Lady Bird
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40 free Lady Bird trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Lady Bird is the film that turned Greta Gerwig from indie actress into one of Hollywood's most watched filmmakers. Set over one senior year in early-2000s Sacramento, it follows a stubborn teenager who renames herself, fights with her mother and dreams of escaping to an East Coast college. This quiz covers the whole film: the plot and its best-known scenes, Saoirse Ronan and the rest of the cast, the songs on the soundtrack, how the film was written and shot, and how it fared with critics and awards voters. It is pitched for anyone who has seen the film and loved it. The opening questions are ones most viewers will get, and the later rounds are for fans who know the story behind the camera too.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How does Saoirse Ronan's character break her arm during an argument with her mother as Lady Bird opens?
Jumping from a moving car
Jumping from a moving car is her reply to being called ungrateful by her mother, Marion. The two had been rowing about her dream of an East Coast college.
Q 02Which John Steinbeck novel are Lady Bird and her mother listening to on tape as the film Lady Bird begins?
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath leaves mother and daughter in tears together, moments before they start arguing about college. The audiobook was borrowed from the public library.
Q 03Which Roseanne star earned an Oscar nomination for playing Marion, the title character's mother, in Lady Bird?
Laurie Metcalf
Laurie Metcalf, a three-time Emmy winner as Jackie in Roseanne, was cast after Gerwig watched her stage work. Critics singled out her tough-loving Marion.
Q 04Which actor, Oscar-nominated the same season for Call Me by Your Name, plays band member Kyle in Lady Bird?
Timothée Chalamet
Timothée Chalamet became the third-youngest Best Actor nominee that season and appeared in two of the year's Best Picture contenders. His Kyle Scheible is a rich hipster.
Q 05Lady Bird broke which Pixar film's record for the most reviews while still holding 100% on Rotten Tomatoes?
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 had held the record with 163 positive reviews until Lady Bird reached 164. The perfect score ended when one critic filed a negative review.
Q 06Greta Gerwig traced the nickname in Lady Bird not to a First Lady but to which kind of traditional verse?
A nursery rhyme
A nursery rhyme from Mother Goose is the source, not Lady Bird Johnson. Gerwig said the name simply appeared on the page while she was stuck, and she only later remembered the verse.
Q 07Which skin condition did Saoirse Ronan refuse to hide under makeup while playing the lead in Lady Bird?
Acne
Acne stayed on show because Ronan wanted a teenager's face in a movie to look like one in real life. She also dyed her hair for the role.
Q 08Which 2023 film made Greta Gerwig of Lady Bird the first woman to direct a billion-dollar hit on her own?
Barbie
Barbie crossed $1 billion worldwide, a first for a film with one woman holding the sole directing credit. It also earned Gerwig an Oscar nomination for adapted screenplay.
Q 09Lady Bird star Saoirse Ronan was born in the Bronx but raised in which country, her parents' homeland?
Ireland
Ireland became home when Ronan was three, after her Dublin-born parents moved the family back from New York. She was raised in County Carlow.
Q 10What did Greta Gerwig send Justin Timberlake and Alanis Morissette to win the rights to songs for Lady Bird?
Personal letters
Personal letters went to Timberlake, Morissette and Dave Matthews, each asking for one song. Gerwig revealed the tactic on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Q 11What do the title character and best friend Julie snack on while lying on the school floor in Lady Bird?
Communion wafers
Communion wafers, unconsecrated ones, are what the pair munch while giggling about sex. Their Catholic girls' school shares its drama club with a nearby boys' school.
Q 12Which Stephen Sondheim musical does the school drama club stage as its fall show in Lady Bird?
Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along is the show Gerwig has called her favourite musical. Its rehearsals are where the heroine falls for her first boyfriend, Danny.
Q 13Which Dave Matthews Band hit, a song Greta Gerwig called incredibly romantic, features prominently in Lady Bird?
Q 21Which University of California campus, half an hour from home, does the heroine of Lady Bird dread ending up at?
UC Davis
UC Davis is just the kind of nearby in-state school her mother begs her to apply to. Her father secretly helps her apply out of state, ready to refinance the house if need be.
