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The Social Experiment

Ot: the social experiment.

Pascal Schröder // Germany, 2022 Fiction Feature // FF2022 Film Website

Following in the technical footsteps of The Mandalorian: a gripping sci-fi thriller and the first German film to be shot in a virtual reality LED studio. Jackpot! Adrian and his four best friends have won an Escape Room adventure. But this harmless leisure activity turns out to be a social experiment which really puts their friendship to the test: an artificial intelligence controls what is happening and begins to set the players off against each other and confront them with their deepest fears. And suddenly the game is deadly serious.

Original title: The Social Experiment

Film type: Fiction Feature

Original language: German

Section: Hamburger Filmschau // FF2022

Production country: Germany

Produced: 2022

Runtime: 97 min

Language and subtitles: OV

Director: Pascal Schröder

Screenplay: Raffaela Kraus, Pascal Schröder

Cast: Elmo Anton Stratz , Marven Gabriel Suarez-Brinkert , Thapelo Mashiane , Emilia Djalili , Gustav Strunz , Raffaela Kraus , Claudiu Mark Draghici , Esmael Agostinho , Charlotte Beba , Ebba Ekholm

Producer: Andreas Schlieter, Raffaela Kraus, Pascal Schröder, Kai Steinmetz

DoP: Daniel Schua

Sound: Michael Manzke

Editor: Zenon Kristen

Music: Oliver Jensen

Production design: Iris Trescher-Lorenz

Costume design: Petra Kilian

Casting: Gipfelstürmer Film GmbH

German Distributor: Tobis Film

Production Company: Gipfelstürmer Film GmbH

Film contact: Tobis Film, Uta Peleikis: [email protected]

Coming of Age Genre Adolescence Science Fiction & Fantasy

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Filmfest Hamburg gGmbH Mönckebergstraße 18 20095 Hamburg

Filmfest Hamburg gGmbH

THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

by  Pascal Schröder

Five friends are lured by a competition into a supposed Escape Room adventure. What they don‘t know, however, is that the so-called game is, in fact, a behavioural experiment developed by a psychologist and a computer scientist. The teenagers‘ friendship will be tested to the limit as the escape room starts playing the friends off against each other and confronting them with their deepest fears and weaknesses. A race against time and a battle between life and death begins...

more about: The Social Experiment

The Social Experiment to be one of the first virtual productions in Germany

First-time director Pascal Schröder has been shooting his feature in a newly opened LED studio in Hamburg   

11/05/2021 | Production | Funding | Germany

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The Social Experiment (2022)

Ein aufstrebender Social-Media-Star und seine Clique nehmen unwissentlich an einem KI-gesteuerten Verhaltensexperiment teil, das ihre Freundschaft auf eine Zerreißprobe stellt. Was gerne ein pulsierender zeitkritischer Thriller wäre, entpuppt sich, trotz beachtlicher Optik, als laues...

Ein aufstrebender Social-Media-Star und seine Clique nehmen unwissentlich an einem KI-gesteuerten Verhaltensexperiment teil, das ihre Freundschaft auf eine Zerreißprobe stellt. Was gerne ein pulsierender zeitkritischer Thriller wäre, entpuppt sich, trotz beachtlicher Optik, als laues Spannungslüftchen.

• Festivalkritik

Eine Filmkritik von Christopher Diekhaus

Freundschaft unterm Brennglas

Es ist eine alte Platte, die wir nach Sichtung des Thrillers „The Social Experiment“ mal wieder auflegen müssen: Wie schön, dass es hierzulande noch immer Filmemacher*innen gibt, denen düstere, spannende Genrestoffe am Herzen liegen, obwohl das Publikum derartige Produktionen deutscher Provenienz meistens mit Desinteresse abstraft. Andererseits wie schade, dass auch dieser Beitrag triftige Gründe für die anhaltende Missachtung liefert. Pascal Schröders abendfüllendes Regiedebüt hat eine neugierig machende Ausgangslage, verschenkt diese aber an ein stetig willkürlicher werdendes Katz-und-Maus-Spiel mit nicht gerade wenigen unfreiwillig komischen Momenten.

