"Catherine, Called Birdy" doesn't appear on many book lists for young girls. Lena Dunham would be the girl to pull it off the shelf and then one day wants to adapt it as a movie.
The "Girls" star plans to adapt the young adult novel by Karen Cushman published in 1994. "Catherine, Called Birdy" tells the story of a 12-year-old girl who tries to scare off potential suitors set up by her father. The historical novel is set in 13th century England.
"[She] gets her period and her father basically says, 'Well, it's time for you to get married,' and she's like, 'Uh, no,'" Dunham told an audience at the New Yorker Festival. "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."
Dunham plans to direct the film as long as she can find funding for a "PG-13 medieval movie." She and her producing partner Jenni Konner will develop the film for their production company A Casual Romance, according to Variety.
The production company has several historical films in development. She described the projects as ones that "aren't set in the here and now."
Girls will return for its fourth season in January on HBO. Dunham also recently released a book of personal essays called Not That Kind of Girl. She understands her adaptation of the children's novel isn't something her fans would aexpect, but she's "happy and excited" to work with the source material.
"The idea of engaging with some of these topics that are important to me, which are - surprise - women and feminism, but finding a way to kind of look at them through a historical lens is sort of like where feel myself going," Dunham said.
"Catherine, Called Birdy" won the Newberry Honor and Golden Kite Award in 1995.
