Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell explain meaning behind cannibalism in Bones and All

Bones and All puts a unique spin on the classic American road trip film by being both gruesome and twisted in the most endearing way.

Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell star in this conflicting tale about being an outsider and the power of young companionship. Watch the trailer below:

The two young stars play Lee and Maren, two drifters who find solace in each other's hunger for human flesh. But the cannibalism in Luca Guadagnino's adaptation of Camille DeAngelis' 2015 novel isn't there for shock value, it actually has a much deeper meaning.

"I saw it more of a story of outsiders and outsiders that have their insecurities, but also their beliefs in themselves confirmed by being in love and finding someone else like them," Timothée explains.

The 26-year-old Academy Award nominee prepped for Lee by spending ‘about two weeks’ going around Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio to ‘get a sense of what road life would be’ and to ‘know what it is to live on the road’.

The excursion definitely paid off!

Warner Bros.

In recent months cannibalism has received renewed attention after Netflix dropped Ryan Murphy’s true crime series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story which attracted over 700 million hours of watch time — although neither Taylor nor Timothée have had a chance to watch it yet.

In Bones and All you see the blood and hear the bones crunch as Maren and Lee submit to their desires. So, why are people so fascinated with humans eating other humans?

“Maybe the taboo element of it and feeling so mysterious and also hard to kind of relate to. I mean, it always feels curious to people,” Taylor says.

“I think people can be repelled by what they're curious about and I don't think it has to extend deeper than that necessarily," Timothée adds.

Warner Bros.

Taylor hopes audiences will feel 'seen in their otherness' when watching Maren, a young woman who is forced to run away from home after her deadly secret is revealed when she bites a friend's finger during a sleepover.

She must to find a way to survive on the fringes of society alone, until she meets someone else just like her.

The 28-year-old, who has become one of the most exciting talents in film after her acclaimed role in the 2019 drama, muses: "I’m so curious to hear how people feel [and] what is mirrored to them through her.

"I try not to have too many expectations of how people are going to feel about my performance or character. But this is a love story at the end of the day and if anything, I hope that people feel seen in their otherness and accepted for that and know that and know that there’s people out there, there’s a family out there - regardless of if they’re the people that raised you or not — and there’s hope.”

Bones and All is in cinemas 23^rd November.