Outtake No. 8: 'Inventing Anna' Syllabus
A handy guide to the world of Anna Delvey, the Fake German Heiress and subject of Shonda Rhimes' true-crime Netflix series.
“Outtakes” is back with another installment about all things pop culture. This time, the focus is on Shonda Rhimes’ fantastic true-crime limited series, Inventing Anna, which begins streaming Friday, Feb. 11 on Netflix.
Trust me when I say, this is one binge-worthy series.
For those who are not familiar with the story, Anna Delvey (who is portrayed by Ozark’s Julia Garner) is the convicted fraudster who infiltrated and scammed New York’s society, many of the city’s high-end establishments, and several financial institutions out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Delvey even stuck one of her friends with a $60,000 bill after she was unable to finance an all-expenses-paid, lavish trip to Morocco.
While I promise “Outtakes” isn’t going to become a permanent series of syllabuses, especially following the last one on The Gilded Age, I couldn’t help but put together a handy guide to the Fake German Heiress.
“A Marvel Universe of People That Might Scam You”
One of the many themes about Delvey’s story and Inventing Anna, is the overlap with several other Instagram-famous scammers and grifters who made headlines at the time.
Coincidentally, Delvey reportedly conned Fyre Festival co-founder Billy McFarland (played by Ben Rappaport) and one of “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli’s executives in addition to many others. Delvey’s lawyer Todd Spodek was even working out of a WeWork, founded by disgraced businessman Adam Neumann. (see: Shonda Rhimes’ Repertoire Players and Women Behaving Badly)
For more on McFarland, watch the competing yet compelling documentaries, Fyre Fraud (Hulu) and Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (Netflix), while Shkreli’s crimes are documented in the film, Pharmo Bro.
Delvey’s Doodles
One tiny moment captured in Inventing Anna and also detailed in Generation Hustle are doodles that Delvey drew during her trial. (see: Generation Hustle)
Remembering that they appeared in the New York Times and Instagram, Generation Hustle director Martha Shane came up with the idea to get Delvey to draw new images for the episode. “They really bring her stories to life in a way that I’m not sure I’ve seen done elsewhere,” she said.
The Devil Wears Prada
If watching Inventing Anna sparks nostalgia for the 2006 film about the high-stakes world of a fashion magazine starring Anne Hathaway (see: Women Behaving Badly), that’s because the film’s director, David Frankel, is both executive producer on the series and helmed the first two episodes.
Dirty John
Prior to Inventing Anna, Garner starred in the first season of the true-crime anthology series as Terra Newell, the daughter of a woman who fell in love with and was conned by a man pretending to be an anesthesiologist.
Fake German Heiress Cottage Industry
One of the debates surrounding Inventing Anna and Delvey is who is profiting off her story. Even before Delvey’s trial started, Netflix paid Delvey over $300,000 for the rights to adapt her life story. According to Insider, Delvey then used much of that money to pay restitution to the banks and other fines.
In addition to that, Rachel DeLoache Williams, who is portrayed by Katie Lowes in the series and was the friend stuck with paying for the Morocco trip, sold her story to her former employer, Vanity Fair, and wrote the 2018 article, “As an Added Bonus, She Paid for Everything.”
Williams also published the memoir, My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress, which was optioned by HBO and Lena Dunham, reportedly earning Williams hundreds of thousands dollars. And in 2021, she appeared on-camera in Generation Hustle.
(Her book can also be heard on Audible alongside a number of other stories about female scammers. [see: Women Behaving Badly])
Between the book, the articles, the Netflix series and the “Fake German Heiress” T-shirts, “It’s almost like there's this little sort of Anna Delvey cottage industry happening,” Shane said. (see: Generation Hustle)
Generation Hustle
Con artists, hustlers, imposters and scammers are the focus of the must-watch 2021 HBO Max docuseries, which recounts some of the most wildly inventive scams and unbelievably true stories of the past decade. “We’re living in the age of the grift,” creator and executive producer Yon Motskin said of building a series around the ideas of “invention and reinvention.”
