Fail Again: Griffin Dunne — An Actor Builds Character

Fail Again: Griffin Dunne — An Actor Builds Character

From Fail Better with David Duchovny by Lemonada Media

March 10, 2026 · 51 min

About this episode

Griffin Dunne discusses his journey from actor to author, reflecting on family influences and personal challenges.

This episode originally aired July 30, 2024 The nephew of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, and son of Dominick Dunne, becoming anything other than a writer feels almost sacrilegious. Yet Griffin Dunne only recently became an author, publishing his family memoir “The Friday Afternoon Club” after spending decades in other fruitful and wide ranging creative pursuits. The actor and producer, known for movies like An American Werewolf in London and the Scorsese-directed After Hours, feels some sort of regret about his professional moves. But as you’ll hear, he had no shortage of personal trouble and loss influencing his decisions. We chat about him and his famed family — full of actors, activists, and journalists — and all the struggles they collectively moved through. Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/ For a list of current…

People in this episode

Host: David Duchovny

Guest: Griffin Dunne

Topics covered

  • family memoir
  • creative pursuits
  • personal struggles
  • acting
  • loss
  • regret

Keywords

  • Griffin Dunne
  • family memoir
  • Joan Didion
  • acting career
  • personal struggles
  • loss
  • regret

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Lemonada Media

Books & works: The Friday Afternoon Club, An American Werewolf in London, After Hours

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