‘Inventing Anna’ Star Julia Garner Never Thought She Would Play Anna Delvey
Based on a true story, the Inventing Anna drama TV miniseries on Netflix dives into the shocking tale of Anna Sorokin, a woman who conned staggering amounts of money from posing as a fake German heiress. And Ozark star Julia Garner never thought she would join the Inventing Anna cast as Anna Delvey “in a million years.” However, her performance helped push Shonda Rhimes’ Inventing Anna to new heights.
‘Inventing Anna’ star Julia Garner read the original Jessica Pressler and suspected a movie and TV show about it
The Netflix drama quickly captured viewers’ attention. It gained the most viewing hours for an English-language series in a week since Netflix started a new rating system last summer. And Inventing Anna star Julia Garner playing Anna Delvey only helped the show’s success.
Garner remembered originally reading the surprising article when New York magazine ran it.
“I pretty much read it and freaked out at the same time as everybody else,” Garner told BuzzFeed. “There are articles all the time, but that was a special one. I kind of had a feeling when I read the article that they would make a project out of it. The story was just too good.”
However, while Garner filmed her part as Ruth Langmore in the Ozark cast, she never imagined playing a lead role in Inventing Anna.
Julia Garner ‘never thought in a million years’ she would play Anna Delvey in ‘Inventing Anna’
Netflix acquired the rights to make a drama TV series of the story in 2018, about a year after Garner started in Ozark Season 1.
“I never thought in a million years that I was going to be cast for it,” Julia said. “I knew I could play her, but I sometimes feel with Hollywood, you know, just because somebody looks different, they would never think to cast that person.”
However, while Ozark Season 3 aired in 2019, Julia Garner heard the phone ring for her Inventing Anna casting.
“Half a year later, I got the phone call, and I started playing her. I couldn’t say no,” she said. “I feel very fortunate that I got to play such an interesting person and tell a great story.”
The ‘Ozark’ actor said she did not have a ‘traditional audition’ for the Netflix drama series
Inventing Anna star Julia Garner has a track record of taking unique approaches to auditions. Julia Garner practiced her Missouri accent for a method acting audition for Ozark. She gave an even more non-traditional audition for Inventing Anna, though.
“It wasn’t like I got a proper offer right away,” she continued. “But it also wasn’t like I did a traditional audition. I was in the middle of filming Ozark, and I met with Shonda. We had a Zoom meeting, and it was kind of one of those things where we just chatted. I don’t want to say it was quiet afterwards, but life goes on, and other projects come up.”
Between her audition and callback, she starred in Modern Love with The Dark Knight Rises Catwoman star Anne Hathaway and even provided a voice on Robot Chicken. However, Inventing Anna came back around for Julia Garner.
“Then, it came back up, and I was super excited,” she said. “All of a sudden, a few weeks later, I was in a wig, working with my dialect coach, and I was playing Anna.”
And with the series only gaining more steam, she cannot wait to see where the project goes next.
