How To Build A Girl's Caitlin Moran on the perks of being a teenage goth

Caitlin Moran has lived a bigger-than-average life. The journalist, author, and sometimes screenwriter has been on the UK scene since the early ‘90s, sporting goth makeup, a devil-may-care attitude, and penning over the top reviews and interviews for all manner of music mags. A novelization of her early years, How To Build A Girl, has just been adapted into a charming and brassy movie starring Beanie Feldstein—a casting that raised a few eyebrows among skeptical fans of the original material. The A.V. Club talked to Moran at the Toronto International Film Festival about Feldstein’s very specific British accent, what Moran was actually like as a teen, and the importance of young women having access to all manner of literature.