Fans of Ozark's Julia Garner...get ready to see the Emmy-winning actress in a whole new light. Garner will portray real-life convicted fraudster Anna Delvey in Netflix's Inventing Anna, which premieres Friday, February 11. The series draws from Shonda Rhimes and follows the mind-blowing true story of Anna Delvey, tracking her plans, meteoric rise, and fall from grace in four years.
Anna Sorokin, under the name Anna Delvey, arrived in New York City in 2013 and successfully managed to make her way through and over New York City's elite by posing as the German heiress. Her cover was blown up in May 2018 when Jessica Pressler published the New York magazine article "How Anna Delvey Partyed People of New York—and It Banks," which is the foundation for the nine-part Netflix series.
Ahead of the show's premiere, Garner has been sharing his thoughts on playing Delvey. Newsweek has everything you need to know.
Everything Ozark's Julia Garner Has Said So Far About Playing Anna Delvey
On meeting Anna Delvey
To prepare for the role of Delvy, Garner made several visits to the Albion Correctional Facility in New York, where Delvy was incarcerated until February 2021.
Over the course of four years, Delvey posed as a German heir with a $67 million trust fund, successfully scamming close friends and New York businesses out of $275,000 under the guise of founding an exclusive arts club.
He was convicted by a Manhattan jury of four counts of burglary services, three counts of grand theft and one count of attempted grand theft and sentenced to at least four years in prison. He was released in February 2021 but was later placed in ICE custody. As of September 2021, she was still in the custody of ICE.
Speaking to Town & Country Magazine, Garner described Delvey as "really cute."
She said: "She was extremely attractive. She is very gentle."
On becoming anna
To identify Delvy's unique pronunciation of Russian, German, British English and American English, Garner teamed up with a dialect coach. She also studied interviews to bring her methods up to a T.
Delvey was born in Russia but grew up in Germany. She learned British English and started learning American English by watching American shows like Gossip Girl.
Garner also shared that he listened to a ton of rap music to prepare for the role, including Delvie's favorite song from Eminem, "Lose Yourself."
On his visit to the Albion correctional facility, Delvy pressures Garner to listen to his pronunciation, describing it as a "very meta" experience.
Garner also said that she understood Delvey a little better after meeting her, calling her a "big dreamer," something Garner said she shared.
She said: "When I really get to know the character, I start to feel all his feelings. My anxiety was through the roof, and I realized it was because Anna had really bad anxiety. People don't necessarily have to agree with what he did, but I want to help people understand why he did it."
Speaking separately to The Wall Street Journal, Garner said: "You can't dislike the guy you've been playing for eight, nine months. It's going to come out on screen, and the performance isn't going to be that great. He had his reasons why he did all that he had done."
On the guilt of Anna Delvey
Anna didn't only target New York businesses, she also defrauded her closest friends and lent her money, with no intention of repaying them.
In 2017, she visited Marrakesh, Morocco with her former friend Rachel Deloche Williams, who worked as Vanity Fair's photo editor at the time. During his visit, Delvy collects a bill for $62,000 and eventually convinces Williams to put it on his credit card, under a false promise to pay it back.
Williams published My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heir in July 2019, describing his friendship with Anna.
Unrelated to the Marrakesh trip, Delvey was arrested in July 2017 on charges of evasion of services after she could not pay her hotel bills, but fled to California and did not appear for a due court date.
Soon after, Williams realized that Delvey had betrayed him and reported the incident to the police. Williams soon found herself at the center of a sting operation that resulted in Delvey's arrest in Malibu, California, in October 2017.
Delvy rejected a plea deal and went on trial. After two days of deliberation, he was found guilty of eight charges including second-degree grand theft, attempted grand theft and evasion of services.
Instead, Delvey keeps busy in prison with tailoring classes and lessons in "stupid culinary arts."