Julia Garner has said she respects Anna Sorokin’s decision not to watch Inventing Anna.
The Ozark star is playing convicted con-artist Sorokin – who went by the fake surname Delvey – in a new Netflix series.
The show tells the true story of how Sorokin scammed friends and businesses out of enormous sums of money by pretending to be a wealthy German heiress.
Between 2013 and 2017, Sorokin cemented herself within the New York art scene, racking up huge debts at expensive hotels without ever putting down a credit card.
She was convicted in 2019 of multiple crimes, including grand larceny, and released from prison in February 2021.
Shortly after her release, Sorokin was taken into custody by ICE for violating the terms of her visa. She remains in ICE custody and faces deportation back to Germany.
Earlier this month, Sorokin wrote an open letter about her feelings towards the show, in which she stated: “Even if I were to pull some strings and make it happen, nothing about seeing a fictionalised version of myself in this criminal-insane-asylum setting sounds appealing to me.
“I was hoping that by the time Inventing Anna came out, I would’ve moved on with my life. I imagined for the show to be a conclusion of sorts summing up and closing of a long chapter that had come to an end.”
She added: “Nearly four years in the making and hours of phone conversations and visits later, the show is based on my story and told from a journalist’s perspective.
“And while I’m curious to see how they interpreted all the research and materials provided, I can’t help but feel like an afterthought, the sombre irony of being confined to a cell at yet another horrid correctional facility lost between the lines, the history repeating itself.”
Responding to Sorokin’s comments in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Garner said: “I respect whatever Anna does in terms of whether she wants to watch the show or doesn’t want to watch the show.
“That’s her choice and that’s totally fine. She doesn’t have to watch the show.”
She added: “I never made the show in anticipation, thinking that she’s going to watch it. If she did watch it, great. If not, that’s fine, too. I respect whatever she wants to do.”
Inventing Anna is out on Netflix on Friday 11 February. Read The Independent’s review here.
