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Entertainment January 23, 2017
Lily Collins, Marti Noxon via Instagram @lilyjcollinsMarti Noxon uses her own experiences to tackle the danger of eating disorders with a bit of dark humor in her feature directing debut “To the Bone.”
And she pulls no punches in discussing her personal struggle with anorexia, musing “‘When am I going to be done with this?’ I mean, my vagina is dead, I’m sexually irrelevant, who the f—k cares? At what point do I decide that I can stop?”
The famed “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” writer/director/producer had to catch herself after she began rattling a veritable food diary to The Hollywood Reporter at an interview on the dramedy.
Calling to mind the hilarious “Inside Amy Schumer” sketch “Last F—kable Day,” Noxon questioned her enduring body image struggles, while joking that it doesn’t even matter because she’s “no longer sexually relevant.”
“In case you ever wanted to get laid again, it’s not happening. Your vagina is broken. Welcome to 50,” she said.
Noxon’s film, which she also wrote, follows her near-death battle with anorexia as well as the confusing behavior of her parents at the time.
Noxon’s struggles first arose after she tried to lose a few pounds ahead of seventh grade. “I literally couldn’t stop,” she admitted.
“And you get rewarded. People would walk up to me, until I got terrifying-looking, and be like, ‘Tell me your secret.’ And if I had said, ‘I swallow a brick every morning,’ they would’ve been like, ‘Which brick? Where can I get it?’ Which just shows you how f–ked up our priorities are. I mean, I’ve had people say to me, ‘I wish I could get a touch of anorexia,’ and I’m always like, ‘Oh f— you,’” Noxon said.
Noxon’s story is told through lead character Ellen, who is played by Lily Collins. And while promoting the film, Collins revealed that she, too had suffered from an eating disorder as a teenager.
READ MORE: Teary-Eyed Kesha Gives Emotional Speech About Overcoming Eating Disorder (VIDEO)
“I wrote a book last year, and I wrote my chapter on my experiences a week before I got Marti’s script, and it was like the universe kind of putting these things in my sphere to help me face, kind of dead on, a fear that I used to have and a way to explain it as someone who’s gone through it and to open up a topic that is considered quite taboo with young people nowadays, male, female, and to really start a conversation,” she told IMDb Studio.
The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) reports that 30 million people in the U.S. – of all ages and genders – suffer from an eating disorder.
Noxon and Collins are certainly not alone in their struggles, as the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) reports that dangerous thoughts about body image plague 40 to 60 percent of elementary school girls. Furthermore, such concerns about weight or becoming too fat that begin to develop at a young age lead to a struggle that endures throughout the rest of their lives.
Collins also revealed that she had lost weight for the “dramatic role,” though assured fans it had been in the safest way possible, with the help of a nutritionist.
“It did require a different set of emotional skills, to kind of go back in time for me, with you know, my experiences. So definitely a different type of film for me to do, very, very personal,” Collins said.
She called the debut of the movie a “huge moment” in her life, in a heartfelt note shared to Instagram. She wrote about how the film helped her in “owning my past, being open and having no shame or regrets about my experiences.”
READ MORE: Golden Globes Joy for First Timers Hailee Steinfeld and Lily Collins
“Sharing my history with eating disorders and how personal this film has been is one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. Thank you for all your love and support. I’m sending all of mine right back (especially today!) and remember, you are never ever alone,” Collins shared.
And Noxon’s searing dive into life with an eating disorder seems to be doing well since its debut at Sundance over the weekend, garnering praise on Twitter.
Tomris Laffly posted, “#ToTheBone: a most sincere portrayal of a specific mental disease. Has lots to say on family/friendship & says them w/ compassion. #Sundance.”
#ToTheBone: a most sincere portrayal of a specific mental disease. Has lots to say on family/friendship & says them w/ compassion. #Sundance
— Tomris Laffly (@TomiLaffly) January 22, 2017
Very impressed by Marti Noxon’s dramedy TO THE BONE, which tackles anorexia with a sharp script, specificity, and mordant humor. #sundance
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) January 22, 2017
Noxon recognized that it could be deeply painful to delve into a topic so personal for her and her family, but says she believes it makes for the best writing.
“But if that’s where the most authentic writing is going to come from, I’m going to go there and hope that I survive and that you’ll still speak to me,” Noxon said.
READ MORE: 6 Celebs Speaking out Against the Stigma of Mental Illness
“To the Bone” has yet to set a release date, as it is currently looking for distributors. It debuted at Sundance on Sunday.
