As the old adage goes, the truth is often far stranger than fiction. But in Samantha Strauss' upcoming Netflix show Apple Cider Vinegar, it would appear that sometimes a lie is even more bizarre. Based on the noodle-twisting true life tale of how Australian influencer and wellness guru Belle Gibson duped millions online into believing she'd cured her terminal brain cancer through healthy living (she was never diagnosed with a brain tumour to have been cured of one), Strauss' six-episode limited series is set to see Kaitlyn Dever take on the role of the duplicitous social media star. And you can check out the first trailer for the show below:
Advertised as 'A true-ish story based on a lie', whilst Strauss' show may come under the umbrella of true crime, the trailer for Apple Cider Vinegar promises that Gibson's deception is only the tip of the iceberg of the show's preoccupations. First thing's first though, massive props have to go to Kaitlyn Dever's impeccable Aussie accent, which had us here at Empire HQ frantically googling to double-check the Booksmart star isn't in fact from the land down under (she's not — she's from Phoenix, Arizona). Anywho, that being said, this first look at the series — whose period pop score and eye-catching aesthetic defies true crime drama convention — teases a story of opportunism in the early days of Instagram and the perils of influencer culture, with Dever's Gibson selling her lie to a ready and willing audience of folk looking for miracles to believe in.
Among those buying into the lie — and entrenched in the culture — are Alycia Debnam-Carey's Milla Blake, Aisha Dee's Chanelle, and Tilda Cobham-Hervey's Lucy. Though this initial teaser centres around Gibson's deception, the series as a whole, per Netflix's website, has a wider scope. Debnam-Carey's Milla is a young woman selling the idea of fighting cancer through food choices; Dee's Chanelle embarks upon a friendship with Belle, helping her grow her burgeoning business; and Cobham-Hervey's Lucy is a woman who actually has cancer and is drawn into both Belle and Milla's orbit, to potentially ruinous effect.
Written by Anya Beyersdorf and Angela Betzien, and loosely based on journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano's exposé The Woman Who Fooled The World, Apple Cider Vinegar is shaping up to serve as a timely moratorium on the ways influencer culture has reshaped society around us, how it's irreversibly altered our relationship with food, and how social media has made parsing the truth from fiction harder than ever. A lovely, light appetiser to look forward to in early 2025 then before we see Kaitlyn Dever on much happier form in *checks notes* The Last Of Us Season 2. Ah...