‘It was fun to get pushed around’: Andrew Rannells on ‘razzle dazzle’, kissing co-stars and being a better friend to Lena Dunham

The star of Girls and The Book of Mormon talks about coming out, turning a showmance into a romance, and going toe to toe with the West Wing’s Allison Janney in new film Miss You Love You Imagine a cute, young, gay Jim Carrey with a withering line in put-downs: that is Andrew Rannells.

Or rather, it was, back when he starred in Lena Dunham’s HBO series Girls as Elijah, the formerly closeted ex of her character, Hannah.

Dunham had seen Rannells playing Elder Price, the zealous missionary spreading the good word in the original 2011 Broadway production of the bad-taste musical The Book of Mormon , for which he received a Tony nomination.

Girls, in turn, spread the good word about him.

To this day, fans still shout “Your dad is gay!” at him in the street, a call-back to the moment when Elijah tartly advises Hannah that she might want to fine-tune her gaydar.

It is an older, gentler, salt-and-pepper-bearded Rannells who stars in the comedy-drama Miss You, Love You .

He plays Jamie, a personal assistant arriving in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to shepherd the spiky and recently widowed Diane ( Allison Janney) through the initial weeks after her husband’s death from Parkinson’s.

As it dawns on them that Diane’s son – Jamie’s employer – may not make it to his stepfather’s funeral, these strangers navigate their way through the grey area of their flung-together friendship.

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