Apple Cider Vinegar teaser trailer: Kaitlyn Dever nails Australian accent as cancer fraudster Belle Gibson

Until today, it was pretty obvious that Netflix’s upcoming Australian series Apple Cider Vinegar was based on con artist Belle Gibson.

The story was about a young woman named Belle who lies to the world that she cured her brain cancer by eschewing medical treatment and living a life of wellness, influencing an online community with her claims and building an empire.

Sounds familiar.

With the release of Apple Cider Vinegar’s first trailer, the character has been explicitly named as Belle Gibson on screen, and you can even see the book she’s launching in the series is called The Whole Pantry, which was the name of Gibson’s book.

The on screen version is played by American actor Kaitlyn Dever, who is pulling off a pretty decent Australian accent, a notoriously difficult twang for outsiders, especially Americans.

Only a handful of international actors (Dev Patel, Brian Jordan Alvarez and Kate Winslet) have managed it, so Dever is in rare company.

The series, due in 2025, is being billed as a “true-ish story based on a lie” and will also feature subplots involving the vulnerable women who were taken in by Belle’s “advice”, and the journalist who sniffed something was not quite right.

But it’s not just Belle herself that created this sham, it was a culture that was being stoked by the dawn of Instagram and aspirational social media.

In addition to Dever, the cast includes Australian actors Aisha Dee (The Bold Type), Tilda Cobham-Hervey (I Am Woman), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Fear the Walking Dead), Ashley Zukerman (Succession), Mark Coles Smith.

Dever has been in films including Short Term 12, Detroit and Booksmart, and TV shows such as Dopesick and Unbelievable. Dever will be playing Abby in the second season of The Last of Us.

Apple Cider Vinegar was filmed primarily in Melbourne over last summer. Dever had previously worked in Australia on the George Clooney and Julia Roberts movie Ticket to Paradise, which was shot in Queensland.

The six-episode Apple Cider Vinegar was created by Samantha Strauss, inspired by Beau Donnelly and Nick Toscano’s book The Woman Who Fooled the World. Jeffrey Walker directed all the episodes.

Gibson launched an Instagram account in 2013 with claims she cured her cancer through alternative therapies and dietary changes including cutting out dairy and gluten. She also made false claims she made donations to charities.

In September 2017, she was ordered by the Federal Court in Melbourne to pay $410,000 in fines after she was found guilty of misleading and deceptive conduct.

At the time of the ruling, Justice Debbie Mortimer said, “She has chosen to not explain her conduct, she has chosen not to apologise for it. It appears she has put her own interests before those of anyone else.

“If there is one theme or pattern which emerges through her conduct, it is her relentless obsession with herself and what best serves her interests”.