Netflix’s 2022 limited seriesInventing Annais not only one of the streaming giant’s best shows butalso one of its biggest successes. Created by Shonda Rhimes, the series followsthe fascinating true story of Anna Delveyaka Anna Sorokin (Julia Garner), a con artist who infiltrated New York City’s high society by pretending to be a German heiress. Over nine episodes, Anna not only uses her fake identity to gain access to NYC’s most exclusive events but scams friends out thousands of dollars, and even attempts to secure a $40 million loan to start her own elite social club.
The series was based on theNew York Magazinearticle, “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People,” by Jessica Pressler. While the thrust ofInventing Annafollows a journalist, played by Anna Chlumsky, as she tries to crack the Anna Delvey story and eventually interview her in prison, the journalist’s name is changed to Vivian Kentin the series. Pressler was a producer on the series and has many similarities with her TV counterpart, but there are notable differences between them.
The Shonda Rhimes Series Always Planned To Fictionalize The Reporter Protagonist
When Shonda Rhimes first approached Jessica Pressler about optioning and adapting herNew York Magazinearticle about Anna Delvey, theGrey’s Anatomycreator didn’t mention that she envisioned a reporter being the focal point of the series. However, through the development process with Netflix, itsoon became apparent that this unique perspective would be the best approach to telling the twisted story of the conniving Russian scammer. According to Pressler, in an interview withVulture,there was never a discussion about making the reporter an actual representation of Pressler herself.
I think it was always going to be not me. The show is fictionalized, and the character is a guide to this universe. When I met Anna Chlumsky, she was like, “I’m not doing you,” and I was like, “Great!” Vivian is like an all-caps angry email of me, but there are things that are very real mixed into it.
Making the reporter a fictionalized character based on Presslerallowed Shonda Rhimes and the rest of the writers the leeway to change various aspects of Pressler’s lifewithout having to strictly stick to the facts. This approach is common with biopics as it provides writers with more creative freedom and helps prevent potential lawsuits if the story deviates from the complete truth. In Pressler’s case, since the mainfocus ofInventing Anna’s story is on Delvey/Sorokin, there was no reason for the journalist character to take Pressler’s actual name.
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Pressler is accustomed to this process. Another one of her articles forNew York Magazine, “The Hustlers At Scores,” was adapted into the 2019 filmHustlers.In that film, Julie Stiles plays a reporter based on Pressler and also uses a different name. To Pressler’s credit,she understands the instinct of using a reporter as the lens through which the audience views the story. In theVultureinterview, she mentions,
It was not a thing I wanted, but I understand the impulse of why they wanted to do it, because Anna is this unknowable person and she was in jail, and it’s a world people aren’t familiar with. You wanted a tour guide into this world. It’s useful to have somebody there to take you through it and experience what I experienced.
What Inventing Anna Changed About Jessica Pressler
Vivian Kent Is Very Similar To Jessica, But There Are Notable Differences
InInventing Anna, Vivian Kent works at the very fictionalManhattan Magazine, which bears a striking resemblance to theNew York Magazineoffices. Shonda Rhimes took a similar approach when creating Vivian’s character. Vivianshares similarities with Jessica Pressler,who, like her character, was also pregnant while writing the article. However, there was significant fictionalization to make things more dramatic. Pressler told theShondalandblog about the biggest difference between her and Vivian:
I will say that the tone was very different than me in real life. Journalists on television are a lot more confrontational. I don’t know if that’s because other journalists are more confrontational, but I would never go into an initial interview and, like, have an argument with someone. I did argue with people later on, like when they said they didn’t want their name in the story. But I think that type of confrontational attitude is just for television.
The writers alsofudged timelines and events to add more stakes and urgency to the story. For instance, there wasn’t a big pushback from her editors regarding Pressler writing the article, nor was there a big deadline she needed to meet. While much of the series focuses on Vivian interviewing Delvey in prison to ensure the article’s accuracy before the deadline, in reality, Pressler had already finished the article before she conducted most of the interviews.
It’s one of those things that parts of it are very real, and then there are bits that are totally made up. So, in many of the interviews that happen, the characters in the show are saying things that people absolutely said to me, but the situation is different, and the way that it’s set up in the show is different.
That said, some of thewilder stories fromInventing Annawere remarkably true. Pressler really did lend Anna some of her clothes for the trial. However, no, she did not have a “murder wall” set up in her baby’s nursery.
Jessica Pressler Was Very Impressed By How Inventing Anna Turned Out
The Journalist Was Particularly Impressed By Julie Garner’s Performance As Anna Delvey
While it was surreal for Jessica Pressler to see such personal events from her life reenacted on screen, especially with someone portraying a version of herself,she was ultimately very impressed by the final product.It helped that, as a producer, she was able to provide notes on the script and visit the set. The journalist was particularly impressed by Garner’s performance. While she had been initially skeptical of the casting due to how different the actress looked from Delvey, she immediately changed her opinion once she saw Garner in costume (viaVulture):
It’s funny because Julia Garner is also wonderful, but I didn’t think she looked like Anna. Then I went to set, which is an imitation of ourNew YorkMagazine office, and they had Vivian’s research wall up, and they had Julia recreating Anna’s Instagram photos, and it looked so freakishly like her that I thought it was Anna. Julia had really mastered the voice.
Inventing Annaalso brought up complicated feelings from Pressler about her own reporting and the notoriety it brought to Anna’s story. Sheoften wrestled with her responsibilities as a journalistand the impact her story forNew York Magazinehad on Delvey’s life. While she was impressed that the miniseries delved into these themes, it made it difficult for Pressler to watch those episodes:
It’s so much more dramatic because it’s a TV show, but the arc of the feelings that I had reporting the story, the feelings I had about journalism being complicated and whether this is an exploitative job — that is stuff I was thinking about. It definitely comes out in that last episode, which is hard for me to watch. It gets into my guilt and discomfort about having elevated this person:Is Anna making decisions in real life because she is now very famous, and did I do that?I think they did pull that out. They tell you their story, and when they read it, it’s not fictionalized, but it looks a little different from how they remember it happening.
Where The Real ‘Vivian Kent’ Is Now
Jessica Pressler Still Writes For New York Magazine And Is Involved In A Lawsuit Regarding Inventing Anna
Since the release ofInventingAnna in 2022, Jessica Pressler has continued writing for New York Magazine and is also a contributing editor. In 2024, she wrote a cover story for the publication about Bravo personality Andy Cohen and his involvement in various lawsuits with the cast of theReal Housewivesfranchise.
In 2022, formerVanity Fairwriter and friend of Anna Delvey,Rachel Williams (played by Katie Lowes in the series), sued Netflix for defamationover her portrayal inInventing Anna. The lawsuit remains active, andNetflix continues to fight to protect Pressler’s private sources from her article.
Inventing Anna
Cast
In Inventing Anna, a journalist with much to prove investigates the case of Anna Delvey, the Instagram-legendary German heiress who stole the hearts of New York’s social scene and their money. But is Anna New York’s most prominent con woman, or is she simply the new portrait of the American dream? Anna and the reporter form a dark, funny, love-hate bond as Anna awaits trial, and the reporter digs deep to find the true identity of “Anna.” The series is inspired by the New York Magazine article “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” by Jessica Pressler.
