Jennifer Garner is having a career resurgence. Now that she’s separated she’s stepping out of her mom role and is working on a new action film, Peppermint, by director Pierre Morel (Taken), she’s active on social media, and she steadily making other films. So on the surface it looks like a good move for her to helm an HBO comedy by Lena Dunham and her Girls co-writer, Jenni Konner. Garner got her big break on television, in Alias, and so many of her colleagues are finding success on cable and streaming networks. She should get a piece of that pie, right? You probably know where I’m going with this, but let’s read the announcement first. The series is called Camping.
The project is from writer and executive producers Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner (Girls). The description: “Walt’s 45th birthday was supposed to be a delightful weekend back to nature, at least according to his obsessively organized and aggressively controlling wife Kathryn (Garner). But when the camping trip gathers Kathryn’s meek sister, holier than thou ex-best friend and a free-spirited Tagalong in one place, it becomes a weekend of tested marriages and woman on woman crime that won’t soon be forgotten. Plus, bears.”
Konner and Dunham called the role “messy, tough and provocative and really really fun. We love Jennifer’s restraint and comedic timing, and we can’t wait for the warmth and intelligence she’ll bring to our central character, Kathryn. It’s truly a dream to have her first on our call sheet. Now we just have to write her some stunts.” Her character is described as “a controlling LA mom who is far less cheerful than her Lululemons imply. Kathryn controls the proceedings with an iron grip until she’s faced with a woman who undoes all her best-laid plans.”
The eight-episode Camping is based on a British series with the same name by Julia Davis. Garner will next be seen in the coming-of-age film Love Simon opposite Josh Duhamel.
Some people will probably expect Garner to address criticism for working with two problematic people. Should she? Dunham and Konner didn’t directly commit crimes, they just defended a male colleague who was accused of raping a 17 year-old woman of color and they called that woman a liar. So they suck, particularly Dunham who keeps proving that, but that’s not on Garner in any way. They’re probably decent to work with, they’re both women and given everything we’ve heard about how horrible that industry is, this isn’t the worst choice for Garner. I can’t blame her for choosing this project. This will likely benefit her career, HBO keeps giving these women opportunities despite the mediocrity of their material, and it will bring Garner back to the small screen. That said, I don’t find her watchable in any way. The last film I saw her in was Dallas Buyer’s Club and she seemed quite miscast.
Garner posted this to Instagram and commenters are pointing out to her how awful Dunham is. She follows the news in her industry and she knows. All her decisions are calculated, especially major ones like this.
Garner is shown out on 2/3 (striped shirt) and outside church on 2/4. The photo agency points out that she has a temporary tattoo on her left arm. Credit: WENN, Backgrid and Getty
At least shes working
cant wait for the press tour, gonna be a sh*tshow.
Her face looks absolutely terrible in that top pic. What has she done to herself?
Such a huge mistake to work with Dunham. Everyone hates her. It doesn’t look like a good move at all.
It seems she isnt using fillers. I think she looks great.
Isn’t using fillers? Apart from that big filler in her fake upper lip…
We attack women for employing fillers, and then when they don’t use or overuse them, we call them terrible looking.
+1 to supporters above. I think she works really hard to give her kids a normal life despite their awful dad and that she looks good despite all that. She will never be Christie Brinkley or Nicole Kidman, thank goodness.
There is nothing normal about being dragged on pap strolls because Mommy loves the attention and refuses to live anywhere other than a pap zone.
I think her face looks natural.
Her lips have always been pretty full. I’ll have to google older pictures but I remember her having similar lips to mine, people say we look alike. But, as I get older people ask me more often if my lips are real, which is a surprisingly intimate and offensive question, lol. I don’t think people believe me because of this big lip craze though.
Edit-I googled and you were right, her high school upper lip is very thin. I’m shocked! 😄
well, she’s not all gussied up for a photoshoot, she’s out shopping and isn’t one of THOSE celebs that gets done to the nines to go to the farm market.
I think she looks fine. we’re so used to seeing Hollywood types all fancy and sometimes they’re just dressed like regular people.
I think she’s dropped weight, and that has affected her face, making lines more noticeable. She looks just fine to me. A normal, attractive 40-something woman.
Oh Jennifer, I was rooting for you!
