So yes, the next gross bag of tricks probably shocks me less than it would other people. In a lot of ways, though, reality has gotten stranger than I ever imagined. I think there is a false narrative with regard to me not having been a strong person before this entire thing. How did you feel once you started watching the show? Did the Anna debacle harden you to the point where you aren’t surprised by anything anymore related to her? The facts are boring, I guess, but they’re important. So everybody has bought into this fantastical narrative that has become so devoid of fact but still has the illusion of truth. Stories have so much power when it comes to creating belief.
If you think about it, what do con artists do? They tell stories. Everyone talks about Anna’s star power-they were so clearly taken with this subject that they began to empathize with her. But I think that whatever elusive charismatic powers Anna has come through less in the way the story is presented, the way the whole story was created. Īt that point they already had optioned Jessica’s story?ĭo you have any theory why you’re characterized this way? They reached out to get my option, but at that point HBO already had it. Is there any particular story point that you want to go on record to correct? Plus, it affected real-time criminal-justice proceedings. I think that’s really dangerous territory. That disclaimer gives the show enough credibility so that people can believe more easily. This show is playing with a fine line-peddling it as a true story, but also saying, “except for all the parts that aren’t.” I think it’s worth exploring at what point a half-truth is more dangerous than a lie. Some people online think this is a fact-checked series. And I mean, yes, I am concerned about some very obvious, refutable factual inaccuracies.īut I’m more interested in this kind of true-crime entertainment. Part of the reason I didn’t want to speak up was because I think people will want to couch my statements within the Rachel-vs.-Anna narrative. I’ve seen enough of it to know my objections. I started and was like, I’m not sure I have the stomach for this. I haven’t watched the whole thing yet-I’ve been skimming. How much of the show have you seen, and what was your viewing experience like? To me, it’s not making a statement but convoluting truth in a way that’s dangerous. I looked at it and I was like, Really? That’s where you’re going to go with this? So I had some unease, but nobody thinks that someone is going to be reckless with facts, especially when the character is given my name. To say a woman is someone else’s creation is counter to a feminist narrative. Rachel Williams: I was caught off guard when Netflix announced its description of the character Rachel. After overstaying her visa, Sorokin is currently in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement where she is fighting deportation and offering the occasional interview to press. American Express later protected Williams from the Morocco hotel charges.) Sorokin was released from prison in February 2021. (Sorokin was acquitted of attempted grand larceny in the first degree in regard to a $22 million loan she tried to obtain, and of stealing $62,000 from Williams.
They didn’t see her as a felon who was convicted on eight charges, including second-degree grand larceny, theft of services, and first-degree attempted grand larceny.
The way Williams sees it, Netflix and Shonda Rhimes were conned into believing that Sorokin was a special and even inspiring person-just like Williams was. You watch the spectacle, but you’re not paying attention to what’s being marketed.” “Having had a front-row seat to for far too long, I’ve studied the way a con works more than anybody needs to. “I think promoting this whole narrative and celebrating a sociopathic, narcissistic, proven criminal is wrong,” Williams told Vanity Fair in her first interview about the series.
#Anna delvey movie series#
And when the adaptation of those rights and Jessica Pressler’s New York magazine feature made its way to TV screens on Friday, in Inventing Anna, Williams was shocked to see the degree to which the series sympathized with Sorokin ( Julia Garner). But when Netflix reportedly paid Sorokin $320,000 for her life rights-allowing the convicted felon to profit from her crimes after she was forced to use part of the sum to pay restitution and fines-Williams was irked. She purged her recollections of the traumatic friendship in an essay for Vanity Fair and, later, a book, My Friend Anna. Rachel Williams, the former Vanity Fair staffer who was conned out of $62,000 by Anna Sorokin, known as Anna Delvey, never wanted to discuss her former friend again.