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An Australian drama inspired by the story of wellness influencer Belle Gibson has climbed into fifth spot on the Netflix charts for English-language shows, with Apple Cider Vinegar clocking up 3.8 million views since its release on Thursday.
Produced by See-Saw Films and Picking Scabs, the bulk of the limited series was shot in Melbourne and also features regional locations such as the Yarra Valley, Dandenong Ranges, and Mornington Peninsula.
The "true-ish story based on a lie" was created by award-winning Australian writer Samantha Strauss (Nine Perfect Strangers, The End, Dance Academy), who was living in Melbourne during the real-life Gibson’s success in the early 2010s when she falsely claimed a cancer diagnosis and touted alternative medicine therapies.
The series is inspired by the 2017 book The Woman Who Fooled the World by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano.
"They wrote about the people who had been misled by Belle and how that had impacted them," Strauss said.
"They created this beautiful tapestry that looked at how Western medicine lets us down emotionally and why people are drawn toward wellness.
"If the book had only been about a cancer scam, I don’t think I would have been that interested in adapting it for television. But I think we all desperately want to be well, and many of us live with chronic physical or mental conditions and are so vulnerable to being preyed on."
Strauss said turning the book into a series felt like a way to have a powerful conversation about wellness and medicine.
"While elements of [the TV series] are obviously fictionalised, it does a really good job, in our opinion, of conveying those sorts of issues that really propelled us to write the book in the first place," Toscano said on a Netflix podcast.
"It’s not just the rise and fall of a cancer con woman. It also really does a good job of exploring those deeper modern and powerful mega-trends that Belle Gibson was at the centre of."
The character of Gibson is played by Kaitlyn Dever, who treads the traditionally fraught territory that few have mastered - an American playing an Australian. The Arizona-born actor worked with the Melbourne-based dialect expert to nail the intonation and inflection, and Strauss described Dever's accent work as "extraordinary".
"Jenny and I were seeing each other three times a week over Zoom and going over every single word that I say, kind of like I would a song, memorising those sounds," Dever said.
"I love accent work in general, but there’s something about this accent in particular and how it allowed me to dive deep into someone else. It was really helpful for me to separate myself from the character," she said, adding she "didn't want to let Australia down",
As someone who "holds the wellness world close" to her heart, Dever said the show did an amazing job at "shedding light on the confusion that surrounds the medical world and the wellness industry".
In less than a week the series landed in the Netflix Top 10 in 31 countries including the UK (6), Canada (6), USA (8), South Africa (3), New Zealand (3) Ireland (3), Israel (4), Poland (8). In Australia it sits in the number one spot.
"We couldn't be more delighted to see Apple Cider Vinegar embraced by such a large audience around the world and landing in the global Netflix Top 10 after just a few days," says Liz Watts, See-Saw head of film and television (AUS).
"It's a true testament to the incredible talent and dedication of Samantha Strauss, whose writing brought this story to life in such a compelling way, and to the entire creative team."
Apple Cider Vinegar is the latest Australian series to feature in the Netflix Top 10, with Territory peaking at #2, Heartbreak High S2 peaking at #5, and Boy Swallows Universe peaking at #3 on the global Top 10 English TV list.
Other Australian productions recently featured in the Top 10 include hits Surviving Summer Seasons 1 & 2, Love is in the Air, Fisk, Run Rabbit Run, Wellmania, True Spirit, and The Stranger.
Over a hundred locations in Melbourne are captured in the series, from the CBD and suburbs to parks, bars, and other “funky little corners”, as producer, Louise Gough puts it.
"This wasn't one of those shoots where we had a big soundstage and built everything,” added director Jeffrey Walker.
“We explored every corner of Melbourne to tell this story. Being able to shoot real locations added a freedom to the filming, and we tried to make a character of each of those locations.”
Because they shot quickly, moving from location to location, “there was a real fanaticism and energy which matched the propulsive pacing of the show,” he added.
Aspects of the city’s character are also expressed in other ways. For instance, the costumes for the character Lucy reflect the vibe of Melbourne’s Fitzroy and St Kilda neighbourhoods. “It’s rockabilly, but also vintage cardigans and little dresses,” explained costume designer Cappi Ireland. “It's a very Melbourne aesthetic.”
"We wanted to really show Melbourne as an aspirational place," added Strauss.
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