When Kaitlyn Dever signed on to lead Apple Cider Vinegar as Australian wellness influencer Belle Gibson, she had no idea she would end up in a sequined dress, dancing to the slithering strings of Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” But that’s exactly what the Phoenix-born, Los Angeles–living actor found herself doing after Samantha Strauss (The Last Anniversary, Nine Perfect Strangers), creator of the limited series, pitched the idea to her.

“The way Samantha’s brain works is just so inspiring to me,” Dever tells Tudum. Soon enough, Apple Cider Vinegar’s quartet of stars (including Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla, Aisha Dee as Chanelle, and Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Lucy) went from rehearsing the number to slipping into shimmering, golden mini dresses that sway to the beat in the series premiere’s opening montage. The women hit their steps as emojis swirl, bottles of the titular wellness elixir explode, and news reports portend Belle’s looming fall from grace.

“Having that scene as the opening of our show lets the audience know they’re about to embark on a twisted, emotional, complex, funny, and dark story,” Dever says. “We’re dancing around in these gold, sequined outfits. But two of us are battling cancer. One of us is a liar.” 

In Apple Cider Vinegar, Dever plays the liar, a woman who can be equal parts powerful, pitiful, cunning, and erratic. The drama’s six episodes, set during the early days of Instagram, track Belle’s journey from a lonely single mom to a global wellness powerhouse and then an accused scammer. “She is so good at being a chameleon — taking on totally different personas and doing everything she can to get what she wants,” Dever tells Tudum. “She’s very ruthless and very determined.” 

But Belle is rarely vulnerable. Dever, on the other hand, isn’t afraid to offer viewers an up-close look at the process of creating the character. 

The actor is a longtime fan of scammer stories and devoured 2022’s Inventing Anna. But unlike that show — whose protagonist mostly bilks lavish hotels and billionaires — Apple Cider Vinegar tells the true-ish story of an entrepreneur whose claims affect regular people, including her followers living with cancer. The character of Belle claims she cured her own alleged brain cancer by eating organic food; Apple Cider Vinegar explores all the ways her claims aren’t true. 

“The show has very high stakes and feels very [much like] life-and-death,” Dever says. “I was excited to take on that kind of story because I had never played a woman like this.” The actor previously charmed audiences with the blockbuster romp Booksmart and garnered award nominations for projects like the crime series Unbelievable. In Apple Cider Vinegar, Dever says she had to toe “a very, very, very fine line between comedy and drama.” The show is just as likely to feature a glitzy musical number as it is to explore the tragic fallout of health scams. 

Strauss (who loosely followed Belle Gibson’s story when it started unfolding in 2015, then later read The Woman Who Fooled the World, the book by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano from which the series takes inspiration) isn’t surprised Dever could pull off the challenge — or the role’s “nuance.” In fact, Dever was offered the part without auditioning. “Kaitlyn is masterful. I think she’s one of the most extraordinary actors of her generation,” the Australian showrunner tells Tudum. “She’s also a complete nerd. I have yet to see another human being as hardworking as Kaitlyn.”  

Dever’s work ethic was on full display even before she landed in Australia for production. The American actor was tasked with perfecting an Aussie accent to portray her character, who’s inspired by real-life Tasmanian-born influencer Belle Gibson. Dever collaborated with voice and dialect coach Jenny Kent for months to get the character’s voice just right. The pair then tweaked Dever’s accent in between each take. 

“I’m so grateful the team put their trust in me, because it really was such a great opportunity to really use an accent to get into a character,” Dever says. The actor became “obsessed” with the Australian accent, listening to the local news every night and recording her vocal progress.  

“I was paying attention to my accent like I would music[al] notes and sounds,” she explains. “That helped me be really specific about my performance. I just had to memorize the words over and over again.” 

Apple Cider Vinegar’s tricky timeline only made Dever and Kent’s accent work more complicated. When we first meet Belle in 2010, she’s a pregnant young woman with an isolating office job. Each episode of the series then jumps throughout the next five years of Belle’s life, showing her ascent from failed baby-clothes purveyor to wellness internet celebrity with 2.3 million Instagram followers. The Belle of 2015 is comfortable with designer duds, LA real estate, and hobnobbing with tech industry elites, even when the world is questioning whether she’s a fraud.  

Aisha Dee, Kaitlyn Dever, and Alycia Debnam-Carey

“I thought, ‘How am I going to keep track of 2010 Belle and 2015 Belle if I have to do both of them in one day?’ ” Dever says. Production, she explains, mirrored the series and shot scenes “all over” the timeline. The actor’s sister Mady Dever came up with a spreadsheet that itemized every on of Belle’s scenes in Apple Cider Vinegar. Kaitlyn used it to trace everything from Belle’s teeth and nose ring of choice to her emotions and internal thoughts at any given moment during those rapid-fire years. 

“Once we finished filming, say, 2015 Belle at the book launch, I would cross out the scene and write a little note in an empty box [about] what acting choices I ended up doing that day,” she says. “That was my way of keeping track of Belle throughout the years — going back and forth between it all.” 

Dever’s hundreds of detailed decisions form the complex character we come to know by the emotional end of Apple Cider Vinegar. After inhabiting the character for months, the actor doesn’t necessarily see Belle as a hero, a villain, or a scammer. Nothing about Belle is “black-and-white,” Dever says. “It’s so complex and loaded. Her story takes so many twists and turns.” 

To see all the sweet and sour revelations of Belle’s story, stream Apple Cider Vinegar now on Netflix. 

Kaitlyn Dever Discusses Apple Cider Vinegar, Australian Accents, and More on Skip Intro