Der 16-jährige Adrian (Marven Suarez Brinkert) hat sein Handy ständig griffbereit, lässt seine Follower*innen an seinem Alltag teilhaben und genießt offenbar schon einen kleinen Promistatus in der Netzgemeinde, den er natürlich so schnell wie möglich ausbauen will. Mit seiner Clique, bestehend aus seiner festen Freundin Nancy (Emilia Djalili) und seinen Kumpels Neil (Thapelo Mashiane), Luke (Gustav Strunz) und Dustin (Elmo Anton Stratz), versucht er sich an einem mit 100.000 € Preisgeld dotierten Escape-Room-Abenteuer, das allerdings nicht dazu taugt, weitere Anhänger*innen zu gewinnen. Denn arg schnell scheitern die Jugendlichen an der Aufgabe, sich zu befreien. 

Gerade als sie im Begriff sind, frustriert abzuziehen, unterbreitet man ihnen jedoch ein Angebot, das zu verlockend klingt, um es abzulehnen. Auf einen Schlag könnte Adrian neben der Siegprämie eine Millionen neue Follower*innen hinzugewinnen, wenn er und seine Gefolgschaft ein 24-Stunden-Spiel erfolgreich abschließen. In einem kurzen Anflug von Weitsicht befürchtet Nancy zwar, dass sie am Ende nicht mehr befreundet seien. Echte Zweifel oder Einwände werden aber nicht vorgebracht. Und so stürzen sich die Teenager*innen in die reizvoll klingende Herausforderung. Anfangs unwissend, dass hinter dem Game ein ethische Grenzen überschreitendes Verhaltensexperiment mit einer hyperintelligenten KI steckt, das von der jungen Harvard-Absolventin Iris (Raffaela Kraus) und ihrem Kollege Kai (Claudiu Mark Draghici) überwacht wird.

Was wir als Erstes betonen müssen, da es sich bei The Social Experiment um eine Produktion mit geringen finanziellen Mitteln handelt: Der Film setzt einige erstaunlich aufregende visuelle Akzente. Ähnlich wie die Disney-Plus-Saga The Mandalorian und die Netflix-Serie 1899 wurden große Teile vor einer virtuellen Kulisse gedreht. Adrian und seine Mitstreiter*innen betreten im Zuge der Versuchsanordnung unterschiedliche künstliche Welten, etwa eine Mondlandschaft oder eine Wüste, wo es bestimmte Rätsel zu lösen und harte Entscheidungen zu treffen gilt. Ihre Freundschaft, das hat Nancy ganz richtig prophezeit, zerbröselt dabei zusehends.

Recht spannend ist der Gedanke, dass die KI namens Kira die Chatverläufe und Posts der Protagonist*innen gegen sie verwendet. Geheimnisse treten plötzlich zu Tage. Antipathien werden sichtbar. Und auf einmal stellt man sich die Frage, wie dieses Quintett überhaupt zusammengefunden hat. Regisseur Schröder und die am Drehbuch mitbeteiligte Schauspielerin Raffaela Kraus werfen einen kritischen Blick auf unsere Bereitschaft, alle möglichen Daten und Informationen in die Onlinewelt zu tragen, gehen diesem Aspekt aber nicht konsequent genug nach – weshalb The Social Experiment aus zeitdiagnostischer Sicht keine Bereicherung darstellt.

Deutlich problematischer ist allerdings, dass der Film trotz seines klaustrophobischen Ihr-seid-im-Spiel-gefangen-Szenarios nur wenig Anteilnahme am Schicksal der Jugendlichen weckt. Warum? Da wären zum einen die flachen Charakterisierungen. Es treten auf: der Egoist, der Mitläufer, der Choleriker… Viel differenzierter wird es nicht. Ähnlich sieht es auf der Gegenseite aus, wo überdies noch merkwürdig radikale Verhaltenswechsel auftreten. Ein in Psycho-Manier vorgetragenes Zischen erinnert an einen Moment aus Das Schweigen der Lämmer , kommt hier allerdings aus dem Nichts und wirkt viel zu gewollt, um eine Gänsehaut zu erzeugen. Eher amüsant denn angsteinflößend sind auch der betont sinistre Gesichtsausdruck und die unterkühlten Anweisungen von Iris. Vor allem bei den Abstechern ins Kontrollzentrum der Studie kippt The Social Experiment im negativen Sinne mehrfach ins Absurde. Eigentlich immer mittendrin: Kai, der schon optisch als schmieriger Bösewicht angelegt ist.

