Rosamund Pike to Star in Body Horror ‘Feed’ from Leslye Headland at AFM

Rosamund Pike will star in and produce Feed, a body-horror project from director Leslye Headland that The Veterans is shopping to international buyers at the American Film Market.

The package pairs an Oscar-nominated lead with a filmmaker who has built her reputation on unruly, high-concept material, and it arrives on the AFM floor as one of the market’s most distinctive genre offerings.

A Mother-Daughter Monster Story Rooted in Digital Anxiety

Daniella Isaacs’ script follows Erin, a mother who seizes on an obscure collagen supplement that promises to transform her tween gymnast daughter into a star influencer. The daughter’s metamorphosis turns increasingly grotesque as the story pushes parental ambition into predatory territory.

The premise draws its inspiration from Hatching, the 2022 Finnish body-horror feature that turned competitive parenting into a creature parable. Isaacs is working from that DNA rather than remaking it, building an original narrative around the illusion of protection and the shifting boundary between predator and prey.

Pike framed the material in explicitly transgressive terms. “Long have I wanted to make a film that plays anarchically with our obsession with social media and self-improvement, our desire for fame without notable admirable skill and, let’s put it out there, the monstrosity of modern motherhood,” she said.

She returned to the theme of contemporary dread: “Feed is film that plays in the genre space, and plays into our current fears, as parents, as citizens, of the digital world.”

Headland’s Genre Instincts Meet Pike’s Producing Muscle

Headland brings a résumé spanning Russian Doll, Sleeping With Other People, and The Acolyte, a body of work defined by tonal risk and darkly comic precision. Her attachment signals a film that intends to unsettle rather than reassure.

“Daniella’s script is audacious, disturbing and deeply human, and Rosamund is among the boldest actors working today,” Headland said. She added that she “couldn’t ask for better partners to take on the darker corners of this story.”

Pike produces through Primitive Streak alongside Shelley Browning for Magnolia Entertainment, Steven Schneider for Spooky Pictures, Ara Keshishian and Petr Jakl for ZQ Entertainment, and Sam Ritzenberg for Agile Films. That producer spread reflects a project assembled for international financing rather than a single-studio greenlight.

Pike’s standing as an Oscar nominee with Gone Girl and I Care a Lot on her ledger gives buyers a recognizable marquee name in a genre that increasingly trades on elevated execution. Her producing credit signals she is steering the material, not merely headlining it.

AFM Packaging and the Body-Horror Buying Corridor

Body horror has become one of the more reliable corridors in the international marketplace, where contained casts and strong conceptual hooks travel well across territories. Feed fits that mold: a single lead, a visceral premise, and a director with streaming-era credibility.

The Veterans’ involvement places the project in experienced hands for presales, with the AFM launch functioning as the opening move in a financing campaign rather than a finished-film sale. Buyers are being asked to commit on script, director, and star, the classic currency of the market floor.

Every element of the package is being positioned for foreign distributors monitoring the genre space across our trade entertainment wire desk, where presale momentum often determines how quickly a project moves toward a start date.

For Pike, the project extends a run of roles that trade on unnerving charisma, and for Headland it marks a return to feature filmmaking with material that suits her appetite for provocation.

The commercial test sits with international buyers: if the presales land, the film moves into production scheduling; if they stall, the package waits for the next market.

Reviewed by

Chief Reviewer

Ankit Jaiswal

Editorial Director - 7+ yrs

Ankit Jaiswal is the Chief Author, covering Indian cinema and OTT releases with honest, no-filler criticism. An SEO strategist by background, he brings a research-driven approach to film writing, cutting through hype to tell you exactly what's worth your time.