Even just focusing on the work, I can’t stand Lena Dunham. The parts of Girls that I liked turned out to be where Judd Apatow was involved. Left to her own devices, Dunham has terrible comedy instincts. Hard pass.
Lol, hard pass. I’m w you, Bridget.
She isn’t responsible for their opinions. A lot of business owners can be jerks and deplorable people, but a lot of other people (staff) need jobs. You cannot be an actor in Hollywood without working for or with people like Lena and her co-writer, or even worse. Let the blame for their actions lie directly with and on them. Let’s stop all this transference by association.
So you support actors who work with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski? Gotcha.
Oh, c’mon! That’s not what they’re saying. “She’s not responsible for their OPINIONS.” It’s not the same thing at all. Not even close.
This is a complicated issue. It’s really not so black and white as you want it to be, @pam. And by the bye, I said and did some pretty stupid, ignorant and downright mean things as a young woman I am ashamed of as a mature woman. We grow, we evolve. I don’t know ANY of these women’s work, apart from Garner. NOBODY knows what goes on behind closed doors. Whilst some are still “woking” up, let’s try and support each other rather than simply slam the door shut. @OOOHH! has the right to her opinion, as do you, yours. But slamming her, shaming her, even, is hardly positive support. Give me a side by each, showing me these two women’s crimes alongside these two men’s crimes, and let us each make our own assessments. How about that. No, @pam, you went in for a quick kill to shut down one of our own. I find that damaging also.
Lena Dunham has done more than share her opinions. She’s defended a rapist and victim-shamed his accuser. She’s admitted to molesting her sister. She’s lied about her own rape. Let’s not act like there aren’t valid reasons why everyone hates the woman.
I see you deliberately went to the extreme to counter my comments in order to satisfy your inner bitterness. Roman and Woody are the scum beneath scum, so no, it is not okay to support people who know about the extent of Woody, Roman & Harvey), but to extend Lena’s foolishness on other people is ridiculous and dilutes her actions.
Lena spoke on someone else’s case she had no business speaking about, Jennifer is working with Lena; it is ridiculous to extend the responsibility of Lena’s actions to JG.
This would be like blaming anyone who worked with Jennifer Lawrence after she made her HW daddy comments or after she suffered injury inflicted by Darren Aronofsky’s method acting.
Let Lena be solely responsible for her actions.
It’s actually NOT a complicated issue, you just don’t like that your fave has made a bad, unpopular choice. We don’t need to know what goes on “behind closed doors” because Lena Dunham has deliberately put everything out there via her book and her social media. You seem to be taking this personally. If Jennifer Garner wants to go down with the Dunham ship (and she will) you’re just going to have to stand back and watch. Too bad for you.
Is Garner this desperate for work and money? I highly doubt the latter. Let’s not act like she needs to work.
“So you support actors who work with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski? Gotcha.”
Let’s figure out what we are really talking about. Do I support that particular project? Nope. Do I carry on enjoying all of the actors’ other work? Yep. Otherwise I may as well just never watch movies or TV again. I’ve said this before but it’s still true: have you watched a movie or TV show or listened to a song out of “Hollywood” ever? Congratulations! You’ve by extension supported someone awful. Ever seen Star Wars The Force Awakens the biggest domestic movie of all time by far? Congratulations! You’ve supported one of Polanski’s star actors and dear friends. Well done. It’s all interconnected. I don’t know their reasoning or what pressure people face in choosing these projects so frankly I’m not going to preen in my self righteousness.
As for this project? Well I’m a bad example because I thought Girls was terrible so I wouldn’t be watching even if Lena was a sweetheart.
These comments are over the top. LD is hated by certain groups. That does not mean “Everyone” hates her. Just saying she is universally despised does not make it so. There is a reason–a financial and creative reason–HBO still backs her.
LD f’ed up. She has been & will continue to be called out, but to compare her to WA & HW is absurd. And then to transfer all that guilt to Garner?
@Mia4s In this MeToo climate this is totally tone-deaf. No one has to work with Lena Dunham, Woody Allen or anyone else. No one has to watch their work. I personally haven’t supported anything from Allen, Polanski, Casey Affleck, etc in years. I’m not going to watch this new series from Lena Dunham, either. Because she’s disgusting. YMMV.
