The Wonder’s Writer and Director Discuss Faith, Science, and Florence Pugh | TIFF 2022

One of the most many films to world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival was The Wonder, a period drama based on the true story of the “Fasting Girls”, children who claimed to get all the nourishment they needed from their faith in God. Set in Ireland in the 1800s, The Wonder follows Florence Pugh as a nurse who is in charge of investigating the health conditions of 11-year-old Anna O’Donnell (Kíla Lord Cassidy), who claims to go months without eating. While Pugh’s Lib Wright gets closer to the young Anna, she starts to get suspicious about the girl being mistreated by the feverous Christian community where she lives, leading The Wonder to discuss the schism between religious faith and scientific facts. Shortly before the premiere, Collider’s own Steve Weintraub sat down with director Sebastián Lelio and writer Emma Donoghue to discuss the behind-the-scenes secrets of The Wonder at our TIFF studio. Besides writing the script for The Wonder with Leilo and