Julia Garner in the series “Inventing Anna”: “I had to completely forget myself to interpret Anna Delvey”

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Studio 21.22 Madame Figaro

There is a memorable scene in Inventing Anna (1), the series that traces the (criminal) rise and fall of Anna Sorokin, known as Delvey: the one where the character, played by Julia Garner, contemplates one of the famous “

” self-portraits

by photographer Cindy Sherman.

And explains to a gallery owner with whom she plans to become close how much, by staging herself in sets and visual scenarios of which she mastered each element, the artist asserted her power.

All with an aplomb, a arrogance, even an insolence that will open the doors of the most popular yachts, hotels, and private clubs to the scammer, before being condemned in 2019 for fraud, organized crime and organized crime.

This demonstration sums up, implicitly, what Anna Delvey, who pretended to be a rich German heiress, implemented to access the VIP status to which she aspired.

A real acting number interpreted, in turn, by a gifted actress.

At 28, Julia Garner is experiencing a meteoric rise in Hollywood.

If she has played in about fifteen feature films, it is above all her role as a young girl ready to do anything to get by in the series

which revealed her to the general public and was rewarded with two Emmy Awards, in 2019 and 2020, Best Supporting Actress category.

Today, her brilliant performance in

, an announced blockbuster produced by Shonda Rimes (the demiurge of the serial world, responsible for

or

) proves how much her talent is just waiting to blossom.

An informed cinephile, Julia Garner has been nourished all her life by films highlighting actresses, from Bette Davis to Catherine Deneuve or Audrey Hepburn, of which she frequently shares photos on her Instagram account.

It is rumored in Hollywood that she could star in a possible Madonna biopic.

We already dream of it.

In video, the trailer of "Inventing Anna"

“Meet Anna”

Madame Figaro.-

When I went to see her, I did not expect her to give me any particular information.

Because Anna is a very secretive person.

The reason why I wanted to meet her was not so much to get information, because I knew there was a good chance that I would not get any, but to capture her essence, her energy, her spirit.

What struck me the most is how bubbly, fun she is.

Yes, she's a dark person, but she can go from shadow to light in seconds.

For me, it was very important to incorporate that into the series, because it helps to understand why people gravitated around her, and believed her so much.

Have any other movies, images, or characters inspired you in building the character?

I'm thinking more of magazines and fashion, which is very important to Anna, because it's one of the most effective ways to escape.

If you open any number of

and see these beautiful women in beautiful clothes, it's a way of escaping.

For me, Anna was just that: a little girl obsessed with magazines, and all the brands she saw in them.

Of course, I also had in mind iconic female characters, almost endowed with the same panache as her, who helped me.

But what really inspired me was Anna herself.

Playing a real person is not the same as making it up.

) sent me several interviews before I even started working on the project, private interviews that no one had ever seen, and that was my main source of inspiration.

Focus on who Anna is, capture her rather than anything else.

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Julia Garner and Anthony Edwards in

Netflix

How was art a weapon for Anna?

Because if Anna had no control over whole sections of her life, she definitely drew on her knowledge of the arts.

It was a great advantage: people believed her because she knew her subject.

It feels good because many young people don't know much about art, or on the surface.

But she does.

So it was an important moment, for the public to know that she knew about it, that she had a solid education on this subject.

That wasn't quirkiness.

On video, the interview with Julia Garner

Do you have anything in common with her?

Not a lot!

I had to completely forget myself to interpret it, but I can say that we are both young women, we love art and we are dreamers.

Anna believes in her dreams.

Watching the show, you don't have to approve of what she did, that's not what I'm looking for.

But we can recognize that she was pursuing a dream.

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Anne Baxter, Marilyn Monroe and Bette Davis in

, by Joseph L. Mankievicz (1950) Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Who are the actresses who inspired you, made you want to do this job?

They are many!

One of the first that I became fixated on, as well as on her film, was Bette Davis in

(by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950).

As a child, I didn't even grasp the full intensity of the film until I saw it later as an adult.

I love this film: when I was little, I didn't really understand what was going on there, but it stimulated me, it did something to me.

I'm still obsessed with Bette Davis: there's something so musical about the way she speaks that you don't just remember her lines, but the way she says them.

It has always captivated me.

I am also thinking of Gena Rowlands and Monica Vitti, who has just left us: it's sad, I adore her.

I like actors, and art in general, which has something classic about it.

But always with bite.

(1) Inventing Anna

, available on Netflix.

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