Not Just A Pretty Face

In an exclusive phone interview, we talk to Lily Collins about her film roles and what led her to take on her two most recent – and very different – ones.

Technology can be a b**ch sometimes, especially when you’re trying to reach across the planet, through different time zones, to get from Singapore to Rome at a decent hour. It was 2.30pm here in Singapore but 8.30am in the morning in Rome, where Lily Collins is on vacation. The actress was taking a well-deserved break after her back-to-back roles in two films. Our interview is meant to happen before Lily checks out of her hotel and hits the road, so time is of the essence. But the phone isn’t cooperating.

Of course, without technology, a lot wouldn’t be possible, in particular Lily’s last two movies, Okja and To The Bone. Both projects are “playing” on Netflix – the former was produced in-house, while the latter was bought at Sundance. It shows just how far the video streaming site has come.

This has also been a pinnacle year for Lily Collins. On top of the two films, the actress-model launched her autobiography Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me in March, and starred in the TV series The Last Tycoon by Amazon Studios.

Known for her porcelain skin, doe eyes and those eyebrows that rival Cara Delevingne’s, you might not have known Lily was also a writer; even as a teen, she wrote for the likes of Seventeen and Teen Vogue. Perhaps this is why her book has been so well received. It’s an honest, no-holds-barred look into her life, and probably as much as you’re going to get, since the 28-year-old likes to keep her private life, well, private.

Nevertheless, in her latest film To The Bone, she plays a character with anorexia, an eating disorder she was familiar with as a teenager. While the film has courted controversy for “romanticising” the disease, Lily is firm in her belief that it was made with the right intentions. She speaks to us about her motivations and how that has translated on-screen.