The Wasting (2018)

Interesting facts

The Wasting is a 2017 Canadian-British drama film written and directed by Carolyn Saunders and starring Lauren McQueen, Gray O'Brien, and Alexz Johnson. It screened at film festivals in Europe and North America, winning Best Horror at the 2017 Austrian Independent Film Festival and Best Feature awards in two categories at the Vittorio Veneto film festival. The film's public premiere took place in Toronto on March 2, 2018, and it was released online in the United States and Canada in June 2018.

Production

Writer-director Saunders said that her inspiration came while writing for the documentary series Ghostly Encounters, when she met an anorexic young woman whom nobody believed was visited nightly by a ghost. The woman's story became the television episode, "Anorexia and the Haunting Hag," and, intrigued by the relationship between eating disorders and the supernatural, Saunders wrote The Wasting "with input from several people suffering anorexia."

Initially, the filmmakers attempted to fund the movie through the Canadian Film Centre's CFC Features program, which would have required filming in Canada. When Canadian Film Centre funding was unavailable, production was moved to Upton-upon-Severn in Worcestershire, U.K., to benefit from the UK Film Tax Relief program and the availability of experienced crew and actors.

During early development of the film, Saunders approached her friend Alexz Johnson to participate as actor, musician, and co-producer. Saunders described the movie as a "family affair," as her sons, Brendan Flynn and Sean Stevenson appear in the cast as brothers.

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