In Black Mirror Season 6 Episode 1, “Joan is Scary,” the story follows Joan (Annie Murphy), a tech industry executive whose life turns into a nightmare when she finds that her daily life is almost duplicated. Netflix replacement.
The series, in which Joan is played by Salma Hayek, is made using artificial intelligence and deep fake technology, using information from her phone’s microphone.
An idea from The Dropout
When asked about his inspiration, screenwriter Charlie Brooker said subway that “Sometimes there is only half an idea“, cites the example of “Joan is Terrible”, the title of which occurred to him very early on.”An ordinary woman finds herself on the front page of a newspaper. He is in the headlines, not because he is involved in some terrible scandal or has done something heroic, but simply because he is the “Hero of the Day”.“.
He knew early on that this idea would be more effective if it centered on Joan’s vulnerability rather than a major event in her life, but he still needed to create a story to carry the idea. “I don’t know what the story is, but it’s a funny situation. Then there was another idea that involved images generated by artificial intelligence and distributed to news channels.“
But how did these two ideas come together? Brooker recalls thinking, “You have an idea, but no storyAnd this news came to him only when he happened to watch the TV series The Dropout.
Dropout stars Amanda Seyfried as Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes. The real-life Holmes, on whom the series is based, founded Theranos in 2003 at the age of 19 and saw its valuation grow to $9 billion after he said Theranos revolutionized blood testing by requiring only a small finger-prick sample.
In 2015, Elizabeth Holmes was the youngest and richest self-made woman in the United States according to Forbes, who quickly updated her statement the following year, estimating her net worth at zero. The move comes after a journalistic investigation revealed that Elizabeth Holmes’ company had fraudulently conned investors into raising $700 million to fund a technology that didn’t actually live up to its claims.
The Financial Markets Regulator (SEC) indicted Holmes and chief operating officer Ramesh Balwani (portrayed by Naveen Andrews in The Dropout) in 2018, and both were indicted on fraud charges by a federal grand jury.
A podcast, then a series
Holmes pleaded guilty to SEC charges, returned nearly 19 million shares to the company, paid a $500,000 fine and was barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years. . In 2019, the story of Elizabeth Holmes spawned a podcast series that became very popular.
In 2021, Hulu ordered a miniseries adaptation of The Dropout. The series was hosted by Amanda Seyfried, who won an Emmy Award for her role. Elizabeth Holmes’ trial was continued until January 2022, when she was found guilty of defrauding investors. In May 2023, Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison and ordered to pay $452 million in fines to fraud victims.
As Brooker explained to Metro, “I watched The Dropout, which was an adaptation of the life of Elizabeth Holmes and the story of Theranos. I was watching it with my wife and we were making comments like, “Oh my god, it feels like it happened yesterday and now there’s a drama on TV!”“He also explained NME that this particular adaptation led him to turn the diary idea into a fictional adaptation to combine it with other ideas.
I was watching the show and I thought, “Oh, it’s an adaptation. There is better news. And then we can begin the story of artificial intelligence and deep fakesAfter watching The Dropout, Charlie Brooker recalls that everything fell into place:The two half-assed ideas you had suddenly collapsed into this one. Sometimes, instead of leaving ideas behind, it’s a little piece of melody or something that’s floating around in your head and you find a place for it.“
What the idea of the adaptation brought to Charlie Brooker, as opposed to the idea of the diary, was the idea that this Joan was not only being watched for her own actions, but that her actions were exaggerated. The experience of playing a famous Hollywood actor is one that very few people can relate to, and it probably feels like an out-of-body experience.
Charlie Brooker found it important that Joan’s surprise was enhanced by Salma Hayek’s role. “The script read “Hollywood cream”.“, he explained to NME. Between press articles, podcasts and television adaptations, Elizabeth Holmes’ life is somewhat well documented, but there is an interesting story to tell. About her feelings in response to the media sensation that her life has become.
Although “Joan the Terrible” has captivated millions of people around the world since it aired, somehow few can relate to Joan’s strange situation like Elizabeth Holmes.
Source: Allocine

Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.