Original-Cin Q&A: Cast of Lena Dunham's Catherine Called Birdy on Medieval Marriage and Bella Ramsey

By Bonnie Laufer

Catherine Called Birdy is adapted from a popular children’s novel that just happens to be one of Lena Dunham’s favorites. The famed writer-director (Girls)  loved it so much she approached the author to get the rights to turn it into a film.

The story, set in medieval times, centers around a 14-year old girl named Catherine (Bella Ramsey) who is the daughter of a broke lord (Andrew Scott) and his oft-bedridden wife (Billie Piper).

Birdy is mischievous, smart and emphatically irritated by nearly everyone and everything in her shire. The last thing she will allow is being married off to some creep and it seems the only person who sympathizes with her is her beloved Uncle George (Joe Alwyn).

Andrew Scott and Bella Ramsey in Catherine Called Birdy

Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with stars Andrew Scott and Joe Alwyn about why they wanted to be a part of this project.

Catherine Called Birdy starts streaming on Prime Video on October 7th .

ORIGINAL-CIN:  Greetings from Toronto, where you guys just attended the premiere of Catherine Called Birdy.  Joe, did you ever think that you would go back into medieval times and have such a good time?

JOE ALWYN: When I was first approached and read the script, I knew that this was something I needed to be a part of. It was a blast being a part of a Lena Dunham project in a medieval world.  It was a real singular experience, and it was fantastic.

Right from reading the script, I felt it had such a kind of unique voice to it and it was fun and modern and not kind of a stuffy period piece. It also had such a wonderful array of characters and a great cast attached to it. I was willing to jump into that medieval time and I'm glad I did.

O-C: Andrew, your character Lord Rollo, he's not a bad guy. He's got to do what he's got to do. How much fun did you have getting to let your guard down and play this guy?

SCOTT:  Is he a bad dad? No, he loves his daughter, but that's what happens in medieval times. He has to do what is right for the family. 

One of the things Lena and I talked about was that marriage is something that we look at as a romantic arrangement these days. But before, of course, it was a business arrangement.  You marry your family off to the richest dude possible. But yeah, I will concede that some of them are a little bit creepy. Some of them are real turnips. (Laughs)

The great thing about Lena is that she's always going to protect both the female characters as well as the male ones, and so that's why we were all so very lucky to be a part of this. She wants our character to be as vulnerable, sort of messed up but at the same time find some vulnerability in them. 

O-C: Plus you can now add sword-fighting to your list of many accomplishments.

SCOTT:  Maybe bad sword fighting, but it was fun!

O-C:  Joe, we’ve got to talk about your young co-star Bella Ramsey. This girl is a revelation. She's like an old soul.

She has been acting for years, even having a role in Game of Thrones under her belt. How did you enjoy working with her?

ALWYN: She's amazing, just incredible. She's a real force and so professional  and skilled on set. I’m pretty sure I learned a few things from her. (Laughs).

Bella is such a good person and so kind and generous and playful and just fearless as a performer. Every day she wanted to jump in and try something new and was never afraid to mess up or improvise and see what happens. So I felt like I learned a lot from watching.

SCOTT: I think she's extraordinary. Of course, all of our scenes together were sort of antagonistic and you need to have chemistry. We talk a lot about people who have a lot of romantic chemistry, but you need to have chemistry with every actor and we got on from the get go. 

She's really sensational and held her own with all of us older folk!  When we had our world premiere in Toronto it was just incredible to just see everyone laughing, having a great time and falling in love with her.

O-C:   Birdy is mischievous at her age. So Joe, what was the most mischievous thing you did as a young boy?

ALWYN: Well, I probably can't be honest. I was a little mischievous, but lots of like harmless pranks,  like running around with my friends doing stupid things. Nothing too illegal.

O-C: Andrew, how about you?  I have a feeling you were a mischievous lad.

SCOTT: Well… maybe a little bit. I was kind of into those tricks that never really work. You know, when you want to  balance a bucket of water on the back of a door, it never works but it’s fun trying.

ALWYN: Or throwing water bombs at peoples windows?

SCOTT: Exactly … or rocks! The biggest challenge is to keep mischievous isn't it?

O-C: 100% I totally agree with you. just to wrap it up, Andrew, you've gone from hot priest on Fleabag to hot medieval dad in this movie. Does it ever get easy getting used to these references?

SCOTT: No, you don't really get used to them. But you know there are worse things, so I’ll take it!