Earlier this week, we shared a few insights from Alex Karpovsky and Jake Lacy, two of the Guys of GIRLS. But we also spoke with the girls of GIRLS. First up: Zosia Mamet, who plays Shoshanna.
Shosh had some trouble finding a job after graduation last season. Why was she so lost? I think the post-grad world is leaving a lot of people lost right now. It’s a little hard to speak to, because I didn't go to college. But all of my friends did, and they all kind of fell off a cliff when they graduated. I think our generation was promised this world of excess and opportunity, and then the world fell apart in 2008 and everyone graduated and there was just nothing. And I think we are also specifically a generation that got ribbons for participation and things like that, and it was an incredibly hard slap in the face to enter this world where not only are you not being rewarded for trying, but there weren't even things to try for. So I feel like the storyline with [Shosh] was a real representation of this person who lived in this bubble for a long time and was a very hard worker and was very prepared and ambitious and ready but the opportunity just wasn't there. She was faced with the reality of, like, "It's not that I'm going to try hard for a job and then get it," because there weren't even jobs to try hard for.
So she ended up in Japan. And you shot in Japan. How was that? Japan felt like a weird fever dream. We basically shot an indie film in, like, eight days. We had half of our crew and half of a Japanese crew, we showed up and immediately started working, after a 14 hour flight and with a 13 hour time difference. If someone had told me it was all a dream. I’d probably believe them. It was also the hottest place at the hottest time of year. It was 106 degrees for a few of the days we were there. It was kind of bananas but it was amazing.
How does Tokyo compare to New York? I didn’t get to experience the city that much, other than working. We were in many different parts of the city while working. So take my opinion with a grain of salt because it wasn’t as if I was traveling there. I was in weird bubbles shooting there. But it felt like a little bit of a mashup of the city. Certain parts felt like Times Square, and some parts felt the Financial District. It was very clean and very efficient. I think I’d need to go back and experience Tokyo as a traveler to be able to really speak to it as a place on its own.
And you live on the Upper West Side now? How do you like it? I love it. It’s my favorite place I’ve ever lived. It’s really quiet. It’s really clean. It’s really beautiful. Everyone’s super nice, which is very different from living in Bushwick, where everyone was either actually angry or pretending to be angry because it was cool. My dog loves it, and her best friend lives next door. They have playdates and it’s super cute and adorable and fun. My boyfriend and I are basically secretly 90-year-olds at heart. We pretty much order take-out once or twice a week, we go to dinner at this one place that’s like two blocks from our house where they know our names and know my voice when I call in to make a reservation.
So yeah, it suits that life. We sit on the couch with our dog and go to bed early and read. And Zabar's is right there, which is where I buy my coffee. [My dog] and I take trips down to Fairway to do the grocery shopping. It’s me and the other old ladies and I love it.
Have you had the rye bread at Zabar's? I’m allergic to wheat so I can’t eat it. But I stare at it sometimes. I stare at their bread section and it looks really nice and smells good. There are some lox slicers that are better than others there. I’m going to say, and I’m maybe making some enemies here, but I’m a Barney Greengrass girl.
I respect that. Zabar's', Fairway's, and Barney's...I’ve tried them all multiple times and I think I’m a Barney's girl. I think it’s a little less salty than Zabar's. I also made the mistake of once going to buy lox—we were having people over for breakfast—at Zabar's on a Friday afternoon and I thought that I was going to get murdered. Women were aggressive. I was really happy I experienced it once, but never again.
Do you people ever tell you that Shosh is their favorite of the four main GIRLS? Yeah, or that they think they are the most like her. Which is always a little awkward because I’m so different from her and I think that the people who identify with her are expecting me to be her. And when I’m not, they get uncomfortable because they’re sort of like, "I thought I’d be able to talk to me."
How are you different from Shosh? In like every way. We’re just super different creatures. Which is one of the reasons I like playing her so much, and why it’s been such an awesome challenge the past five years. I didn’t really know girls like that. I didn’t go to college, I didn’t really experience that breed of human. So it’s been really fun trying to figure her out. I don’t know. I don’t think I own anything pink, I think I bought a brush for the first time like two or three years ago. I never owned a hair dryer, I got my second gel manicure like five days ago. Just in terms of the way she presents herself, I think there are certain similarities. But I’ve never tried on anything or worn anything on the show that I would wear in real life, for her.
I feel like I’ve noticed, and I’ve been watching the show for the last four years, that Shosh seemed like she was growing up faster than the rest of the girls. And then just sort of stopped somewhere, and got more lost when she graduated. Have you been surprised by her progression? I think that your twenties are an expedited growth period. Your early twenties are even more so. It’s hyper-speed and moves really fast, and then it sort of starts to slow down as you get closer to thirty, at least in my experience. I feel like your early 20’s are remnants of your late teens, going ham and trying everything. Which leads to an expedited growth because you’re trying everything so quickly and figuring out, "I like this, I don’t like this, I thought I liked that, now I don’t!" It’s just a little bit of a warped speed.
Which character do you think you would like to hang out with most in real life? I don’t really know if I’d hang out with any of them. They’re still figuring their shit out and they all kind of suck in a lot of ways. And granted, we show their dark sides, so maybe that’s how I’ve come to know them intimately. I’ve seen all their dirty laundry, and as a human I’m like, "I don’t want to hang out with you. You need to figure your shit out." But I think they’d all be fun to spend an evening with, all together.