Q 22Which Manchester by the Sea actor picked the role of Danny when offered any male part in Lady Bird?
Lucas Hedges
Lucas Hedges had been Oscar-nominated for that earlier drama, and in the same season as Lady Bird he also appeared in a second Best Picture nominee.
Q 23The heroine of Lady Bird is suspended from school for heckling a guest speaker at what kind of assembly?
Anti-abortion
Crash into Me
Crash into Me recurs through the film; Gerwig said she had always wanted to make out to it and never did.
Q 14Which independent studio, also behind Best Picture winner Moonlight, released Lady Bird in American cinemas?
A24
A24 bought worldwide rights in July 2017, then watched Lady Bird overtake Moonlight as the company's top earner in North America at the time.
Q 15Which Three Billboards star beat Saoirse Ronan of Lady Bird to the Best Actress Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards?
Frances McDormand
Frances McDormand won for playing a grieving mother out for vengeance, the second Best Actress Oscar of her career. Ronan had to settle for a Golden Globe.
Q 16Which film beat Lady Bird to Best Picture at the 90th Academy Awards after leading the field with thirteen nominations?
The Shape of Water
The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro's romantic fantasy, won four Oscars that night. Lady Bird went home empty-handed from its five nominations.
Q 17Which actress, the younger sister of Jonah Hill, plays best friend Julie Steffans in Lady Bird?
Beanie Feldstein
Beanie Feldstein followed the film with a Golden Globe-nominated lead in the comedy Booksmart two years later. She is the youngest of three children.
Q 18Which playwright, a Pulitzer winner for August: Osage County, plays Larry, the heroine's father, in Lady Bird?
Tracy Letts
Tracy Letts also won a Tony for that play, and was one of several stage veterans Gerwig recruited to fill out her Sacramento.
Q 19Greta Gerwig, who drew on her own schooldays for Lady Bird, chose her high school partly to pursue which sport?
Fencing
Fencing tournaments meant missing class, and the school's president promised to accommodate her absences. Gerwig, raised Unitarian, did not keep the sport up through college.
Q 20Greta Gerwig's nomination for Lady Bird made her only the fifth woman ever shortlisted for which Academy Award?
Best Director
Best Director had seen just four female nominees before her, and Gerwig earned hers with a solo debut. She was nominated for her screenplay the same night.
Anti-abortion was the theme, and the suspension lands just as popular Jenna discovers that Lady Bird lied about which house was hers.
Q 24What happens to Larry McPherson in Lady Bird that puts out-of-state college tuition beyond the family's reach?
He loses his job
He loses his job, which leaves the family leaning on Marion's income as a nurse. Larry still quietly encourages his daughter to apply to her dream schools.
Q 25Whose vehicle do the heroine of Lady Bird and popular girl Jenna vandalize as a prank?
A nun
A nun is the target, and the prank is part of a bid to win over the popular crowd. Meanwhile Lady Bird also inflates her family's wealth.
Q 26How does Marion punish her daughter all summer after learning about a secret college waitlist in Lady Bird?
The silent treatment
The silent treatment lasts right up to the airport, where Marion still refuses to say goodbye. Danny had let the secret slip during a family celebration at a restaurant.
Q 27After a hospital stay in New York, where does the heroine of Lady Bird go and find herself moved to tears?
A church
A church visit leaves her in tears, and afterwards she phones home to apologise and thank her mother. She had been hospitalised after drinking heavily at a college party.
Q 28Greta Gerwig banned cell phones on the Lady Bird set, a rule she borrowed from which filmmaker, her partner?
Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach had directed her in Greenberg and Mistress America. Gerwig also arrived an hour before everyone else each day, a habit learned from filmmaker Rebecca Miller.
Q 29Which Arthur Miller play on Broadway kept Saoirse Ronan busy and delayed the Lady Bird shoot by months?
The Crucible
The Crucible revival, in which Ronan made her Broadway debut as Abigail Williams, pushed filming back from March to August 2016.
Q 30Which 2019 literary adaptation reunited Greta Gerwig with Lady Bird star Saoirse Ronan, this time as an aspiring writer?
Little Women
Little Women cast Ronan as Jo March and brought her another Best Actress nomination, while the film itself was up for Best Picture.