Netflix’s finest 2022 show is almost released! On Friday, Shonda Rhimes’ (Grey’s Anatomy, Bridgerton) Inventing Anna hits the streamer. Anna Delvey (actual name Anna Sorokin), a twentysomething con artist, travels to New York City and convinces the elite that she is a German heiress looking to launch an exclusive foundation. Who is Vivian Kent based on the reading below?
Julia Garner (Ozark) plays Anna brilliantly. Inventing Anna also features real-life characters like Anna’s friend-turned-foe Rachel Williams (Katie Lowes) and her lawyer Todd Spodek (Arian Moayed).
Journalist Vivian Kent narrates the show about Anna. After her piece was discredited, Vivian wants a huge story to reestablish her media credibility. She is drawn to Anna after learning about her case. Many viewers may wonder if Vivian is real when a Google search yields no results.
Who Is Vivian Kent Based On?
The fictional Vivian Kent played by Anna Chlumsky is based on the real-life New York Magazine writer Jessica Pressler.
Pressler’s 2018 investigation piece, “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People,” served as the basis for the show’s plot. It wasn’t long after Sorokin made news in 2017 for allegedly avoiding payment on her expensive hotel bills that Pressler began looking into the so-called socialite. Her 2015 article “The Hustlers at Scores,” on which the 2019 movie “Hustlers” is based, is not her only notable piece of writing.
Pressler frequently promotes “Inventing Anna” on her social media accounts. The series’ official trailer is embedded in a pinned tweet on her profile with the phrase “The complete trailer for ‘Inventing Anna’ is here!” It’s fantastic. “February 11!”
Who Is Jessica Pressler?
American journalist Jessica Pressler lives and works in the United States. She recently joined New York Magazine as a contributing editor. Her article, titled “The Hustlers at Scores,” was published by him in 2015. The article has now been nominated for a National Magazine Award, and it will serve as the basis for the film Hustlers, set for release in 2019. As a result, Jessica was catapulted into the limelight and became an instant sensation on the web.
Vivian Kent As A Serious Journalist?
In Inventing Anna, Vivian Kent is not based on any actual journalist. On the other hand, journalist Jessica Pressler, who exists in the actual world, serves as a loose inspiration for the character.
Pressler, an editor at New York magazine, saw a little newspaper item about Anna Delvey’s imminent trial and battled to print the story. Pressler released “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” after conducting weeks of investigation, including interviews with Delvey, in anticipation of her trial in 2019.
Pressler interviewed former friends, business colleagues, and close family members of Delvey for her 45,000-word piece. By reading the essay, one can find out how Delvey conned the wealthy of New York and her pals out of thousands of dollars.
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As a producer on the Shondaland-produced Netflix series Inventing Anna, Pressler’s article served as the show’s inspiration.
Anna Chlumsky (Veep) who plays Vivian in Inventing Anna has said that she studied Pressler’s writing extensively in preparation for the part.
When asked about Jessica in an interview with Newsweek, Chlumsky responded, “Jessica and I know each other, she is recognized as a producer on our program, and she has given her blessing to every single element of our show.” The first type of decision I had to make was what to borrow and what not to borrow, so I would say that I worked very, very closely with her written word and her notes to create a fictionalized version of the role.
I devoured them, and read every word. I felt like I was portraying someone who expresses themselves so beautifully and so clearly in their own voice that the written word was giving me the greatest anchor that I needed, so I took my vitamins and read all of her articles. That’s how I got in.
Chlumsky went on, “I genuinely do enjoy her thinking. I admire her inquisitive nature and her determination to pursue a line of thought. The story [Inventing Anna] presents a character who appears to have it all together, and I enjoy playing those roles. They are so oblivious to how they come across that they reveal themselves, which was hilarious. This is a really human thing to go through, in my opinion.
She also discussed why she was drawn to the role of Vivian, calling Inventing Anna a “compelling” story.
Chlumsky explained, “I believe we’ve all seen enough of shows, and very, very good performances, where the journalist is our means of relating to an audience because they’re acquiring the information as the audience is.
“I think there are a lot of shows that up until now kind of stop there, and they don’t have to keep going, and that’s good; however, for us, we don’t stop there; rather, we look at what it is to create a relationship with a subject when you’re a journalist and that relationship in and of itself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the querant and the questioner separated off quite as we have in this show. And it simply fascinates me to no end.
To focus solely on sexual or familial ties, I believe, is to miss the point that we are constantly interacting with others. I thought that was a compelling angle to attack from, to investigate the grey areas of a sanctioned yet close working connection.
Why Was Vivian Kent Dropped From Bloomberg?
In Inventing Anna, Vivian’s background derails her Anna Delvey tale.
In her early career, Vivian authored “Reasons to Love New York” about Donovan Lamb, a youngster who made almost $70 million on the stock market. She interviewed his friends and relatives for the complete tale.
Lamb then admitted the narrative was a lie and accused Vivian of pressing him to make it noteworthy. Thus, Vivian’s journalistic integrity was often questioned, and she always felt like she had to prove herself. In Inventing Anna, Vivian tells Delvey’s lawyer Todd (Arian Moayed) she lost her Bloomberg position.
To make matters worse for Vivian, Lamb was appearing on America Investigated, a fake show about questionable journalism. Her editors urged Vivian to come on the show to present her side, but she declined.
Vivian is fictional, but her tale is true. Pressler, who inspired Vivian, wrote “Reasons to Love New York” for New York Magazine in 2014 about a 17-year-old Stuyvesant High School student named Mohammed Islam, who claimed to be worth $72 million from stock trading.
After Pressler’s piece was published, Islam told the New York Observer that the entire narrative was fake. Pressler was heavily criticized.
Pressler, like Vivian in Inventing Anna, was supposed to join Bloomberg News’ investigative unit but stayed at New York magazine after her Islam article.
The original article’s editor’s note apologizes to readers. The magazine sent a fact-checker to Stuyvesant, where Islam showed a Chase bank statement claiming an eight-figure bank account.
“After the story’s publication, critics questioned the $72 million title, which editors based on the speculated sum. Changed headline. Islam told the New York Observer last night that he lied about everything. The Washington Post reported that the comments were false. Misled. We apologize for our insufficient fact-checking. The note apologized to readers.
Pressler did well in New York magazine. In 2019, Jennifer Lopez, Lil Reinhart, Constance Wu, and Cardi B starred in Hustlers, based on her 2015 National Magazine Award-nominated piece “The Hustlers at Scores.”
Her 2018 piece “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” became a hit Netflix series starring Julia Garner and Alexis Floyd.
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