Dass die Schauspieler*innen teilweise, zumindest in emotionalen Szenen, spür- und hörbar überfordert sind, mag man dem Film gar nicht groß ankreiden. Viel ärgerlicher sind andere Dinge: Hinter dem Experiment steckt eine recht simple Überlegung. Und besonders in der zweiten Hälfte wird es immer konfuser und beliebiger. Die Regeln der Studie zum Beispiel ändern sich minütlich. Was uns die Macher*innen als Amoklauf der Technik verkaufen wollen, riecht stark nach unsauberer Drehbucharbeit. Wer sich hier endgültig aus der Handlung verabschiedet, hat definitiv gute Argumente.

In THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT geht es um eine Gruppe Jugendlicher, die von einem Gewinnspiel in ein vermeintliches „Escape Room“-Abenteuer gelockt werden. Tatsächlich handelt es sich aber um ein Verhaltensanalyse-Experiment. Durchgeführt wird das Experiment von zwei Wissenschaftlern, die eine KI programmiert haben, um die Spiele exakt auf die Stärken, Schwächen und Eigenschaften der Teilnehmer zuschneiden zu können. Aber die KI beginnt, die Teilnehmer gegeneinander auszuspielen und mit ihren tiefsten Ängsten zu konfrontieren. Die Freundschaft wird auf eine harte Probe gestellt. Es beginnt ein Kampf auf Leben und Tod…. (Quelle: Tobis Film GmbH)

Endlich mal wieder ein Film der toll ist!!! Hoffe es kommt ein zweiter Teil :)

z. B. : Eine Million Minuten , The Zone Of Interest , Alles steht Kopf 2

The Social Experiment Trailer DF

What Is The Social Dilemma: 6 Things To Know About The Netflix Documentary Before You Watch

As you have probably heard by now, Netflix recently released a documentary under the name The Social Dilemma that touches on one of the most significant advances in all of human history — the advent of social media. This thought-provoking, interesting, and downright terrifying film will hopefully one day be discussed alongside other pivotal documentaries like Harlan County, USA , An Inconvenient Truth , and Blackfish .

And ever since The Social Dilemma premiered on Netflix near the beginning of September 2020, the documentary has remained in the streaming platform's "Top 10" list, but undoubtedly, there are some people out there who either don't know what it's about or worried about the subject matter. I'll admit, it's a terrifying and sometimes hard to watch 90 minutes, but it's definitely one you shouldn't miss. With that being said, here six things to know about the Netflix documentary before you decide to watch it for yourself.

What The Social Dilemma Is About

Before I got into the nitty-gritty of The Social Dilemma , it is probably best to explain what the documentary is about on a more general level. Okay, the film, which is more a documentary-drama hybrid (more on that in a bit) than anything else examines the various ways social media and social networking companies have manipulated human psychology to rewire the human brain and what it means for society in general. Through a series of interviews with Silicon Valley engineers who designed the technologies they now fear, along with discussions with various tech and psychology experts, The Social Dilemma offers an eye-opening look at a world that so few really understand.

The Documentary Contains Scripted Portions To Further Illustrate The Points It Makes

Throughout The Social Dilemma , various former Facebook, Google, and Apple engineers go into great detail into the ways tech giants are manipulating their users through a range of services (Facebook's "Like" button and notification system, as well as Google Inbox's architecture, come up time and time again), but a lot of the topics and ideas can sometimes be hard to fully grasp.

In order to further illustrate the points that are being made throughout The Social Dilemma , director Jeff Orlowski utilizes a documentary-drama hybrid that features extensive scripted sections centering around a family that has been nearly torn apart because of social media's firm grasp on their attention and need to be connected to the rest of the world even though it means sacrificing meaningful relationships with your loved ones. Things kick up a notch when the son, Ben ( Skyler Gisondo ) falls into a conspiratorial rabbit hole before being "recommended" even more extreme political videos and even gun advertisements by a representation of Facebook's AI model portrayed by Mad Men 's Vincent Kartheiser.

