Jillian Bell wants actresses to play 'real human beings'

Jillian Bell thinks it's important to play female characters as "real human beings".

The 35-year-old comedy star - who plays the lead role in 'Brittany Runs a Marathon' - thinks the movie industry has made a mistake in seeking to create so many "likeable" female characters.

She told the Guardian newspaper: "I think it's important to play women as real human beings.

"A lot of times the word 'likeable' comes up, especially as a writer. They want to make sure that all the women are very likeable and I think that's unfair because we've had a lot of male characters who are incredibly unlikable that we root for.

"I'm hoping women start to do that more: play characters who are flawed and make mistakes."

Jillian lost a significant amount of weight for her role in 'Brittany Runs a Marathon'.

And the actress has admitted to struggling with her own body image.

She said: "There's only so much you can shake off the character. You have to figure out what your own story is. And [after making the film] I feel I'm in a much better place. It's still rocky at times, but I try to be as kind to myself as I can.

"What would it be like if I really enjoyed the things I was doing and focused less on how I looked?

"To look at all the seeds that have been planted in my brain from a very young age of what women should look like, and re-examine those thoughts and see if they're feeding me or not? And most of them were not feeding me."