A casting switcheroo is taking place on the new HBO pilot from Girls creator/star/director/writer Lena Dunham. Per Deadline, the impeccably talented Zoe Kazan is replacing Lisa Joyce in Max, a 1960s-set comedy about the struggles of second-wave feminism. Kazan is not only a swell actress, having shined in the underrated romcom What If and HBO’s own Olive Kitteridge, but she also wrote and starred in another underrated romcom (of sorts) called Ruby Sparks, which you should absolutely seek out at your earliest convenience if you haven’t seen—it's a brilliant deconstruction of the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" and how men view women.
But on to Max. The potential series is described as a “raucous comedy” and follows an ambitious magazine writer named Maxine Woodruff, an “enthusiastic, if misguided, low-level magazine employee who stumbles into the forefront of a civil rights movement both she and the world may not be ready for.” Joyce was in another HBO pilot, Insecure, which was recently picked up to series, but Deadline adds she left Max as a result of creative differences on the future of the character.
While Dunham will executive produce and direct the pilot for Max, it was written by Murray Miller, who penned the hilarious Andy Samberg-led HBO mockumentary 7 Days in Hell. Dunham’s Girls co-showunner Jenni Konner also executive produces alongside Ilene Landress, so this thing certainly has clout. Here's hoping the pilot turns out well enough to warrant a series order.
But Max won’t be Kazan’s only HBO job. She also appears in the pilot for The Deuce, the new series from The Wire creator David Simon about the birth of the porn industry in the early 1970s. It's unclear if that's a guest spot in the pilot or intended to be a recurring role on the series, but regardless, more Zoe Kazan on our televisions is great news for us all.