The Social Dilemma Breaks Down How Social Media Companies Take Advantage Of Users, Especially Teenagers

All age groups are discussed in The Social Dilemma , but one of the most striking sections of the documentary is the one that touches on the vulnerability of teenagers who use platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and multiple others every single day and have been molded by social media's influences. This section of the film is highlighted by statistics on depression, anxiety, and even suicide rates of teenagers that correlate with the rise of social media. This is even more striking when the documentary cuts between experts and a dramatization of a depressed teenager portrayed by Sophia Hammons in one of the most masterful performances of the entire dramatic section.

One Of The Documentary's Main Subjects, Tristan Harris, Was Called The Conscience Of Silicon Valley

A lot of what is discussed throughout The Social Dilemma comes from the work of one of the film's main subjects, Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google who later help found the Center for Humane Technology. The crew behind the documentary follows Harris around for a large section of the film while he prepares for a presentation on ways tech and social media companies can avoid practices that sell their users' data to the highest bidder, as well as making their projects less addictive. When Harris was still with Google (on the Google Inbox team), he sent a presentation to several of his colleagues that suggested that the big tech companies (Google included) should take the initiative and prevent a society in which everyone is buried in their phones.

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Tristan Harris eventually left Google to focus on creating the Center for Humane Technology (formerly known as Time Well Spent) to help further spread his message about tech giants respecting their users' attention, privacy, and most of all, free will. Shortly after starting his non-profit, Harris was featured in an Atlantic profile that called him the closest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience. And judging by the way Harris spends much of The Social Dilemma arguing against social media's tight-grip on our psyches, they're probably right.

Be Prepared To Feel The Urge To Deactivate Your Social Accounts

There were multiple times while watching The Social Dilemma where I wanted to get rid of all my social media accounts, turn off my phone, and throw it out the window. And while that's admittedly a little dramatic, the film will more than likely have that same effect on you. When you have tech engineers admitting that their former companies don't really have a full understanding on the artificial intelligences they have built to run platforms like Facebook and Google, you start to feel like you're entering The Terminator or something. It's like we've opened Pandora's box that has been placed behind a floodgate that we can't seem to close.

The Social Dilemma Is Being Called 'Eye Opening' But Is Criticized For Not Offering Solutions

The consensus surrounding The Social Dilemma is that it's one of the most important and consequential documentaries to be released in recent memory. The Chicago Tribune praised the documentary for the manner in which it exposes the damage companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have done to society in their need to retain users and gain new ones at the same time. The film is called eye-opening for its in-depth look at social media practices in an ABC News review, explaining that viewers will probably want to throw their phones in the trash before throwing the garbage can through the window of a tech executive.

Despite being praised for its uncovering of nefarious social media practices, The Social Dilemma is being criticized by some for not going far enough and not offering much in terms of solutions for the industry's problems. A CNBC review points out that at the end of it all, few engineers that designed the tools that have changed our psychological makeup offer ways to fix the problem instead of telling the viewer to be more diligent online.

Before I finally decided to press "play" and start The Social Dilemma , I asked myself if it was worth watching and if I should allow myself to get all worked up. And although I was in a "mood" after the credits finally rolled on the documentary, I am glad I ended up learning more about social media platforms that I use every day. It's shocking, sometimes appalling, and frightening throughout, but The Social Dilemma is something you shouldn't skip.

Philip grew up in Louisiana (not New Orleans) before moving to St. Louis after graduating from Louisiana State University-Shreveport. When he's not writing about movies or television, Philip can be found being chased by his three kids, telling his dogs to stop barking at the mailman, or chatting about professional wrestling to his wife. Writing gigs with school newspapers, multiple daily newspapers, and other varied job experiences led him to this point where he actually gets to write about movies, shows, wrestling, and documentaries (which is a huge win in his eyes). If the stars properly align, he will talk about For Love Of The Game being the best baseball movie of all time.

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The Social Experiment

THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT is about a group of teenagers who are lured into a supposed "Escape Room" adventure by a sweepstakes. In fact, however, it is a behavioral analysis experiment. The experiment is conducted by two scientists who have programmed an AI to tailor the games to the exact strengths, weaknesses and characteristics of the participants. But the AI begins to pit the participants against each other and confront their deepest fears. Friendship is put to the test. A fight to the death begins....

