TOLD TO LOSE WEIGHT
Jillian Bell tells
Jillian Bell knows what it’s like to be told by a doctor she needs to lose weight. When the 35-year-old comedian – who has stolen scenes in a string of films including 22 Jump Street, Rough Night and Office Christmas Party – first came across the script for Brittany Runs a Marathon (out now), she identified with Brittany like no other character before.
In the first 10 minutes of the film, Bell’s character, Brittany Forglar, a hard partying, overweight 28-year-old woman living in New York, is told by a male doctor that she needs to lose 20kg.
It’s an experience Bell – who is currently writing her first film, which will be made by the production company she owns with her sister – knows all too well.
“I’ve been in a doctor’s office where they told me I have to lose weight,” the star told WHO while in Sydney to promote the film.
It’s not a spoiler to reveal that Brittany, who is based on writer and director Paul Downs Colaizzo’s best friend, Brittany O’Neill, does lose the weight, but it’s what happens along the way which is the real message.
“I feel like this is the movie I wanted to see when I was a really young girl,” Bell says. “It starts off as something else and then as you go along, you’re sort of starting to identify with her journey and where she was going in her best moments and her worst moments.”
For those wondering, yes, Bell also lost about 18kg in the lead up to and during filming. But that’s not the point.
Everyone seems to be asking you about how much weight you lost during filming and if you’ve kept it off, which is like the opposite of the film. How do you feel about that?
Well, people are interested in significant change so I get that, but it shouldn’t be the headline of everything. I also understand that people are curious about the process. It’s really a weird business that I’ve chosen to be a part of. But it’s so wonderful to be in a film and have people come up to you and tell you that they feel seen. It’s incredible to be a part of it in that way.
It was triggering in one of the early scenes in the film where Brittany sits in a doctor’s office and is told she needs to lose weight.
I was too when I was reading it. I’ve been in a doctor’s office where they told me I have to lose weight. It’s really tough because there’s this fine line between someone talking about your body and also if there is a genuine health concern about something going on, I understand that they also have to relay that. But it feels targeted and it feels very offensive and personal.
You’d never done a dramatic role before. Was that a big leap of faith for you?
I’m from a comedic background – I did classes at The Groundlings [a sketch comedy theatre and school in Los Angeles ], I wrote for Saturday Night Live. I love comedy so that’s obviously more of a safe space for me, but with this movie there were so many dramatic elements and it was the first time I was a title character. But then I realise that this would involve things that I’ve done personally and that I would have to do press and talk about my body and my relationship to it. That can be a scary thing and I could have backed out of the project because of it. But the reason I think this film is so important is that it starts a lot of conversations that people have afterwards and if I’m not going to
“It’s a movie I wanted to see when I was young”
be open about how I’m feeling, how can I encourage other people to or be there for them? It’s a way of opening a little bit of a door. Are you feeling a change in Hollywood toward women who don’t conform to the mould?
I hope so. This is a sad statement to make but I feel lucky that I’ve never been asked to lose weight for a role. I’ve never been asked to change my appearance other than a hair colour for a role. I know that’s not the case for most women. This movie felt like, to me, of any of the scripts that have been sent my way [that deal] with not being a size 0, this one handled it in a way in that there’s a beautiful message there.