Tom Felton Joins 'Pretty Little Liars' Star Troian Bellisario in New Feature Film 'Feed'
"Pretty Little Liars" star Troian Bellisario is gearing up to release her new feature film, which she wrote, produced, and will star in. But what makes this project even more interesting for the fans is that she will be joined by another familiar face.
Bellisario wrote "Feed" eight years ago, before she even started shooting "Pretty Little Liars." In the movie, she will star alongside "Harry Potter" star Tom Felton. He plays her twin brother, who dies in a tragic accident, leaving her to live without the person she has spent her entire life with.
Most importantly, she has revealed that the story is based on her personal experience in battling an eating disorder called anorexia.
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"I sat down and I wrote a version of my own story. It's not the exact events, but what I wanted to do with the film was get the audience to understand what it sounds like and what it feels like to be struggling with that illness," Bellisario told Rotten Tomatoes back in April.
"It's not a disease you can see, you just hear something in your head that tells you not to eat — for many, many different reasons for different people. And I realized that I wouldn't be able to fully heal until I could get people that I loved to empathize with that, to understand where I was coming from."
According to statistics, at least 30 million people in the U.S. suffer from eating disorders. It is known to have the highest mortality rate among other mental illnesses that at least one person dies from it every hour. As with anorexia, it has been found out that 0.9 percent of American women have gone through this condition in their lifetime and that 33 to 50 percent of those suffering from this particular eating disorder also develop mood disorders such as depression.
Bellisario also recently opened up about how she is still connected to the eating disorder that she had, despite already having recovered.
Speaking with "Pretty Little Liars" director Lesli Linka Glatter for Interview Magazine, she revealed, "My neural pathways were all still there and connected to the disease, so when I had to engage with the film, it was like poking a sleeping dragon. But it's amazing that you can have this huge, life-threatening thing be a part of you and still live inside of you, and almost tame it in a weird way."
"Feed" premieres July 18 on Video on Demand (VOD) and all digital platforms.
