Will Sharpe’s Latest Character Has No Idea He’s in a Romcom

WILL SHARPE’S LATEST role required him to play live music in front of other people for the first time since high school. He was terrified.

When the Netflix comedy series Too Much dropped on July 10, Sharpe officially joined the likes of Adam Driver as an unconventional, hateable-as-he-is-lovable, love interest in a Lena Dunham property.

“Felix has no idea that he’s in a romcom,” Sharpe tells me. “He doesn’t realize what’s going on. I didn’t think about the idea of a romantic comedy at all while shooting.” Like Driver, Sharpe might not be most people’s first choice for a romantic lead—his previous work has leaned toward supporting roles in ensembles—unless, of course, you’re Lena Dunham. Driver’s role in Girls propelled him to genuine movie stardom in a movie-starless era. If Sharpe’s performance opposite comedic powerhouse Meg Stalter is any indication—equal parts insightful, funny, and quietly devastating—he might be next.

The 38-year-old British actor, writer, and director graduated from the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2008, and began his career in British television. In 2016, Flowers, a dark comedy series he wrote, directed, and starred in received critical acclaim. And in 2020, he won a BAFTA for best supporting actor for his performance in the BBC series Giri/Haji.

Then in 2022, he gained worldwide recognition for his role in season two of Mike White’s The White Lotus. He played Aubrey Plaza’s husband, who would rather jerk off than have sex with his wife while on vacation in Italy. His character is still the subject of debate: whether or not he hooked up with Meghan Fahy’s Daphne is one of the show’s enduring questions. Last year, he appeared as an Irish tour guide in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, which won Kieran Culkin an Oscar for best supporting actor.

Felix, his character in Too Much, is a struggling musician in London—a pessimist trying to find his place in life. Jess (Stalter) is a bright-eyed American who moves to London after a big breakup and is obsessed with British romance. Together they are a mess, but a match nonetheless. Despite their many differences, they can’t help but come back to each other, for better and for worse. Although Sharpe had some experience with music, having played in high school bands, he was still nervous to film. “It was quite scary sometimes, because I hadn’t done it for ages,” he says.

MEN’S HEALTH: Did Lena Dunham recommend watching—or rewatching—any British romcoms before filming Too Much?

WILL SHARPE: There wasn’t any homework per se, but when I read the scripts I could feel how she was playing around with certain tropes. There was an awareness and a fondness for the classic British romcom. But I liked that it also felt very Lena Dunham… very specific to her voice. Alongside being funny and tender and romantic, it isn’t shy about the rougher edges of what a relationship can be and how the characters have baggage.

MH: Are there any British romcoms or romances that mean something to you?

WS: I’ve definitely seen most, if not all, of what would probably be considered classic British romcoms. It is not British, but I loved Bridesmaids, I remember just really enjoying that when it came out. Is Harold and Maude a rom-com?

MH: I consider it a rom-com, although some people would disagree…

WS: It’s not really in the genre, but I also love Punch Drunk Love, which is funny and romantic, but maybe not a classic. And I’ve seen all of Richard Curtis’s films, I’m pretty sure.

MH: Felix and Jess aren’t necessarily characters you’d ever think would lead a romcom. They’re like if the sidekicks or the best friends became the leads.

WS: Yes. I love that about Felix and Jess. They’re quite messy, complicated people. When you meet them, they’re both feeling outside of the norm, a little bit adjacent to the mainstream. Yet they see each other and are open to each other’s foibles.

MH. Felix and Jess have an instant romantic connection. What gets them there so quickly?

WS: That’s such a big question. I remember talking to Lena and asking what you are asking. What do you think? Is there something specific that’s making him go back to Jess? And from my memory, she said it was just a feeling that maybe there was something there that Felix didn’t want to walk away from. So maybe it’s as simple as that. It is just kind of like, huh, what was that? Maybe I’m interested in that.

MH: They are also very different—but at pretty similar crossroads in their lives.

WS: That’s true. They’re both trying to start fresh. She’s literally moved to a different country. She’s trying to move on from a relationship she’s just come out of. Felix has gotten clean, he’s writing his own music, and he’s trying to be a better person. As the series goes on, you’re like, can they sustain that? Is that who they really are?

