Rosamund Pike plays a momfluencer in Feed, body horror from The Acolyte’s Leslye Headland

Rosamund Pike is heading back to dark territory: the Gone Girl star will lead and produce Feed, a body horror film about a mother who turns her daughter into an internet star at a monstrous price, as Deadline first reported. Directing is Leslye Headland, creator of Star Wars: The Acolyte, in her first project behind the camera since that series was cancelled in 2024.

The premise is sharp enough to sell itself. Pike plays Erin, a mother whose young daughter trains as a gymnast. Erin buys a little-known collagen product sold as the shortcut to influencer fame for the girl. The views and the money arrive fast, but as the girl goes viral, her body starts to change into something else.

Daniella Isaacs wrote the script, which draws on the 2022 Finnish horror film Hatching, another story about a gymnast daughter, an ambitious mother and a body that will not behave. Pike, who calls her character a momfluencer, framed the film around hunger in every sense.

“Feed examines appetite. The dark appetite of online communities; the appetite of a social media landscape that monetises youth and beauty.”

Rosamund Pike, actor and producer

Headland praised the script as audacious, disturbing and deeply human. Pike produces through her company Primitive Streak with partners from Magnolia Entertainment, Spooky Pictures, ZQ Entertainment and Agile Films, and ZQ paid for the script’s development. For a project with no cast beyond its lead and no shooting date yet, that is a lot of producers, which shows how hard the package is being pushed.

Buyers get their first look next week at the American Film Market, where The Veterans handle international sales and CAA Media Finance the US rights, according to TheWrap. Who plays the daughter, when filming starts and where the film will be released are all still open.

Reported by Deadline, TheWrap. Compiled with AI tools.