MovieChat Forums > Allison Williams Discussion > Hired for 'Girls' via nepotism

Hired for 'Girls' via nepotism

posted 13 years ago by dailynonn
9 replies | jump to latest

her father is Brian Williams

Full story:

How Fate Plucked Allison Williams From YouTube Obscurity and Dropped Her on Her Dads Friends TV Show

In making the unending publicity rounds for Girls, co-star Allison Williams has been peddling a YouTube discovery myth: Producer Judd Apatow, the tale goes, happened to come across a video of her singing a self-produced mash-up of the theme song to Mad Men in October 2010 and immediately knew that she was the actress to play Marnie, Lena Dunham's uptight girlfriend.

"He got in touch with my agents," she told the Today show last week, "and said, 'Just make sure Allison auditions because I think she has the right energy we're looking for for Marnie.' And the fact that he was able to see that in the clip was so amazing."

As the Hollywood Reporter put it, "Given the tens of thousands of videos uploaded to YouTube every day, you can imagine how few of them make their way to Judd Apatow's browser. But in late 2010, he happened to catch one mildly viral clip featuring actress Allison Williams." Williams told the Reporter, "I guess he saw something in my performance that kind of rung true with Marnie." Fate!

I'm sure the Mad Men video had something to do with Apatow's decision to seek out Williams for the role. Also having something to do with Apatow's decision to seek out Williams for the role: The fact that he knew her, and her Daddy.

The video above is of Gawker pal Brian Williams and a woman who looks precisely like his daughter hanging out with Apatow at the Nantucket Film Festival in October 2008, two years before she made the video that caught Apatow's eye. Williams senior is a longtime supporter of the festival; Apatow was receiving an honor that year for screenwriting. Williams roasted and introduced Apatow, and according to contemporaneous accounts "peppered his remarks with hilarious jabs at what Apatow's films have taught his children and how the honoree should really consider casting the newscaster's daughter in his next film."

Keep throwing up those YouTube videos, kids! It can happen to you.

[–] TopWing 13 years ago

This is probably the first time this has ever happened in the film industry!

[–] dermark 13 years ago

So what.

[–] dailynonn 13 years ago

She lies about it and tries to say she was discovered via a youtube video, when her father is friends with Apatow.

[–] TopWing 13 years ago

This is how things have been done in the film and television industry since the beginning. Spend 10 minutes browsing names on IMDB and you'll find a hundred famous people who are the cousins, nephews, sisters-in-law, or childhood friends of other famous people.

And for the record, this practice isn't limited to the film and television industry.

[–] sbh5w 13 years ago

The indignation is a bit absurd.

Judd Apatow has a lot of famous friends, and I'm sure a lot of famous friends whose children also want to be famous. And I'm willing to bet that he is closer with a lot more of them than Brian Williams.

You think he is just going to give the part to Brian Williams's daughter because of the Brian Williams connection, when this is a darling project for him, and he's not even the guiding voice of the show since it's Lena Dunham's creation?

Get real. All the connection means is that Brian Williams was likely able to use his influence to get Judd Apatow to watch Allison's youtube video and consider it.

After that, it was all up to her fitting the role and winning the part-- which was likely sparked because Judd saw the youtube video and liked what he saw.

And at least give it some time before making such a big fuss out of it. Here's just a sampling of the stars that Judd Apatow found and gave their big breaks:

James Franco
Jason Segel
Seth Rogen
Amy Poehler
Jenna Fischer
Lizzy Caplan
Jay Baruchel
Martin Starr
Linda Cardinelli
Kevin Hart

The only thing you can accuse ALlison Williams of is omitting the part of the story that she has a connection to Apatow and that connection might be what got him to see the video of her, or got her foot in the door.

It's also interesting that you take him to task for Allison Williams, given that Shoshanna is played by David Mamet's daughter Zosia

[–] dailynonn 13 years ago

Allison will not be joining that list.

[–] sharon-17 13 years ago

I agree with you dailynonn! And just because nepotism happens frequently doesn't make it right! Allison was telling that tired Judd Apatow story on Jimmy Fallon last night and it made me gag. I cannot stand her. Her hair made me laugh.

[–] TheyDieAtTheEnd 13 years ago

I just saw Allison on Jimmy Fallon. I had no idea she was Brian Williams' daughter, but I said to myself, "Oh, that explains it," before knowing the connection between BriWi and Judd.

Granted, it's not the first time this has happened in Hollywood, but it's silly for anyone to defend her or the practice of nepotism. Nepotism shouldn't be defended just because it's common. It's generally unfavorable. Call me crazy or jealous but I'm not a fan of it.

I prefer Lena Dunham's story: basically non-famous parents, goes to school, now she's writer, actor, creator, producer, blah blah, of a pretty decent show. Or, best of all, Natalie Portman's story. Discovered in a pizza shop, is a genuinely talented actor, and won an Oscar.

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