“It’s about money on the surface, but in most cases, I think money is just the starting point and it becomes about something bigger and deeper and more complicated, whether it’s identity or class or fame or status,” he continued. “Just being somebody that you’re not, I think has always captured my imagination and it’s captured a lot of people’s imaginations.”
Each of the standalone episodes offer a fresh and concise take on the various crimes or acts of deception committed by Delvey, Neumann, the Hollywood Con Queen and scam-rap artist Teejayx6.
Gossip Girl
According to Town & Country, “Delvey was born in Russia, grew up in Germany, learned British English, then mimicked American English by watching shows like Gossip Girl.”
The original CW series, like The Devil Wears Prada, is an obviously blueprint for Inventing Anna, which dips into the high society and fashion-obsessed world of New York City. (It’s also not hard to believe that Serena van der Woodsen would be caught up with someone like Delvey. The rumored cannibalistic Armie Hammer once played a scammer on the series, after all.)
Hustlers
While not directly related to Inventing Anna, the 2019 film is another fantastic and captivating true-crime story starring Jennifer Lopez about New York City strippers who conned clients out of money during the 2008 recession.
The real-life saga was first captured in an article written by New York journalist Jessica Pressler, who was portrayed by Julia Stiles in the film and is the executive producer and reporter behind the original article that made Delvey a media sensation in 2018. (see: Jessica Pressler’s Articles)
Instagram
One thing that Generation Hustle and Inventing Anna both agree on is the influence and allure of social media. And when it comes to Delvey’s story, in particular, it’s really “all about Instagram, really,” Shane said.
When it comes to Generation Hustle, “the series really looks at how changes in our contemporary world, like the rise of social media for example, have changed what it means to be a con artist or a fraudster today,” she said. “It’s made it both easier in some ways and more difficult in some ways to get away with these kinds of things.”
Arian Moayed, who portrays Spodek in the Netflix series, agreed. “That’s one thing that Inventing Anna is putting at the forefront,” he said, noting, “She’s famous but still going to jail.”
It even shows how the platform was used to make her trial a media sensation, thanks to a spotlight on the account @AnnaDelveyCourtLooks.
Jessica Pressler’s Articles
While Pressler’s reporting serves as inspiration for Inventing Anna and she is a producer on the series, her story is told through Manhattan journalist Vivian Kent (Anna Chlumsky), who is very pregnant and still bouncing back from an earlier editorial mistake that called her career into question.
That said, here are three important articles to read and remember:
“New York Magazine Story Of Teen Who Earned $72 Million Trading Stocks Was Made Up” (BuzzFeed)
“The Hustlers at Scores” (New York)
“How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” (New York)
Responses From Those Involved
Delvey: In an essay for Insider, “Erasing Anna: From ICE detention, Anna Delvey talks about her new Netflix show and life behind bars,” Delvey, who sold her story to Netflix and even met with Garner during filming, writes that she won’t be watching the series, especially not while in custody and among normals. “Even if I were to pull some strings and make it happen, nothing about seeing a fictionalized version of myself in this criminal-insane-asylum setting sounds appealing to me.”
Delvey adds, “I don't need any more jail friends, thank you very much.” New friends or not, she certainly thought she would be long gone by now, having “moved on with my life” by the time the series came out.
Sadly, or ironically, the convicted fraudster “can't help but feel like an afterthought, the somber irony of being confined to a cell at yet another horrid correctional facility lost between the lines, the history repeating itself.”
Williams: On the other hand, Williams feels that Delvey is far from an afterthought. In fact, she says that Inventing Anna is making her “a star again.”
In her own essay for Air Mail, “Re-Inventing Anna,” Delvey’s former friend feels like the series is not portraying Delvey as the predator that she actually is. Instead, it’s “repositioning the character of Anna Delvey from fraudster to front-row.”
“Take it from someone who knows: This is the art of the con, a shell game that proffers irresistible thrills for low stakes, while a sleight of hand carries out the high-roller business unseen,” Williams writes. “Netflix isn’t just putting out a fictional story. It’s effectively running a con woman’s P.R.—and putting money in her pocket.”
