Hollywood tackles eating disorders in 'To The Bone'

Record ID: 165614

  • Title: Hollywood tackles eating disorders in 'To The Bone'
  • Date: 25th January 2017
  • Summary: PARK CITY, UTAH, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 22, 2017) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ACTOR KEANU REEVES AT PHOTOCALL ACTRESS LILY COLLINS EMBRACING WRITER DIRECTOR MARTI NOXON AT PHOTOCALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR KEANU REEVES, SAYING: "To do a work of art like this that entertains but also creates a venue where people can speak and if anyone's going through it, cannot be alone in a way and can have a platform to maybe share and people who aren't going through it or are part of the sphere of it can maybe have another understanding and get involved. It's really a condition that needs a lot of support and love and I think this film has a lot of love and support depicted in it and coming from it and in the making of it so hopefully it's entertaining and people get something out of it."
  • Embargoed: 8th February 2017 21:33
  • Keywords: Anorexia eating disorders Lily Collins Keanu Reeves Sundane film festival premiere
  • Location: PARK CITY, UTAH, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
  • City: PARK CITY, UTAH, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA00160KZ3H5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS NOTE: NO FILM CLIPS OR TRAILERS ARE AVAILABLE FOR 'TO THE BONE'
    The subject of eating disorders is tackled in the new film 'To the Bone', which premiered at the Sundance film festival on Sunday (January 22).
    Starring Lily Collins, who suffered from anorexia ten years ago and had to lose weight for the production, the film follows Ellen (Collins) as she is continuing her treatment into overcoming her anorexia without success. However, when she meets the unconventional Doctor William Beckham (Keanu Reeves), she begins to see her condition in a different way.
    "It's really a condition that needs a lot of support and love," said Keanu Reeves at the premiere, adding "I think this film has a lot of love and support depicted in it and coming from it and in the making of it so hopefully it's entertaining and people get something out of it."
    The issue of eating disorders has rarely been covered on film, but has been the subject of numerous television movies and featured in soap operas.
    According to ANAD (The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders), around 30 million people suffer from some kind of eating disorder, with 0.9% of American women suffering from anorexia, and 1.5% of American women suffering from bulimia nervosa at some point in their lifetimes. It also reports that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
    Collins admitted that she leapt at the chance to star in the film as soon as she read the script. "A lot of people including myself who go through it, it's something that you keep to yourself because either you're ashamed of it or even if you're ten years on from it like I myself am, you feel attachment of shame and regret to it but the whole point is there are no shame or no regret and it's the way that you deal with the disorder and that you talk about it is how it defines you as a person."
    She added "This story is just bringing an awareness to the topic and a greater understanding of what it is to go through it and the mindset of it, that I just hope people understand - maybe that don't know anything about it - that they better understand what it's about and also for those that are suffering with it, that you're not alone and that it comes in many shapes and sizes and it's so important to get help out there if you need it and chances are if you say something, you'll be able to relate to so many more people about it so it's really about promoting a conversation."
    The film is based on the experiences of the writer director Marti Noxon, who is best known for her television productions 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'Angel' and 'UnREAL'.
    When asked why Hollywood has never dealt with the issue of eating disorders before, co-star Lili Taylor replied "I think that it's one of those things that is so prevalent and so part of the culture, it's kind of like if you want to look into football and the problems with football, you're going to have to look at American culture. It's going to unpack a lot of stuff that maybe we're not able to deal with - patriarchy, how we bring up men, Catholicism, all that stuff. I think this would be opening that can of worms. We've got to look at the whole kit and caboodle and we're probably afraid because it will mean a lot of different things."
    "More than anything I wanted people to understand eating disorders - anorexia, bulimia, disorder of eating of any kind - it's not really a vanity issue and if anything it's almost like an addiction," explained Noxon.
    "You become addicted to this idea that you can control something and you become hyper-focused on that and it's very difficult to get out of that thinking so usually people need intervention. The reason they don't talk about it is because they don't think they have a problem. It's analogous to being an alcoholic or something. You think you don't have a problem, so you don't start to talk about it until you realize you have a problem."
    'To the Bone', which so far has received glowing reviews, has been picked up by Netflix, according to trade magazine Variety, for around $8 million since it premiered at Sundance.
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