE BY IM:MORTAL.
PICTURE FOUR: GILLIAN WEARS A SHIRT BY LEYENDECKER.
PICTURE FIVE: LIZ WEARS JEANS BY CURRENT/ELLIOTT AND A NECKLACE BY IM:MORTAL. LIZZY WEARS A TOP BY CHARLOTTE RONSON AND PANTS BY SOLD DESIGN LAB. LUCY WEARS A SWEATER FROM THE WAY WE WORE AND A SKIRT BY LEYENDECKER.
HAIR: STEPHEN LEWIS AT EXCLUSIVE ARTIST MANAGEMENT USING SEBASTIAN PROFESSIONAL AND TONY VIN FOR KERASTASE AT THE MAGNET AGENCY
MAKEUP: KC FEE AT EXCLUSIVE ARTIST MANAGEMENT USING AMOREPACIFIC AND SAGE MAITRI FOR COVERGIRL AT THE MAGNET AGENCY.
ASSISTANT: SUZANNE MEJEAN
Your Comment