Watch the Birdy...
Stars Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott and Joe Alwyn and writer/director Lena Dunham talk to RACHAEL DAVIS about their new medieval teen comedy
MEDIEVAL England is not much fun for a smart, fiercely independent and cheeky teenage girl.
Fourteen-year-old Birdy – or Lady Catherine of Stonebridge Manor, as is her proper title – dreams of travelling the world and getting up to all sorts of mischief and adventures.
However, her financially destitute, greedy father Lord Rollo, played by Fleabag’s Andrew Scott, has other ideas: he wants her married off to a wealthy man to carve his path out of financial ruin.
Catherine Called Birdy, a new film written and directed by Girls’ Lena Dunham, follows the shenanigans of the headstrong teenager, played by Game Of Thrones and The Worst Witch’s Bella Ramsey, as she puts off any and all potential suitors in all manner of ways, asserting her independence and power over her own life and body.
After all, she would hate to end up like her mother: married to a good-for-nothing man and having another baby every year.
“I loved how chaotic she was, and how weird and how wonderful, and how much that was something that was amplified and celebrated,” says 19-year-old Bella of Birdy.
“And the chance to do that, and to play someone who’s sort of a part of myself, but more kind of who I want to be as well, was really fun.”
Lena’s latest film is a real passion project, adapting a beloved book –
Karen Cushman’s Catherine, Called Birdy – which her father read to her when she was just 10 years old.
“The things that I most considered when adapting it were the reverence that I have for the book, and how do I take that energy and expand upon it and make it bigger and more cinematic, while also holding on to the spirit of this book that I love so much,” says Lena, 36.
“That came from the writing, but that also came from the amazing collaborations with actors, especially Bella.”
Catherine Called Birdy’s cast is packed with British and Irish talent.
Sherlock star Andrew and Billie Piper play Birdy’s parents, and Conversations With Friends actor – and boyfriend of Taylor Swift – Joe Alwyn plays Birdy’s Uncle George, whose adventures in the Crusades she greatly envies.
Joe says that working with Lena was the primary draw to being involved in the film.
“She’s such a singular mind, and so brilliantly creative,” says the
31-year-old actor.
“Being part of a Lena Dunham medieval film hopefully meant something different, and something special.” “I loved the script, I loved the whole array of characters, I loved the cast that she was putting together,” he adds, praising the “genuinely kind, good, playful, sweet” Bella in her starring role.
While Catherine Called Birdy is set in the year 1290, the themes of the film and of the book it is adapted from are still starkly relevant for modern audiences. The timelessness of Birdy’s experience is made all the more apparent by Lena’s storytelling, the way she weaves modern jokes in with the medieval fun.
“It’s medieval in its setting but also very relevant and modern,” says Bella.
“Birdy is a feminist, which I think makes her relatable today. The dialogue feels completely natural, even though some of the language is quite old-fashioned – there’s a lot of humour in the script and so many of the jokes are timeless.”
“There’s no point in doing a medieval film if it’s not going to have some sort of significance in 2022,” adds Bafta-winner Andrew, 45.
“It was never going to be a sort of staid, medieval, reverent kind of film. It was always going to be rock and roll. [Lena] spoke about the music, you know, the modern music, right from the get-go. The dialogue, even in the original scripts, was always very colloquial.
“And, you know, it’s a Lena Dunham medieval movie, so that’s gonna be sharp.”
Cast and creator alike wanted girls who watch the film to take away a message about their right to independence, to live the life they choose, no matter what the world might be telling them.
“I think it is very relevant today: the ideas of agency and autonomy over women’s bodies, particularly at the moment, is a conversation that’s as relevant as ever,” says Joe.
“I hope that it fights for that in the way that it should. And I would imagine seeing it at that age, you know, whether you’re a guy or a girl or whatever, is really inspiring and fun and funny and tender and moving and special, I hope.”
“There are lots of characters like Birdy around the world now, and that’s why it’s such a little kind of iconic character in that sense,” adds Andrew.
“The idea of keeping a character, an independent character like Birdy trapped in a cage, so to speak, it’s a beautiful one to examine.”
“I hope people will take that it’s cool to be weird, and to not have to hide your differences. And in fact, they can be celebrated,” says Bella.
“I think that if I had been a young person and heard someone as cool as Bella say it’s OK to be weird, that would have meant everything to me,” smiles Lena.
“That’s why this book meant so much to me. And so it’s really thrilling to me that hopefully – I know that a lot has changed in the 20 years since I was a teenager, but I hope that it means something to young people the way that it would have meant something to me.
“Because even for me, as an adult, hearing Bella say ‘it’s OK to be weird, it’s OK to be different’ gives me a real boost in my heart.”
I think that if I had been a young person and heard someone as cool as Bella say it’s OK to be weird, that would have meant everything to me
Lena Dunham