We’re so very excited for Lena Dunham’s ‘Eloise’ documentary
Earlier this month, we found out that our girl Lena Dunham is going to be joining forces with our fave childhood book, Eloise—and we were pretty pumped, to say the least.
If you hadn’t heard, the iconic 1955 children’s story “Eloise,” written by Kay Thompson and drawn by Hilary Knight, is one of Dunham’s biggest inspirations. In fact, when she turned 17, she begged her parents to take her to the local mall to get a tattoo of the precocious little girl. Why? Because Eloise is amazing: she’s a free-spirited ball of confidence looking for adventure and she doesn’t care about what people think about her appearance, because she’s still “a person” no matter what.
Dunham had always been able to relate to Eloise. In fact, when a kid at camp called her “Toddler Tummy,” she was comforted by the thought of Eloise and her super-empowered perspective.
Knight, now 88, heard that the Dunham’s tattoo of Eloise (which she got at 17) was visible in Dunham’s Girls, and reached out to her, claiming, “To know a smart, sassy fan who obviously understands this child is a thrill for me.” They instantly clicked, and Dunham spoke with show runner Jenni Konner. Boom: the documentary “It’s Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise” was in the works, with Dunham and Konner as executive producers.
“He was in disbelief for quite a bit of time that this documentary would actually happen because he’s overlooked so much,” the documentary’s director, Matt Wolf, told the LA Times. “The idea that he would become a focus of something major is completely foreign to him.”
“Obviously it’s not like we did Hilary any kind of public service — he’s an incredible artist, and he’d be just fine without us,” Dunham told the Times. “But it is very satisfying to see someone whose work you care so much about be recognized at a late stage in their life.”
The 40-minute documentary airs tonight on HBO at 9pm. We’re SUPER excited and can’t wait to tune in. But until then, check out the trailer:
(Images via HBO)
