Think You Know Bella Thorne? After Watching This, You’ll Think Again

Bella Thorne is out of control. How many times have you heard that refrain, after the 20-year-old former Disney star created a tempest in the online teapot by, say, wearing an outré outfit, or uploading a confessional post to Instagram? A new short documentary, Bella, tells a different story, though. Directed by Emma Holly Jones, who effectively embedded with Thorne for six weeks, Bella paints a portrait of a young woman seizing the reins of her life for the very first time. After a hyper-image-managed childhood, Thorne is consciously offering her millions of fans an unfiltered picture of herself as she strikes out into new professional territory—singing, directing, starring in challenging indie fare like Sundance Film Festival darling Assassination Nation. And more.

Bella is part of and parcel with Thorne’s strategic re-branding. Even director Jones had bought the “Bella Thorne, loose cannon” hype, and was wary of embarking on a project documenting an ex-child star’s unraveling. “I almost passed on this job due to my preconceptions about Bella,” admits Jones. “But upon meeting her, I was immediately struck by her compassion and intelligence, and forced to question why I’d had the beliefs about her I did. That was the story I wanted to tell,” she adds. “I wanted to challenge the audience’s assumptions and lay bare the truth of a remarkably savvy young woman as she comes of age.” Jones goes on to note that, after six weeks as a fly on the wall in the highly eccentric Thorne household—yes, there are that many cats—she “left with a tear in her eye.”