This week marked the premiere of Industry, a stylish HBO drama set on the trading floor of an English investment bank. The series stars Myha’la Herrold—a Carnegie Mellon graduate in her first major television role—as Harper, a twenty-something American inductee with sharp instincts and a shadowy backstory.
Neither Herrold nor Lena Dunham, who directed and executive-produced the first episode, claim to know much about the machinations of finance; more to the point is how young people at the beginnings of their careers hold up in strange, new environments where the stakes feel dizzyingly high. (Dunham cannily describes the show as “Melrose Place meets The Wolf of Wall Street.”) As different as they are, Herrold harbors a deep fondness for Harper and her particular journey at Pierpoint & Co.; fake transcripts, drug-addled nights, questionable sexual decisions and all. “If my life had looked different, I may be exactly like Harper,” she says. “I deeply, personally, intrinsically understand her thought process because we have the same set of challenges: humble beginnings, being mixed[-race], American, in this new place, having to prove her worth without any extra shit—no privileges.”
On a recent evening, Dunham and Herrold convened over Zoom to discuss the show, artistry, seeing themselves on billboards, and loving Rihanna.
Lena Dunham: You’ve had other jobs, but this is the first time the world is seeing the totality of your range, talent, and full Myha’la-ness … What does it feel like to have Industry coming into the world?
Myha’la Herrold: I feel overwhelmed with enough feelings that I can’t exactly name them all. Anticipation, excitement, relief … I mean, relief is a big one, because it’s one of those things where you’ve finished this massive thing, and then you go into the normal world and then lockdown world, and you’re like, Did that shit even happen? But I think mostly I’m just really proud. I saw the billboard in Times Square the other day—I looked at it and I was not expecting this to happen, but I started crying. I was completely overcome with emotion, but I was just so happy. When I thought about what my life would look like, I never imagined Oh, someday I’m going to do something and then my face is going to be massive in Times Square. I just didn’t think about that.
The post HBO’s “Industry”: Lena Dunham and Star Myha’la Herrold on Imposter Syndrome, 10-Year Plans, and Fantasy Fenty Campaigns appeared first on Honk Magazine.
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