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‘The Social Dilemma’ Trailer: Netflix Doc Details How Social Media Manipulates Its Users

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To some, social media is evil, and Netflix ’s upcoming “ The Social Dilemma ” documentary is going to tell you why. The streaming service unveiled the trailer for its upcoming title, which premieres September 9 and promises an in-depth — and thoroughly harrowing — look at how social media platforms and algorithms manipulate individuals and contribute to issues such as viral conspiracy theories, teenage mental health issues, rampant misinformation, and political polarization.

The film’s interviewees include Tristan Harris of the Center for Humane Technology; the co-inventor of the Facebook “Like” button, Justin Rosenstein; Tim Kendall, former President of Pinterest and former Director of Monetization at Facebook; Cathy O’Neil, author of “Weapons of Math Destruction”; and Rashida Richardson, Director of Policy at the AI Now Institute.

“The Social Dilemma” is directed by Jeff Orlowski, who previously created hit nature documentaries such as “Chasing Ice” and “Chasing Coral.”

“The algorithms control what we see, when we see it, how we see it, with no regard for the truth or for humanity,” Orlowski said in a statement. “These platforms are driven by a business model that values attention above quality, and the algorithms will systematically push users to more and more polarized and extreme thinking in search of anything that will keep us engaged.”

IndieWire’s David Ehrlich praised “The Social Dilemma” in his B+ review out of Sundance in January and noted that the documentary offered a compelling argument for viewers to begin thinking about their social media usage differently.

“Is ‘The Social Dilemma’ persuasive enough to convince a MAGA zealot to stop binge-watching Ben Shapiro nonsense and buy a subscription to a newspaper? It’s hard to say,” Ehrlich said in his review. “But the film will definitely make you more cognizant of your own behavior — not just of how you use the internet, but how the internet uses you. And it will do so in a way that feels less like an intervention than it does a wake-up call; Orlowski and his subjects recognize how the internet has created a simultaneous utopia and dystopia, and they aren’t under any delusions that we’re able to wish it away. Their documentary isn’t instructive so much as directional, and thereby most fascinating for the implications it leaves you to consider on your own time.”

Check out the trailer for “The Social Dilemma” below:

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Critics’ choice association’s inaugural lgbtq celebration photos: quinta brunson, michaela jaé rodriguez & more, ‘stolen identity’ social experiment format in the works at nbcu.

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EXCLUSIVE : Social experiments have been all the rage over the last few years from The Circle and Love Is Blind through to The Traitors.

The latter, which airs on Peacock in the U.S., has led to a further ramp up in the search for the next big unscripted format.

As such, NBC Universal is now developing a new project in this realm.

Stolen Identity (w/t) comes from Objective Media Group , the All3Media-backed company behind series such as The Cube.

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The company hasn’t yet decided whether, if greenlit, the original project would air on NBC, streamer Peacock or one of its cable networks.

It comes after Deadline revealed in April that NBCU cabler USA Network had ordered The Anonymous (w/t) from The Traitors producer Studio Lambert, which is also behind Netflix’s  Squid Game: The Challenge . That show is a game of social strategy where people are free to say what they really feel behind the safety of a mask.  What would you say and do if nobody was watching you?

Objective Media Group is the company behind CBS game show Lingo , hosted by RuPaul, and The Great American Recipe for PBS. It also recently adapted British game show The Cube for TBS with Dwanye Wade.

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Wizard of Legend 2 - Official Gameplay Trailer | Guerrilla Collective 2024

Learn about your arcana, upgrades, relics, dungeon upgrades, and check out gameplay in this new trailer for Wizard of Legend 2, an upcoming rogue-lite sequel coming to PC. A demo for Wizard of Legend 2 is available now on Steam. Face perilous magical trials in Wizard of Legend 2, featuring up to 4-player co-op & vibrant new 3D visuals. Master new Arcana and elements, experiment with spell combinations, and seek immortality to become a Wizard of Legend!

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Based on the true story of three Christian prisoners who face execution their joy in Christ stuns the entire prison camp. Based on the true story of three Christian prisoners who face execution their joy in Christ stuns the entire prison camp. Based on the true story of three Christian prisoners who face execution their joy in Christ stuns the entire prison camp.