@kay my point is are we talking the absolutism of public execution of the actor or are we talking criticism of one choice and refusal to support that choice? One makes sense to me; the other is nonsense. If the question is would you see and support Jennifer Garner in this project with Lena Dunham than my answer is No. Just like I adore Hugh Jackman but have never and will never see Scoop, his Woody Allen movie. Will I support Garner in other projects? Sure, if the projects look interesting. I’ve seen every other Hugh Jackman movie so it would be awfully hypocritical of me to do otherwise.
Opinions? Lena molested her sister. She defended a rapist and tried to shame his accuser. She is an affront to women and the MeToo movement. If you can’t see that, no one can help you. Simple.
Look at who her ex-husband is? Does she seem like someone who only has “quality” people around her??? Pus, she only got to the a list because of her association with B-fleck, it’s not like she is a high-demand, stellar actress or that this is a step down for her.
She was riding an A list tv wave when she and Ben got together. She famously helped revive his career. He is divorcing her now – coincidence or not – look at his career.
Okay, I am looking at his career. Big budget blockbusters that make hundreds of millions of dollars, a sleeper hit in The Accountant. Now I’m looking at hers: Tribes of Palos Verdes (which made less than $5k at the box office), credit card commercials, an independent movie where her biggest co-star is Method Man, and her Instagram. And …what is your point exactly? Alias was 15 years ago. She peaked then and has been riding Ben’s coattails and using their kids for press ever since.
She’s a very average actress.
@JenFan – Seriously not being snarky, I’m just not sure I understand your point. Yes, Garner was riding an A-list TV career when she married Affleck, but that was based on Alias and doesn’t mean she was ever going to go on to become a major film/TV actor. Look at the countless actors who seem poised for the A-list with a breakout role but end up not having much range beyond that (see Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad …) As for Affleck’s career taking off again after he married her, that has nothing to do with any supposed talent Garner might have. It’s simply the fact that she made a choice to stay home and focus on having a family and allowed him to focus 200% of his efforts/time on rebuilding his career (and other extracurricular activities.) Well before he met Garner, he had already won the Oscar for Hunting and gotten some good reviews for Chasing Amy and Dazed and Confused (obviously not serious roles but cult followings.) Not saying Affleck is any kind of genius, but it was his talent/work that made Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo, The Accountant, etc… not Jen’s. To top it off, he was likely already seeing Lindsay when making Gone Girl and The Accountant, both successful movies, so …
To tack on to the end of JoJo and Brenda’s posts, why don’t you critique JEN’S career since separating from Ben? The three movies that she’s made –Wakefield, Nine Lives and The Tribes of Palos Verdes– were all bombs. Her career is pap strolls to prove her sainthood, credit card commercials and instagramming. Maybe SHE’S the one who needs HIM to have a viable career because she’s hardly been kicking any ass in that department.
She really didn’t help revive his career.
When they hooked up he was already signed onto Hollywoodland and Smokin’ Aces, the two films that reminded people he’s ok when he chooses decent material. His career didn’t really bounce back til Gone Baby Gone, 3 years into their relationship. She helped his reputation with the crowd that take People magazine as gospel, but he never stopped drinking and gambling and sleeping around, and it’s not like the people actually hiring him didn’t know that.
His career has always had big ebbs and flows. He’d already bounced back twice before Jennifer. He does some good work, is praised, then decides he wants more money and fame and goes and makes poor quality wannabe blockbusters. It was like that before Jennifer, it was like that with Jennifer, and if he can at least pretend he’s sober it’ll be like that going foward.
Anyone looking at Afflecks’s current resume and getting “hit movies” is fooling themselves. He somehow managed to turn his Batman that people liked into a punchline. The DC movies (outside of WW) are a mortifying career debacle. He’s not writing or directing the next one. Affleck has been in a nose dive since he and Garner broke up. Garner has way more hustle and a way better PR game.
And can we really compare those two careers? She made a significant career downshift when she had children, and her career was clearly secondary to his. However, she’s STILL out there hustling and creating opportunities for herself.
How does this look good on the surface? The only people who seem to be supporting her on this decision are her stans. Everyone else is like wtf and criticizing the decision to work with these rapist apologists… Jen’s taste in work is as good as her taste in men. PS. She looks like the Crypt Keeper in the first pic. Good lord.
Can’t stand either of them so this will be easy to avoid.
Same.
did i just hear a giant toilet over flowing at HBO or was it my imagination!