MH: What was it like working with Lena Dunham—as both a writer and a director?

WS: She’s so collaborative and so open. Obviously I was a big fan of hers before coming to this project. I’ve loved her work for a long time, since Tiny Furniture. She’s so skilled—as a writer and as a director. She led the production with an open-hearted spirit and really fostered an atmosphere that made us all feel safe, yet super-duper collaborative. She was always interested in everyone’s thoughts. Sometimes we’d even just have an offhand conversation, and then a couple of weeks later, those ideas would have somehow percolated their way into a new draft of the script. She’s very ready to massage the scripts and play around with it.

MH: Did she encourage improvising?

WS: Sometimes she would tell Megan and me, ‘now just do one where you do whatever you want and play around with it’, which was fun with Megan obviously. There was a fair bit, but the point of the scene was always so clear. The scripts were in such beautiful shape. Lena is interested in the nuances of human behavior, and she’ll notice awkward, funny moments or tender moments… she’s not looking to make it all clean and smooth. She’s willing to make changes, which shows a real confidence in her command of her own tone. She knows so completely what the story is and what the scene is for that she can give us the freedom to play within that.

MH: What makes a Lena Dunham script stand out from other scripts that you read?

WS: It is just so in her voice, which is so particular. It’s very funny, but also very empathetic. She’s interested in every character, even a tiny supporting role. You can feel her drawing it. You can feel her imagining a whole hinterland for every single character. I was impressed with the way she handled the story and how quickly she can do the jigsaw puzzle, the maths of a story.

MH: Your character, Felix, is a musician. What’s your own musical background, and did you do any prep for the role?

WS: I wasn’t starting from nothing. I can play the guitar a little bit, and I can play the piano. As a teenager, I was in bands in that sort of high school way. I did practice a lot and I really liked the songs. Sometimes, I tried to tailor my playing to fit the character or just to make it so that I could play it confidently and sing at the same time. We pushed to play as much of it live as we could, which hopefully gives it a slightly messy, real feeling because the nightmare would’ve been for it to be super polished.

MH: Polished wouldn’t fit into Felix as a character either.

WS: No, it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t suit the music and it wouldn’t suit him. And the final song in the final episode, I remember the original version of it was a bit grungier and is on the guitar. I was pitching to put it on the piano, partly because I’m stronger on the piano, but also I wondered if it would give it a different feeling. Music is a big part of Felix, but I didn’t want to fall into the trap of playing him as this rock and roll fantasy person. I felt really keen for him to be messy and a normal guy with problems. Someone said to me about how musicians are sort of cool, but they’re also dorks. I carried that with me a little bit.

MH: How did you approach portraying that complexity authentically?

WS: The complexity of the character and how many layers there are to unpack is a testament to Lena’s writing and the way she drew all the characters, and it’s so rewarding as an actor to have all of that to use and to play with. Some of it goes to heavy places at times, which can be challenging, but it’s also often the most rewarding part of playing a character. Whatever journey Jess and Felix are on and whatever compulsions and weaknesses and addictions they might have, we need to see them struggle with that. Otherwise it’s almost too easy and we don’t believe it’s an issue. I really like that Felix isn’t kind. He fucks up quite a lot and makes a lot of mistakes. That makes him better rounded as a character. Hopefully it makes you invest more in the relationship, that they’re having to fight through all of this stuff to find their way back to each other.

MH: Lena’s writing is similar to Mike White’s; they portray these messy, honest relationships as they are, with the dark things. But just because bad things happen doesn’t mean that it’s not meant to be.

WS: They aren’t shy about digging into that stuff and are trying to take you on a realistic journey. Those early episodes of Too Much really captured that hard-to-explain feeling when you first meet someone and you get to know each other and the giddiness of that—and then also the naughty part where you start to doubt yourself and your past relationships and experiences start to haunt you. They’re both feeling like, are they worthy of this? Can they trust in this relationship? Are they good enough for it? And they both are very forgiving of each other, but maybe not of themselves sometimes. And all of that hopefully feels relatable and is what makes it feel grounded and real.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity