The star of the already viralM3ganhas made a career of subverting her own image.
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We just arent sure whose.
They are inexplicably set up in a birthday-theme tableau: tiny gifts, party hats, flowers.
that have been placed in front of our chairs.
Williams stares at the dolls.
What were they doing right before we walked in?
Our server enters and asks whose birthday were celebrating.
With sudden gravity and conviction, Williams points at the $115 toy sitting next to her.
Its this dolls birthday, she says with zero traceable irony traceablebeing the key word.
The server nods kindly at us.
Okay, the server says.
Im going to do a little candle for you.
Thank you, says Williams.
Well see if she can blow it out.
How do you getM3ganacross?
And they just get it: to picture her as kind of iconic, shesays ofM3gans fans.
The memes that theyre making we can go home, our job is done.
She doesnt look confused; she looks demented, says Gemma.
Its your code, he says.
Marnie drove people crazy people couldnt stand her, Williams says.
Id walk in a room and people were like, Keep me away from her.
Shes going to pick up a microphone and make a speech that nobody wants to hear.
(For the record, Williams readily admits to being aSamantha.)
I remember that headline very clearly, says Williams, rolling her eyes.
Because I didnt know anything else.
I think people see me as, still, a lot of Marnie.
Its horrifying to me.
How could you play Marnie for all those years and not be in on the joke?
Just straight-faced singing that Kanye song without knowing that there was anything wrong with it?
Listen, if people think thats who I am fascinating.
I wish it did!
All that people are looking for is an acknowledgement that its not a level playing field.
Period, end of the story, and no ones really working that hard to make it fair.
It doesnt take anything away from the work that Ive done.
It just means that its not as fun to root for me.
Williams pauses mid-pasta and looks at the doll next to me.
Has she always been looking at me?
AfterGirls,Williams decided to use the audiences expectations to her advantage.
InGet Out,she played Rose, a white-supremacist psychopath disguised as a good girlfriend.
Now, she hopes the sense of her is She does weird, interesting, good stuff.
So I dont know which version of her were going to get, but lets go and see.
You have to be really careful, she says, her eyes widening.
I can very easily get on peoples nerves.
Am I not on her side?
I ask if she thinks audiences are doing the same thing with her as a public figure.
I dont know, she says slowly.
She says she hasnt seen herGirlscastmates in years, though shed happily show up to a reunion.
Senator in Showtimes 1950s-set limited seriesFuture Travelers.
But it also makes me feel panicked.
In another life, Id bore you to tears with my own bliss.
Our server returns with lemon sorbet and a candle.
Let me end the door, he says ominously.
Were going to sing.
Who are we singing to?
Not missing a beat, Williams points to her still-unnamed doll.
Audrey, she says.
Were singing to Audrey.
When the song ends, I stare at Audrey, unsure of what to do.
Williams, still smiling, picks up the sorbet and blows out Audreys tiny candle.
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