How to Build a Girl  How to Build a Girl is a 2019 coming-of-age comedy film directed by Coky Giedroyc, from a screenplay by Caitlin Moran and John Niven, based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Moran. The film tells the story of Johanna Morrigan, an aspiring journalist in 1990's Wolverhampton. It stars Beanie Feldstein, Paddy Considine, Sarah Solemani, Alfie Allen, Frank Dillane, Laurie Kynaston, Arinzé Kene, Tadhg Murphy, Ziggy Heath, Bobby Schofield, Chris O'Dowd, Joanna Scanlan and Emma Thompson. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2019, and won the FIPRESCI Special Presentations award. It was released in the United States on 8 May 2020 by IFC Films. It is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on 24 July 2020 by Lionsgate. In the 1990s, 16-year-old Johanna Morrigan lives on a council estate in Wolverhampton with her aspiring rock star father Pat, exhausted mother Angie, and brothers Krissi, Lupin, and infant twins. Johanna dreams of escaping her life to become a writer, and finds comfort in speaking with the portraits of her idols covering her bedroom wall. A poem she wrote is selected for a televised competition, but she is overcome with nerves and humiliates herself on national television. After inadvertently revealing that her family is illegally breeding Border Collies, resulting in her father losing his disability benefits, Johanna is determined to earn money for the family. Krissi refers her to "D&ME", a London music paper seeking a rock critic, and Johanna submits a review of the "Annie" soundtrack. She is invited to interview at the "D&ME" offices, but arrives to learn the staff assumed her submission was a joke. Undeterred, she convinces them to give her a chance, and is assigned to cover the Manic Street Preachers in Birmingham. Eager to reinvent herself, Johanna adopts a new style, bright red hair, and the pen name "Dolly Wilde". She attends her first rock show and falls in love with the music, immersing herself in the local scene. "D&ME" agrees to send her to Dublin to interview musician John Kite, who is instantly smitten with her bubbly personality. She spends the day with John, who brings her onstage with him.