Netflix released today a teaser video for Apple Cider Vinegar, a new Australian drama limited series that is a true-ish story based on a lie.
Inspired by the nonfiction book The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, and set during the early days of Instagram, Apple Cider Vinegar is about the rise and fall of a wellness empire, the culture that built it up, and the people who tore it down.
The six-episode limited series follows two young women who set out to cure their life-threatening illnesses through health and wellness, influencing their global online communities along the way. One is Australian influencer Belle Gibson (Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick, Unbelievable), who builds an empire based on the lie that she’s cured her terminal brain cancer through health and wellness. The other is Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Fear the Walking Dead), a young woman who builds a platform promoting the power of food to fight cancer.
All of what they do would be incredibly inspiring if it were all true.
Costars in the series include Aisha Dee (The Bold Type, Safe Home), who plays Milla’s close friend, Chanelle, who meets Belle at an event and begins working with her on her growing business; Tilda Cobham-Hervey (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, I Am Woman) as Lucy, a woman struggling with cancer, who is drawn in by both Milla and Belle’s online pull; and Mark Coles Smith (Mystery Road: Origin, Halifax: Retribution) as Lucy’s husband, who fears and disapproves of Belle and Milla’s influence on his wife’s life and health.
The cast also includes Ashley Zukerman (Succession, Designated Survivor), Susie Porter (Irreverent, Wentworth), Matt Nable (Transfusion, Last King of the Cross), Phoenix Raei (The Night Agent, Clickbait), Chai Hansen (Night Sky, The New Legends of Monkey), Rick Davies (Offspring, Tidelands), Kieran Darcy-Smith (Mr Inbetween, Home and Away), Catherine McClements (Total Control, Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries), and Essie Davis (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, The Babadook).
The series is directed by Jeffrey Walker (The Clearing, The Artful Dodger, Modern Family) and created and written by Samantha Strauss (Nine Perfect Strangers, Penguin Bloom), with Anya Beyersdorf (The Twelve) and Angela Betzien (Total Control) also writing. The executive producers are See-Saw Films’ Liz Watts, Helen Gregory, Emile Sherman and Iain Canning; Picking Scabs’ Samantha Strauss and Louise Gough; and Kaitlyn Dever. Yvonne Collins is the producer, with See-Saw Films’ Libby Sharpe as co-producer. The co-executive producers are Jeffrey Walker and See-Saw Films’ Simon Gillis.
The series was shot on-location in Melbourne, Australia, with support from VicScreen through their Victorian Production Fund. Post-production took place in New South Wales with support through Screen NSW and their PDV Fund.
Apple Cider Vinegar will premiere globally on Netflix in 2025 (date tba). Stay tuned for updates.
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The Woman Who Fooled The World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano
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