If not directly on the world at large, then on what young people will and won’t tolerate.

She is heartened to see that #MeToo and Time’s Up do seem to have had a noticeable impact. No stranger to the stresses of the limelight, especially for young women, Dunham naturally feels protective of her young star. It’s always an amazing feeling when an actor elevates your writing, makes your writing better, makes you surprised by what you hear in it.” There is the face I have been searching for.’ And it was almost like the fact that her audition was amazing was secondary because I felt such power, presence, and clarity coming from her gaze,” said Dunham of the casting process. “I looked at her face and it was really that feeling of love at first sight like, ‘Oh, there they are. As comfortable mud wrestling as she is swooning over her young uncle (Joe Alwyn), Ramsey is a refreshing bundle of energy as playful and precocious as the young heroine should be. Relying on elaborate disguises, erratic behavior, and even pyrotechnics, Birdy asserts her autonomy with joyful aplomb. When her father decides to marry her off for the biggest dowry he can fetch, she hatches a plan to scare off all eligible suitors. Though the stakes for Birdy are higher than for today’s youth, Dunham’s script shrewdly turns the indignities of adolescence (namely, periods) into the tragedy that it can sometimes feel like. It’s not like an adult fantasy of what it is to be a teenager. She’s not having a sexy romance with an outsider. And this heroine doesn’t have any magical powers. “That’s what they thought teenagers wanted. It was either ‘Hunger Games’ or ‘Twilight,'” said Dunham. “It was a time when teen heroines were almost expected to have magical powers or wield a sword. The idea came to her during the wild success of her breakout HBO series “Girls,” when she was first asked if there was a piece of existing IP she’d like to adapt. Thats’ when Dunham first optioned the rights to her favorite childhood novel. I was sitting next to my husband during the screening and I kept saying, ‘Are people laughing?’ And he was like, ‘Yes, they’re around us laughing.’ But I was dissociated, because it’s been such a long journey to get there with the movie.”Īlmost ten years, to be exact. “I can’t believe I’m saying something was an unmitigated joy, but it really was,” Dunham told IndieWire of the film’s reception at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere last week.

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Catherine called birdy by karen cushman