How do you make a plausible, yet fake-sounding European accent? Ahead of the release of her new Netflix series “Inventing Anna,” star Julia Garner explained the challenge of nailing the distinct tone of voice for her character, Anna Delvey.
“Inventing Anna” is Shonda Rhimes’ upcoming new series that’s inspired by the true story of Anna Delvey, a Russian girl who claimed to be a wealthy German heiress and managed to con the New York City fashion scene and world of high society just through her confidence, style and charm. But, naturally, the idea of “Anna Delvey” is fake, or at least the person she claims to be is.
So for Garner, that meant finding an accent that would capture her character’s mystique and contradictions. And in a video released Friday, the “Ozark” star broke down her process, showing how she started with a more clipped and terse German accent before bringing in elements of a Russian accent until “every word is kind of mushed together” that isn’t really one or the other.
But as one added wrinkle, she would change her voice to sound more European or more of an American “valley girl” depending on the crowd her character is with. And if all that sounds a little annoying and a lot complex, that’s kind of the point.
“If I didn’t have the accent down, then I wouldn’t have the character down,” Garner says in the video. “You don’t have to love my character. You could actually hate my character. But you have to at least want to understand Anna.”
“Inventing Anna” is based on a New York Magazine article called “How an Aspiring ‘It’ Girl Tricked New York’s Party People — and its Banks” by Jessica Pressler, who also serves as a producer on the show. Rhimes hopes to examine the idea of truth versus fiction by looking at if a person like Anna Delvey can look and dress the part, is she really a fraud or just an example of the new American Dream?
“Inventing Anna” stars Anna Chlumsky, Julia Garner, Arian Moayed, Katie Lowes, Alexis Floyd, Anders Holm, Anna Deavere Smith, Jeff Perry, Terry Kinney and Laverne Cox. The series debuts on Netflix on Feb. 11.
Check out Julia Garner in the video above.