You’re playing this real person who is a massive public figure, especially in Australia. There are tons of videos as her life was going on social media. Were you trying to embody her, or were you more just trying to play her as a character in your own way?
Yes, of course. She is a real person. And I am pulling from a few bits of source material that I guess there’s an interview or there’s a “60 minutes Australia” interview that I was definitely pulling from, and there’s another interview that’s not online, but the team, the producers had access to the interview with her publisher, and that’s all I had on her. So I actually didn’t have much to pull from. So, I had to sort of use my imagination and create a character anyway. But I did want to approach it in a way that felt like we were, and this is something that I talked to the writer about a lot, was just the focus. They wanted their focus to be on creating their own version itself. And I thought that that was a very smart way to approach it, just because I also don’t think that this type of person who this woman is, we don’t even really won’t ever really know who the real Bella is anyway, as much as she was, she was very much a public figure at the time and a part of a real cultural moment, especially in Australia. But, even then, at the time, we definitely didn’t know who she was. So, I actually used that to my advantage to really dig deeper into all of the different personalities that Belle would have. She was a chameleon on Instagram and all of her socials, and she really kind of acted her way through her scheme. And so I just sort of leaned into that a bit more because she really became a different person around different people that she wanted to persuade or seduce. And yeah, I found that to be really fascinating, and because they wanted to create their own version of Belle Gibson with this, it gave me a lot of freedom to go wherever I wanted to. And it was sort of, we developed who that was going to be in the ground up with Sam Strauss, our writer, creator. But certainly pulling from that iconic pink turtleneck that was sort of the base, the core of the character, and where I was pulling from in that heavy lip gloss and that fuzzy pink turtleneck.
Were you playing her in your head as though she believes in her scam? Or do you think she always knows that it’s a scam and she’s just knows that at some point she’s going to get caught? Or maybe she doesn’t think she’ll get caught?
The thing that Sam and I landed on was that if you dig deeper, and there are some things about her childhood online, and I think this person at the end of the day was someone who was craving community and love, and was so desperate that she would do anything to get it. And when she first lied about having brain cancer, I think what we were going with is that it felt innocent at first, and then it snowballed into something so much bigger that she eventually couldn’t control it. And I think because she was so good at lying and because she was just so consumed by this scam, I think maybe she did start to believe that she was really sick. And she did say that this naturopathic doctor that she goes and sees, I think it was in episode four, that told her that she had brain cancer. There was no brain scan that she did, but he said that she had cancer all over her body. So, I think obviously if she was given those words, I think she just also started to believe that because somebody told her. But she obviously knew deep down that there was no real scan done on her body. But I think that that was really far deep into the lie that yeah, I think at times she started to really, I think there were moments that she started to believe it.
The series also covers these other women who were either friends with hers or who had known her or became competitors in some ways. Was there one aspect of it besides obviously the accent that you were most concerned about? Was there one scene or one storyline that you were sort of hyper-focused on before filming began?
I mean, I found Aisha [Dee]‘s storyline so great and so powerful, I feel like, yeah, her storyline, she’s sort of the driving force in many ways. And same with Alyca Debnam-Carey’s character. I think her character’s storyline was, I guess, the real emotional part of the show. When I read the script, I just really hit home in so many ways, that storyline, and I thought that it was so heartbreaking. So, then when I was doing my stuff and Sam’s job was asking me to sing “Firework” by Katy Perry acapella at the book launch, I am like, “O.K, so there is cringe comedy here, but there’s a layer of deep darkness that is so hard to play.” And I thought that even in the writing in script, it was really on the page just how much they were towing that line between comedy and drama. For my part of the story, we were doing some days where we were just laughing at how ridiculous some of the stuff was that I had to do. Doing a wide shot of me getting trampled by security because I’m running into Apple headquarters, the ringworm all over my face. We were also playing: was that more of a psychological thing? Is that real? Is it fake? Is it in her head? We left that up to the audience to decide. She is chaotic in that she is all over the place with personality, and in one moment she’s seducing someone, and she’s bawling her eyes out, crying. And then another scene, she being a really good mom, and then in another scene, yeah, she’s singing “Firework” or doing a really cringey speech. So, she is all over the place. And I kind of loved that because I could do anything I wanted to, and they were so accepting and open to whatever I had to bring to the table. I did have a spreadsheet to keep all of this in order and on track with who she was. I definitely kept a spreadsheet because of how much we jump in time and her emotional levels and where she’s at and where she’s gotten the lie. [I] just wanted to make sure it was all kind of in some sort of structure.
Because clearly you were shooting all out of order all over the place, like most shows.
Yes, yes, yes.
Has Belle even responded to the show? Has she reacted publicly to it in any way?
I don’t think so. I haven’t heard if she’s seen the show or not, if she’s spoken about it publicly.
Before I let you go, you said you were back in Australia. You’re shooting the new Godzilla movie, “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova,” correct?
Yeah.
What a year. Can you tell us anything about the role at all? Who you are playing?
I don’t think so. [Laughs.] It’s so funny now doing “The Last of Us,” and now “Godzilla,” I’ve never been a part of such, I’ve never been a part of projects that have such a gigantic fan base, and it means that you can’t say a word about anything until someone tells me you’re allowed to. So, I’ve been told I can’t say anything, so I can’t say a word, but I love who I’m working with, and I’m back in Australia again. Can’t stay away.
And you’re having fun.
Yes. Yes.
“The Last of Us” season 2 is available on HBO Max. “Apple Cider Vinegar” is available on Netflix
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Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