Well, HBO had passed on the show until they got Garner. So it sounds like the script wasn’t that good, that HBO wasn’t excited about the project, and only went forward with it when Lena found someone with a name to be in it. Garner had a huge following from her Alias series, and maybe HBO felt that could translate to an HBO TV series.
Interesting. Well, her “fans” haven’t shown up for her when it comes to her films. I doubt a Lena Dunham project is going to compel anyone to tune in.
why Dunham hasn’t been classified as career krytonite is beyond me.
oh thats right, she fails Upwards.
No, thank you.
Ever since she played in 13 going on 30 I can’t see her having serious acting chops. She was so good in Alias and then she met Ben..and pushed her kids in display in every outing. She protected Ben (and her marriage) but Ben’s image was so pivotal as her dutiful wife, dutiful mom that somehow i think it reflected in her choices of films and maybe the downfall of it is she is so good at “I’m a mom” that this is the type of roles she is offered; cool non threatening mom personae
WOW at the Garner stans being so desperate for her to be in a positive light that they have stooped to defending Lena Dunham. Gross.
Sometimes I can’t believe what I read on here. “Let Lena be solely responsible for her actions.” Um NO, this is why people get dragged for working with child molestor Woody or child rapist Polanski. You work with them, you might as well condone their behavior. Pathetic!
@Nancy & Brenda, just grow up the both of you. No one is a Stan for saying that JG is not to blame for Lena’s actions, and crawling deep beneath to bring in Roman and Woody goes to show its you that’s really upset. Those men are in a different scale altogether.
Either way to each their opinion. You say she supports Lena’s list of transgressions for working with her, I say she doesn’t. End of.
How do you know what Jen supports and what she doesn’t? She just signed up to work with her, so it would seem she does support the woman if she’s actively trying to make her successful. P.S. Lena admitted that she molested her sister. She’s not so different. Please address that if you’re not too upset.
You’re not helping your argument by telling people to “grow up.” You sound like a childish bully. And no, you don’t know who or what Jen supports, any more than we know who she doesn’t. That’s why we’re all speculating and having fun here.
@KAY…..if you had taken the time to read the comments I was responding to before furiously typing away, you would have had a better understanding of the second part of my comment. If you’re not too upset perhaps you can go back and read it to find the understanding you seek.
@ANON33…. same. If you read the comments directed at me above my response you would understand (or not) the second half of my comment. You would also find I never said I know who or what Jen supports, you conjured that up from your assumption of reading my comment in a hurry.
What a terrible choice of projects. She really can’t pick jobs OR men, can she?
My reaction too: Is Garner that desperate for work? Does she think Dunham is cool or something? Bad choice IMO.
LOL. Well that’s one way to lose fans! She’s always been the most basic, below-average actress ever — that’s the one thing she and Ben Affleck did have in common. She should just stick to promoting herself on social media and dragging her kids on pap strolls.
May as well re-title this “Jen’s Next Flop.”
https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/961758442103783424
I had no idea that Garner was this desperate for work. All those social media videos and pap strolls, and this is the best she can get? Truth is, she waited too long to try to revive her career. All those wasted young years on Ben Affleck of all people. Now she’s almost 46, single and doing a limited series with pervert Lena Dunham. Sad.
My mind says ‘hard pass’ but my curiosity may get the better of me. Is this the part where JG swears and does shocking things to counter the church going do it all mom? SO she can keep her cool cred.
Will there be a person on colour in this? Or at least two who speak to one anther and not just white people?
No one who walks a chicken and reads books to the dog on IG is ever going to get “cool cred” back, if they even had it in the first place.
People of color? Come on Emily, you know better than that.
lol, pretty sure the WoC divested from Dunham a while ago, as should ALL women.
but sure, let your curiosity override consideration. smh
reading the description of the show—how the f*ck does Lena still get held up as some sort of feminist icon or whatever. the show sounds like nothing more than a bunch of stereotypical female-tropes that Lena passes off as how “real” women act. it was offensive when she did it with GIrls and it’ll be equally offensive when she does it this time. how can someone who claims to love and support women ALWAYS portray them so horribly???
I agree. That was my first thought when I read the silly synopsis.
I think it is because she has no talent for writing. And perhaps her lack of empathy and extra narcissism make it challenging for her to really know and appreciate the nuance and complexity of human beings, as she is so self-focused. And I gather her self-conception is quite different from how other people see her.
agreed.
