Watch ‘Lena Dunham’s’ Zero Dark Thirty Audition

“It makes me feel like an asshole that I have to threaten to torture you every day.”

As great as Jessica Chastain was in Zero Dark Thirty, this audition reel is making us retroactively reconsider the entire thing. Yeah, Dunham might play that scene in the cargo plane a little bigger &#8212 she probably opts for a full, blubbering meltdown over Chastain’s now-iconic, more restrained choice — but maybe that cuts to Maya’s emotional truth in a more honest and visceral way. And then when she gets back to Brooklyn, Jessa’s all, “Get OVER yourself. You killed UBL. You didn’t cure cancer or whatever.”

Anyway, casting hindsight is 20/20. We’re not saying this would’ve been the right answer; it’s just a different one.

Filed Under: Girls, Lena Dunham, Viral Video of the Day, Zero Dark Thirty

Mark Lisanti is an editor at Grantland.

Archive @ marklisanti