Interview: Andrew Scott and Joe Alwyn on going medieval in Catherine Called Birdy
They’re more associated with other periods in history – Victorian, the First World War, Tudor and the 17th century – but actors Andrew Scott and Joe Alwyn have swopped the worlds of Sherlock and The Favourite and travelled back even further in time. All the way to medieval England for energetic comedy, Catherine Called Birdy.
Directed and written by Lena Dunham, it follows the efforts of teenage Lady Catherine (Bella Ramsey), or “Birdy”, as she’s known by her family and friends, to avoid being married off to a wealthy husband. Her father, Lord Rollo (Scott) puts the emphasis on wealth because of his own extravagance but his defiant daughter is having none of it. She’s equally determined to stay single, especially when she meets some of her suitors, and needs to find a way of putting a stop to her father’s plans. And her sympathetic Uncle George (Alwyn) is by her side to help.
In the interviews below, Scott recalls having an exhausting and muddy sword fight while he was nursing an injured foot and considers whether he should now be known as the “hot medieval dad” instead of the “hot priest.” Alwyn speculates on what the future could hold for Uncle George once the film’s story is over, and gives us the latest on the much-anticipated TV version of Brideshead Revisited.