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Lena Dunham to adapt 'Catherine, Called Birdy' for film

“I’m going to adapt it and hopefully direct it,” Dunham said of the film. “I just need to find someone who wants to fund a PG-13 Medieval movie.”

By Veronica Linares
Lena Dunham. UPI/Jim Ruymen
1 of 3 | Lena Dunham. UPI/Jim Ruymen | License Photo

NEW YORK, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Lena Dunham has signed on to write the cinematographic adaptation of Karen Cushman's 1994 young adult novel Catherine Called Birdy.

The 28-year-old Girls creator made the announcement last week at the New Yorker Festival.

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"I'm going to adapt it and hopefully direct it," Dunham told the crowd. "I just need to find someone who wants to fund a PG-13 Medieval movie."

Catherine, Called Birdy tells the story of a 12-year-old girl trying to scare off potential suitors in 1290 Britain. The novel, Cushman's first children's book, is written in a diary format.

While describing the book, Dunham told the audience that the protagonists "gets her period and her father basically says, 'Well, it's time for you to get married,' and she's like, 'Uh, no,'"

"But it's hyper realistic and really pretty and it's full of incest and beatings, but it's a child's story. I've been obsessed with it since I was a kid," she shared.

"This is actually my first time talking about it publicly," Dunham continued. "I'm very excited about it. I'm not sure when it'll happen, but I'm in the process of [working on it]."

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Dunham has been involved in co-writing a couple of feature films in the past, including 2009's Creative Nonfiction and 2012's Nobody Walks. Her debut feature film, Tiny Furniture, won Best Narrative Feature at South by Southwest Music and Media Conference and and Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay

The actress most recently made headlines after announcing that a new song by singer Taylor Swift was her "someday wedding song."

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