Lady Catherine, who prefers to called Birdy (Bella Ramsey), does not want to get married. Can you blame her? She’s only in her teens and her father (Andrew Scott) just wants her to get hitched so he can get out of financial trouble. “Would I choose to die rather than be forced to marry?” Birdy muses in a new trailer for “Catherine Called Birdy,” Lena Dunham’s Toronto-bound adaptation of Karen Cushman’s 1994 historical YA novel. “I do not think either option appealing. Or fair.”
Luckily, Birdy informs us, she is “very cunning — most girls are, though we’re not given due credit for it.” Posing as a commoner, she convinces one of her potential suitors that “Lady Catherine” is a “vile creature” with a third ear. The young noblewoman is also skilled in the arts of swordplay and fisticuffs, so it’s clear she’s going to do everything in her power to foil her father’s plans.
Birdy is a badass young lady — but that often makes life in 1290 England extra difficult. “I cheer for you, Birdy,” her mother (Billie Piper) tells her. “I fear for you.”
A passion project for writer-director-producer Dunham, the film adaptation of “Catherine Called Birdy” has been in the works for years. “I wanted to highlight this girl who was living in the wrong time,” Dunham has said of the project. “If she was living in 2022, she would be a pretty classic tomboy or able to explore the gender binary, she’d be able to play all the sports she wanted,” the “Girls” star-creator said. “But there are still as we know, huge challenges to being a woman in this day and age, and a teenage girl.”
Sophie Okonedo, Isis Hainsworth, Lesley Sharp, and Dunham are also among “Catherine Called Birdy’s” cast.
Dunham’s cringe comedy “Sharp Stick” is now in theaters and will be available on VOD August 16. She made her feature directorial debut with 2009’s “Creative Nonfiction” and followed it up with 2010’s “Tiny Furniture.” She received eight Emmy nominations for her work on “Girls.” Since then, her credits have included “Camping,” “Generation,” and “Industry.”
“Catherine Called Birdy” will make its world premiere as a Special Presentation at TIFF, which runs September 8-18. The film will open in select theaters September 23 and launch on Prime Video October 7.
