Julia Garner on playing a likable sociopath in Shonda Rhimes' new Netflix series 'Inventing Anna'

MARRAKECH, Morocco – They remember Anna Sorokin well at La Mamounia hotel in Marrakech. Or rather, they remember Anna Delvey.

It was under her assumed name that the fake German heiress stayed in the luxurious hotel’s private riad ($7,000 a night) as part of a trip to Marrakech she planned in 2017 with three companions.

But when it came time to pay for those expenses, Sorokin’s credit cards were declined. One of her friends, junior Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel DeLoache Williams, reluctantly footed the $62,000 bill.

Still, the tennis coach at La Mamounia remembers that Anna was very nice.

More: 'Inventing Anna' review: Shonda Rhimes' Netflix series is a compelling story but lacks focus

Con woman tale of Anna Sorokin is true story

That, in a nutshell, is the trick Delvey, the subject of Netflix’s new Shonda Rhimes series "Inventing Anna," (now streaming Friday), pulled again and again – on bankers, hotels and wealthy pals – until her arrest in October 2017. Her tale is "inspired by the true story of a total fake," as the show's tagline suggests, and is based on a New York magazine article by Jessica Pressler, represented by Anna Chlumsky ("Veep") in the series. ("Anna" is the first show Rhimes has created and written since ABC's "Scandal" in 2012.)

And to tell the Marrakech part of Delvey’s long con, the cast journeyed to Morocco in early 2020, filming at the real La Mamounia and visiting several of the sites Anna frequented with her entourage.

One of them was the stunning Yves Saint Laurent garden created by the French painter Jacques Majorelle. On the day USA TODAY visited, Julia Garner, as Delvey, was wandering around the garden’s exquisite fountains wearing Balenciaga sandals, followed by her videographer Noah (Chris Lowell), there to film a documentary, commissioned by Delvey, about her attempt to build a private arts club in New York.

Delvey was typically unimpressed by the gardens. “This is underwhelming,” says Garner, in Delvey’s strange Palm Springs-via-Berlin nasal accent. “Just a bunch of cacti.”

Julia Garner's off-putting accent is the real deal

About that twang: “We’re worried that people will think something is up with Julia’s accent," says writer-producer Jess Brownell, during a break. "But actually, she’s nailed it. That’s how Anna talks.”Katie Lowes ("Scandal") plays Williams, permanently in tow until Delvey asks her to foot the bill.

“She and Anna became friends in New York City for a few months, went out on the scene a bunch together and really formed a close connection in a short amount of time,” says Lowes. “Until Rachel was left with the bill." In the TV version, "she is the one who works with the FBI to testify and help bring Anna Delvey to justice.”

Garner ("Ozark") plays Delvey with inscrutable confidence and boundless chutzpah. She describes her as “a sociopath, and that’s really hard to play. You want to make them deep… but at the same time, there’s a lack of depth.”

For her research Garner, 28, visited Sorokin, who was born in Russia, in an upstate New York prison.

“She said that she always planned to return people’s money, and I believe her,” Garner says. “I think she just had an idea (to set up an arts foundation), she was very stubborn and unrealistic about it, and she dug herself a deeper and deeper hole.”

And how was it when fake Anna met the real Anna – the inveterate shapeshifter?

“It was very interesting meeting her because she’s likable and very funny,” Garner says. “And she knows she’s funny. She’s extremely smart – but that’s what makes her scary.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Inventing Anna': Julia Garner plays con artist Delvey in Shonda drama