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How ‘Bad Actor’ Documentary Unpacked a Notorious Hollywood Ponzi Scheme While Pulling Off Its Own Deception

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SPOILER WARNING:  This story contains plot details from “ Bad Actor : A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme,” which premiered Thursday at Tribeca Festival .

Just how easy is it to get duped? 

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Though Jensen introduces herself as the filmmaker to everyone she encounters in the documentary, it’s revealed in the final moments of “Bad Actor” that Jensen is just an actor who is playing a director. Documentarian David Darg, whose credits include the Oscar-nominated short “Body Team 12,” was actually the one behind the camera.

“I knew it would be very unlikely that we’d get access to Zach Avery,” Darg says during a joint Zoom interview with Jensen. “So I started thinking about creating a film that was an act of deception; how we might dupe our audience so that we could show how easy it is to be fooled.”

So, Jensen has been pretending on and off-screen for months that she helmed a documentary for Neon that’s now in competition at Tribeca. To blend the lines of fiction and reality, she’s been posting about the project on Instagram , where her friend, Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone, is one of many who have commented to offer Jensen congratulations on her directorial debut.

It also meant that Darg couldn’t tell most people what he’d been working on — nor could he have his name attached to the movie prior to its release. That kind of humility is probably alien to someone like Zach Avery. “I’ve had to let a bit of my director pride fall aside for the experiment,” he says. “But the deception hasn’t run that deep. Fortunately, family and friends knew what I was up to.”

Horwitz, 37, declined to be interviewed for “Bad Actor,” not that this was surprising to Darg. “If I was being prosecuted,” the director cracks, “I would never speak to a documentarian.”

Horwitz was arrested in 2021 for operating a Ponzi scheme that raised as much as $650 million and was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in federal prison. He told investors that he would acquire international film rights and then license them to platforms like Netflix and HBO. But the whole business was fake; Horwitz forged documents and fabricated email and text message exchanges with executives to keep up the scam. He then used the money from victims to repay earlier investors and buy a $6 million Los Angeles, luxury cars and travel by private jet, according to prosecutors.

“For a Ponzi scheme to be successful, the investment should be slightly confusing to the investor,” Darg says. “It worked to Zach’s benefit that he wasn’t preying on people in Hollywood. A lot of his investors came from the heartland, from his hometown, who bought into the glam of Hollywood. I barely understood what the actual scheme was because it was quite complex.”

For research, Darg and Jensen devoured articles in the press and then hit the road to visit Horwitz’s birthplace in Indiana, where they interviewed his classmates and professors, as well as Chicago and Los Angeles, where he lived with his wife at various points. That’s where the filmmakers started to uncover inconsistencies in Zach Avery’s self-described rags-to-riches story. For example, Horwitz told a podcast interviewer that an injury prevented him from playing football at Indiana University. He did tear his A.C.L., but it was playing intramural sports.

“We started to unpack so much of his story that actually wasn’t true,” Darg says. “He would say something in the media, and then we would realize it was a movie quote. It was apparent that almost everything in this guy’s life was a lie.”

Pretending to be the director, Jensen says, helped her get in the head of someone trying to pull off a con. “The more victims we spoke to, the more I realized that if you present yourself a certain way — as someone you aren’t but aspire to be — you can be convincing to people.”

One challenge for Darg was figuring out how much to feature Jensen in “Bad Actor.” The real director wanted to show his avatar as often as possible without revealing the ulterior motive for having her in the film.

The duo had tricks to keep up the illusion while ensuring that Darg could offer notes while filming.

“We went to the FBI headquarters, and I was already nervous because we had to get background checks,” Jensen says. “David was behind the camera. So my way of saying, ‘Do you have any adjustments for me in the next take?; was [How does it look?[ And he’d say either, ‘It looks great’ or ‘Scoot over a little and slow down.’ He was giving a lot of direction. But no one would have clocked it, like, ‘Hey, who’s in charge here?’ It felt collaborative.”

Despite the film’s deceptive nature, Jensen was heartened to learn that humans instinctively want to trust each other. But she cautions people against thinking with their wallets. “Do your diligence. Be careful,” she warns. “If something doesn’t seem right, trust yourself.”

Darg offers another life lesson. “We had a recurring joke on set that you can never trust an actor,” he says. “I don’t believe that. But if someone who is a professional liar by trade is asking you to invest in a dubious company, maybe ask more questions.”

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