A Chattanooga native has a central role in a new summer movie about the aftermath of a gay teen’s suicide.
Reid Miller, 22, says he had no prior knowledge of Jadin Bell, an Oregon teenager who took his life in 2013 after being bullied, or of Jadin’s father’s quest to walk across America to bring attention to the tragedy.
However, Miller says it didn’t take him long to understand the story or to want to play the young Bell in the new movie, “Joe Bell.” Mark Wahlberg and Connie Britton star as Jadin’s parents in the film, which opened nationally on Friday.
“I was so young [when it happened], but once I started doing the research … I knew I wanted to be a part of the movie and to get the story out,” Miller says.
(READ MORE: Movie review: ‘Joe Bell’ offers tale of emotional redemption)