'Catherine Called Birdy': Andrew Scott and Joe Alwyn praise director Len Dunham

Catherine Called Birdy stars Andrew Scott and Joe Alwyn had high praise for their director Lena Dunham, especially when it comes to her complex, and nuanced, depictions of masculinity. “She’s seen as a real feminist,” Scott told Yahoo. “I think, sometimes, what we don’t pay attention to is how much of a humanist Lena is.”

Catherine Called Birdy will stream on Prime Video from 7 October, 2022.

Video transcript

CLARISSE LOUGHREY: Andrew, how did you wrestle with the contradictions of a father who clearly loves his daughter so much but is also willing to literally sell her to another man?

ANDREW SCOTT: We think of marriage now, of course, is this romantic arrangement. But up until relatively, recently, it was a financial and business arrangement, where you would set up your children as best way as possible financially. So that sort of idea of arranging a marriage for your daughter isn't particularly unusual.

But the kind of people that he sets up to marry Birdy is maybe a little bit dodgy. And we don't pay attention to how much of a humanist Alina is. And she's really, really interested in the male character as well and not just making them these terrible one note kind of characters.

So for this kind of male character, in the book, he's a little bit more brutish. And we talked a lot about how he might be suffering under this very strange regime, the kind of machismo of the time himself. Because he's interested in all the finer things in life, and the finery, and beautiful art, and beautiful clothes. And he spent all their cash basically on--

JOE ALWYN: Tigers.

ANDREW SCOTT: On tigers. [CHUCKLES]

CLARISSE LOUGHREY: Joe, I found your character fascinating as well. Because Uncle George, you know, he comes in as the romantic, high fantasy ideal. And then you find out that he's quite broken. I'd wondered if you'd had conversations with Lena about what happened to him during the Crusades and whether maybe at some point he was the idea that body is so fixated on.

JOE ALWYN: In the Crusades, there were a few bits that I think were an original script that you were going to see him over there and some flashbacks and stuff. The idea was he was changed at war. And then coming back, he returns this kind of more broken version. But in her eyes, of course, he still lives this gleaming thing. And he has to kind of let her down and say I'm not.