The Dropout star compares Elizabeth Holmes to Inventing Anna’s Anna Delvey
The two fraudsters have fascinated viewers around the world.
The Dropout star Michaela Watkins has opened up about what she views as the difference between disgraced tech CEO Elizabeth Holmes and fellow fraudster Anna Delvey.
Both have recently been the subjects of streaming miniseries, with Academy Award nominee Amanda Seyfried portraying Holmes in The Dropout, while Ozark star Julia Garner plays Delvey in Netflix's Inventing Anna.
Viewers around the world have been fascinated by how the two women were able to amass substantial fortunes under false pretences, with Delvey pretending to be a wealthy German heiress and Holmes claiming to have revolutionary new blood testing technology.
However, in the eyes of Watkins, who plays Theranos' in-house lawyer Linda Tanner in The Dropout, there is one important thing that separates the two cases.
By entering your details, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
"With Inventing Anna, I think people just really understand that there's a weakness [in] that if you're not inclined to be a liar, you're not going to presume that other people are lying," she told RadioTimes.com and other press.
More like this
"Anybody who's ever interacted with someone who is a compulsive liar, you don't know what colour the sky is after that. It’s so disorienting. And there are people who do it consciously and people who don't."
But even after immersing herself in the rollercoaster story of now-defunct health technology company Theranos, Watkins remains uncertain about exactly what Holmes' true intentions were.
She added: "The thing about Elizabeth [Holmes] is you don't know. We can have an opinion about it and it certainly could be backed up, but there's a part of her that had so much conviction about what she was saying that, even when we were shooting it, I kept having to ask my character like: 'Do you believe her? You believe her because she believes her.'"
The Dropout is adapted from the ABC podcast of the same name by New Girl creator Elizabeth Meriwether, with a large ensemble cast including Naveen Andrews (Sense8), Stephen Fry (It's A Sin), Dylan Minnette (Scream) and William H Macy (Shameless).
The Dropout premieres on Disney Plus on Thursday 3rd March 2022. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now – subscribe now to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.