I feel grossed out that Lena is even still a thing. The hypocrisy with her is so strong…and she’s still getting projects (?????) because her fanbase sees her as their surrogate, which says a LOT about them…
I wish she and Konner would fade away. Her apology was just basically, “whoops I shouldn’t have said anything”
I am so disgusted..
dunham: women don’t lie about rape
also dunham: actually, this particular WoC is lying, and this is one of those rare 3% of falsely reported rapes.
But people keep letting her make things (really just HBO)…its gross, so so gross. She’s such a narcissist but you can feel her insecurity radiate from inside because she always felt she got the short straw in life – smart/clever but homely, addicted to attention.
I mean she doesn’t have to speak to it…just dont expect people to watch the show. Cause I wont
Ehhhh…who keeps buying Lena Dunham stuff? Come on… it’s like the same crap regurgitated over and over
This is pretty simple. “An obsessively organized and aggressively controlling LA wife/mom…” Hmmm, sounds familiar. This is not a stretch for her. It’s one of the limited number of character variations that she always plays – see Butter, Tribes, even 13/30 (which I loved, btw.) She doesn’t have much range, and the baby voice at nearly 46 is an impediment, or at the very least, a distraction, for really meaty roles (to me, partially why she seemed so miscast in Buyer’s Club – she was still just dimply, applie pie mom/Hollywood star playing a doctor.)
OMG Andy do you know how juvenile your comment sounds? Like Kindergarden!
What’s amusing is that if Ben Affleck were the one who had signed up for a series with this sister molesting pervert, the same posters who are defending Garner would be dragging him from here to Boston and back.
Garner’s looks are really starting to go. She looks absolutely terrible these days.
Lena Dunham? lmao Bless her heart! Her taste in projects is right up there with her taste in men. Forever handcuffing herself to the worst.
So this is what it’s come to for her, eh? SMH. Can’t wait for the awkward schadenfreude that will be the promotional tour for this.
Well I think it’s a great choice for her. It basically signals the end of her career which let’s face it, has been in the death rattle stage for years and has lasted way longer than it would have without her marriage to an A-lister. This will officially kill it. WTG, Jen and Jen’s agent!
I’m confused how you reached this conclusion. TV has been where it’s at recently (aka Peak TV). Especially after Big Little Lies showed that women-focused shows can be popular and award winning, I hope we get a lot more of them.
This isn’t a David E. Kelley production starring two Oscar winners and Oscar nominated Laura Dern. It’s a production by hack pervert Lena Dunham starring credit card commercial actress Jen Garner.
Tiffany I agree. HBO series are highly successful and have cleaned up at the Globes & Emmys, so I think it is a step up for her.
On a separate note, if people are up in arms about Lena Dunham, perhaps they should be asking why HBO chose to hire her again?
Of course it’s ripped off from the Brits, they’re the only people who are funny.
I can’t bring myself to hate on Lena Dunham or Jenni Konner for defending their (former) friend. They’d known the man for years and they truly didn’t believe he was a person capable of rape. I have some very close male friends I’ve known for 10 years who I believe to be decent and honorable. If someone accused one of them of rape, I’d be highly skeptical until I saw some sort of proof. However, I wouldn’t publicly defend them until I knew more information (dumb, Lena, just dumb). I think she got emotional, as always, and jumped the gun, as always, when she should have just stayed quiet until she knew more facts. I hope she has since personally apologized to the young woman that she called a liar.
“I believe my friend.” – Diane Keaton on Woody Allen
smh, Kim.
Dunham met Murray the YEAR OF THE ALLEGED RAPE – in 2012, the year Girls premiered, when Dunham wasn’t even established yet.
Big mistake to work with obnoxious Lena Dunham…. but I hope she stops making those stupid Capital One ads!
Why would she cage herself in a ‘aggressively controlling wife’ role? That’s not good, leaving even the whole Dunham/Konner problematic aside (which should be telling enough).
Jen, you can do better.
Because that type of role is one she’s known for. She’s played variations of it many other times. She’s usually doing some version of the sweet girlfriend/wife/mom or the type A wife.
It’s not even a LD project. Looks like they are stealing yet another British show.
Julia Davis is a genius (check out “Nighty Night”).
I wish that HBO would just show the British version.