Shonda Rhimes’ Repertoire Players
Like Ryan Murphy, Rhimes has amassed her own pool of repertoire players that have appeared in many of her TV series, from Grey’s Anatomy to Private Practice to Scandal.
Inventing Anna is no different, with several familiar faces popping up through the nine-part series. “A couple of people from Scandal got to be on it… It’s the coolest cast,” Lowes said, adding that they “had the best time shooting it. It was so wild.”
Anna Deveare Smith plays Maud, a Manhattan employee banned to “Scriberia” alongside Vivian. (Previous credits: For the People and Rhimes’ favorite series The West Wing)
Ben Rappaport notably plays McFarland in an inexplicable overlap of New York City scammers. (Previous credits: For the People)
Chris Lowell appears as Noah, a videographer who is invited by Delvey to join her and her friends on the now infamous trip to Morocco. (Previous credits: Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice)
Kate Burton portrays Nora, an Upper East Side woman who falls prey to Delvey’s manipulation. (Previous credits: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal)
Katie Lowes plays Rachel, who is based on Williams, “Delvey’s best friend who is one of the people who gets conned.” (Previous credits: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal)
Jeff Perry plays one of Vivian’s Manhattan coworkers Lou. (Previous credits: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal)
Joshua Malina briefly appears as a high-end investor. (Previous credits: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and Rhimes’ favorite series The West Wing)
Marika Dominczyk makes a one-episode appearance as self-made millionaire named Talia. (Previous credits: Grey’s Anatomy and she’s also married to Scandal star Scott Foley)
TV Tropes
In addition to Garner as Delvey, the second most important role is Kent, who is a very pregnant version of Pressler. “Jessica was really, really close to delivering when she was completing this article,” Chlumsky said. “There’s the shift of life in becoming a new mother and it’s a shift for Vivian.”
While there’s several things at stake, including her career, what’s driving the series is Kent’s ever-nearing due date. And according the TV Tropes entry on Maternity Crisis, “If a woman in fiction is established as near-term pregnant, and there comes an event that would be the worst possible time for her to go into labor, the baby is going to pick that time to be born.”
(I’m not complaining, I’m just saying. Spoiler warning!)
Women Behaving Badly
Garner’s portrayal of Delvey kicks off the 2022 TV true-crime season largely focused on infamous scammers of the past decade. Additionally, the Netflix series debuted alongside the wildly interesting Hulu series, Pam & Tommy, with Lily James as Pamela Anderson, who is the victim of a crime rather than a person perpetuating one. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s coming up this spring:
Anne Hathaway as Rebekah Neumann, the wife of WeWork founder played by Jared Leto who had a hand in the rise and fall of the real estate startup, in AppleTV+’s WeCrashed, premiering on March 18.
Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced and convicted founder of Theranos, in The Dropout, premiering March 3 on Hulu.
Elle Fanning as Michelle Carter, a Glee-obsessed young woman convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2017 texting suicide, in The Girl From Plainville, premiering March 29 on Hulu.
Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin, the big cat enthusiast suspected of feeding her missing husband to tigers and subject of the Tiger King docuseries, in Peacock’s Joe vs Carole, premiering March 3.
Renee Zellweger as Pam Hupp, a suburban mother-turned-murderer, in The Thing About Pam, premiering March 8 on NBC.
Quick Takes
Here are a few other, non Delvey-related stories worth checking out:
'Peacemaker': Freddie Stroma on Vigilante and Passing James Gunn's A**hole Test
'Euphoria': Storm Reid and Nika King on Rue's Emotional Intervention in Season 2
'Euphoria': Eric Dane on Cal's Tragic Flashback and Epic Meltdown in Season 2
Jennifer Beals on Bringing 'Beauty and Balance' to 'Book of Boba Fett' as Garsa Fwip
I have read a million things about Inventing Anna, but you are the only person who informed me that Jessica Pressler was also the journalist behind Hustlers. Fascinating info!!!