Andrew Rannells, who played Elijah Krantz in the HBO comedy "Girls," has disclosed that a "very brief" relationship he had with Anderson Cooper in his mid-20s served as inspiration for a storyline in the show. Rannells shared this revelation during a recent episode of The Daily Beast’s “Obsessed” podcast.
Rannells explained that he told "Girls" co-showrunners Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner about his experience dating Cooper. This account directly influenced the plot where his character, Elijah, begins a relationship with Dill Harcourt, a successful, older news anchor played by Corey Stoll. The storyline appeared in Season 5 of the series.
Similar to Rannells' real-life romance, Elijah and Dill's relationship was short-lived. It concluded in the Season 5 finale when Dill rejected Elijah’s proposal to be his boyfriend, stating he sought someone “less aimless.”
According to Rannells, Dunham and Konner found his past relationship with Cooper compelling enough to shape the character of Dill Harcourt. "When I told them that, they were like, ‘Oh, that’s a fun story,’" Rannells recounted.
During "Girls'" run, speculation circulated about the real-life inspiration behind Dill, but no official confirmation came from those involved with the show. When asked in 2016 about whether Dill was modeled after Cooper, Corey Stoll told Queerty that he did not base the character on anyone specific, stating, “I was playing Dill Harcourt.”
In a 2016 interview with Elle, Rannells also initially downplayed theories linking Dill to Cooper, emphasizing that the character's role as a powerful, older figure was the key element. "I think the general idea that he’s this powerful, you know, adult, is what’s important," Rannells said. "For my money, his job could have been any number of things. It just represents that he’s very much from the outside of these characters’ world."
He further elaborated that the scenes with Dill often felt like a departure from the show's usual tone. "When we shot that party sequence from Sunday’s episode, it was in this beautiful apartment, in beautiful clothes — it’s probably the best I’ve ever been dressed on the show — and it felt very foreign, like all of a sudden we were shooting this completely different show, because we were in this very grown-up situation. That’s what Dill represents,” he told Elle.
In 2016, the New York Post questioned Anderson Cooper about whether he believed Dunham based Dill on him. Cooper, who was a friend of Rannells, mentioned that Dunham had not discussed it with him but that he would be flattered. He also humorously suggested, "I thought he was more of a [Bill] O’Reilly character. I’m a friend of Andrew’s. I should ask him.”