The Real Marie Adler Cried ‘Quite a Bit’ Watching Netflix’s ‘Unbelievable’

Netflix’s new limited series, Unbelievable, is the streaming service’s newest release to cause a buzz (Check out our list of the best Netflix shows for binge-watching). 

Following the true story of teenager, Marie Adler (played by Kaitlyn Dever in the series), who recanted her story about being raped before being charged for lying about it, Unbelievable’s based on the 2015 Pulitzer prize-winning article written by ProPublica and The Marshall Project, according to Time. 

Read the original article here.

Since the series premiered, Netflix users have been binge-watching the gripping program. Among them is the real Marie Adler. Continue reading to learn more about her reaction to Unbelievable.

Here’s the premise of the series: 

An 18-year-old Adler living in Washington state reported to local authorities that a man broke into her apartment in the middle of the night, tied her up (with her own shoelaces) and raped her before leaving without a trace. 

She recounted the events numerous times while police officers and detectives all urged her to be as specific as possible. The two male detectives working Adler’s case pointed out inconsistencies between her statements and those of others such as her former foster moms and counselor. 

Eventually, the teen recanted her story about the rape. Years later, two female detectives in another state were investigating rape cases with similarities to Adler’s case and learned she may not have been lying after all. 

Watch the trailer for Netflix’s Unbelievable below. 

Real Marie Adler calls Netflix series ‘excellent’

Adler, who shared what happened to her with the media, recently reached out to writer Ken Armstrong — he worked on the article that inspired the show —  to share her thoughts on Unbelievable.

In a series of tweets, Armstrong relayed to his followers what the real Adler told him about the series, according to Cosmopolitan.

“Two weeks ago I got a call, from Marie. She told me she had just watched the series. Watching it was hard, she said. ‘I did cry quite a bit,’ she said. But she had decided she wanted to and was glad that she did. She called the show ‘excellent,'” one of Armstrong’s tweets read. 

He continued, tweeting that Marie had only kind things to say about Dever’s portrayal of her onscreen. 

“Marie has told me before that it can be a struggle for her to put her feelings and thoughts into words,” Armstrong wrote. “In that scene, she said, Kaitlyn Dever captured her struggle. ‘It was, like, perfect,’ she said.”

In addition to penning the 2015 article with T. Christian Miller, both writers worked as consultants on Unbelievable. 

The cast of ‘Unbelievable’

Screenwriter, Susannah Grant, created Unbelievable with authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman.

As previously mentioned, Dever (Booksmart) plays Adler while the two women who investigated a similar case — and later connected it to Adler — are played by Golden Globe and Emmy winning actress, Toni Collette, and Merritt Wever, who earned an Emmy for her role in Nurse Jackie, according to the program’s IMDb page. 

Danielle Macdonald plays another rape victim, who had a very different experience with law enforcement compared to Adler, which is highlighted in the series.

A limited series, Unbelievable is comprised of 8 episodes — each lasting approximately one hour — and is available to stream on Netflix.