![]() ![]() But, she added, visitors had access to a cash-only coffee machine while she was in prison upstate, though “it doesn’t come in porcelain cups,” as the tea appears to in the show. “Def no tea at rikers!” Sorokin texted from her corrections facility. So, I wondered: Did her jailers really serve tea to her and Pressler in a brightly furnished private room? Anna said that they did not. Still, this was Sorokin, a woman who always manages to create an exception. Sure, reporters get to skip a few buses when they schedule ahead, but that can take a month to finagle and there’s nothing that feels very V.I.P. I’ve often interviewed inmates like Anna at Rikers and other jails, and the scenes of taking that Q100 bus offer a pretty accurate depiction of what family and friends (and eager reporters) go through to visit people behind bars.īut those authorized media visits - what the Netflix Anna refers to as the “V.I.P.” visits - are from a Dream Rikers, based on my own experience. (Pressler declined to comment for this article.) The ‘V.I.P.’ treatment at Rikers By the time the guilty verdict came in, she had switched to black. As for the white dress, Sorokin wore it during jury deliberations. Sorokin confirmed that the decision to go to trial was her own - and made against the advice of confidantes. (She has been banished by her editors to “Scriberia,” the part of her newsroom where old writers are put out to pasture.) Seeing Anna’s story as her shot at redemption, Vivian curries Anna’s favor by bringing underwear to her at Rikers by helping catalog evidence (“Let me be part of the team!” she says, also unethical) and by loaning Anna a white dress to wear during closing arguments, the better to project an image of innocence.īut Sorokin said Pressler did not bring her underwear according to Spodek, she also did not help catalog evidence. In the series, Vivian is a disgraced journalist at the fictional Manhattan magazine who is looking for a big break. In the real world - or at least in the journalism world - that could have been the story’s biggest scandal. But the series hinges on a moment when Vivian convinces Anna to forgo a generous plea deal and go to trial against the advice of her lawyer, all so Vivian can score a career-redeeming article. And yes, good reporting can include flattering and even befriending sources only to air their dirty laundry. Yes, office politics can influence decisions and relationships within publications, as in most workplaces. The journalismįor a show that includes a reporter among its producers, the writers pay little attention to what true or at least ethical reporting looks like. Turns out the truth is sometimes better than fiction. The story’s engine is Pressler’s fictional proxy, Vivian Kent (Anna Chlumsky), whose pursuit of the story becomes all consuming. Sorokin, played by Julia Garner (“Ozark,” “The Assistant”), is just one of them - and not the only one who is ethically challenged. It also, per tradition, puts ambitious and complex women at its center. The series, all nine episodes of which debuted Friday, is the first show Rhimes has created for Netflix herself, and in true Shondaland tradition, the show luxuriates in a soapy mix of sex, power and intrigue. Inspired by a 2018 New York magazine article by Jessica Pressler (a producer of the series), “Inventing Anna” tells the story of Sorokin’s climb through the uppermost circles of New York City art, finance and fashion - and of her ultimate fall from grace. She added: “I regret the way I went about certain things.” “The thing is, I’m not sorry,” she told me at the Rikers Island jail complex, in New York City, the day after a judge sentenced her to 4 to 12 years behind bars for charges including second-degree grand larceny, theft of services and one count of first-degree attempted grand larceny. Swindling her way into a life of luxury, Sorokin deceived Manhattan’s elite into believing she was a German heiress worth 60 million euros. She did all of this while attempting to secure a $25 million loan from a hedge fund to create an exclusive arts club. Over Sorokin’s monthlong trial, which I covered in 2019 for The New York Times, evidence showed she stole a private jet and bilked banks, hotels and associates out of about $200,000. The answer, in short, is both: As Sorokin and the show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal”), would likely agree, there’s no sense in letting facts get in the way of a good tale. “Except for all the parts that are totally made up.”īut does the second half of the disclaimer refer to the stories Sorokin told her high-society marks? Or does it describe the story we see onscreen - the one behind Sorokin’s stories? “This whole story is completely true,” it reads. The new Netflix series “Inventing Anna,” about the con artist Anna Sorokin, better known as Anna Delvey, includes a playful disclaimer that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. ![]()
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