Keanu Reeves Joins Lily Collins in ‘To the Bone’

After years of working on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mad Men and UnREAL (which she also created), Marti Noxon is finally ready to make her directorial debut — and not just any ol’ movie project will do. Noxon is set to helm To the Bone, a drama based on her own personal struggles with anorexia, and she’s already begun building an excellent cast.

Per THR, the great Keanu Reeves has joined To the Bone, which stars Lily Collins (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones) in the leading role as a young woman coping with anorexia. Reeves will play the doctor who challenges her with his “unorthodox style” and inspires her to get better. Sure, if Keanu Reeves was your doctor, you’d probably find that to be fairly unorthodox.

To the Bone has been a passion project of Noxon’s for some time, and is based on her own experiences with an eating disorder. Although such afflictions remain prevalent, there’s still a lot of stigma around eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, which have long been relegated to soapy over-dramatization (and, unfortunately, romanticizing) in movies, TV shows and the dreaded after-school special. As the creator and writer of UnREAL (yes, it’s on Lifetime, but don’t let that scare you) and Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, Noxon has explored some all-too-real topics with empathy and wit, making To the Bone an instant must-see.

Adding Reeves to the cast doesn’t hurt, either.

Reeves has a busy schedule, including John Wick: Chapter Two, Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon and The Bad Batch from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night director Ana Lily Amirpour. He’s also appearing in the TV miniseries Rain.

In addition to To the Bone and the second season of UnREAL, Noxon has been developing a TV adaptation of Sharp Objects based on the novel by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn. Amy Adams is set to star in the project with Jean-Marc Vallee (Wild) directing. Noxon also wrote the screenplay for The Glass Castle, a new film that reunites Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton with star Brie Larson.