Is Annie from Maniac based on a real person? The character of Emma Stone feels painfully familiar

In the new mini-series of Netflix, Maniacal, Emma Stone plays Annie Landsberg, a woman who participates in a mysterious pharmaceutical trial with unexpected side effects. The trailers in the series suggest a palpable sci-fi / fantasy vibe that certainly seems to come out of this world, but which is also based on the realities of the human struggle, which can make it difficult to tell if Annie's Maniacal is based on a real person. So what's the problem?

All signs indicate that characters and plot points are fictions. According to the United Kingdom Independent, the character of Annie does not even exist in the Norwegian version of Maniacal, on which Netflix takes is based. It was created specifically with Stone in mind. "She was one of those people I've always wanted to work with" Cary Fukunaga said at the exit. "And it's not really a long list of people, when Michael Sugar, the producer, asked me who I wanted [to cast]The first person in my mouth was Emma.

But even though it does not appear that Annie is modeled on a particular person, viewers should still be able to connect to her story.

According to Netflix's description of Annie's character, she is a "discontented and aimless person" attached to broken relationships with her mother and sister "when she joins the trial with Jonah Hill, Owen, who has struggled all his life with a schizophrenia diagnosis dispute. "The two men enter the trial, led by Dr. Mantleray (Justin Theroux), on the promise that he will act as a magic cure for all their problems. From there, they are immersed in intense, swirling and computer-generated realities, in which they play a different role each time.

In an interview with Jennifer Lawrence for She, Stone said that the show lured him because, although it happens in outdoor places, it is human emotion. "The thing I liked Maniacal It's about people having their own internal struggles and trying to fix them with a pill, "she says." But as the show goes on, human connection and love are really the only something that makes us live. . I liked this idea and I love Jonah. "

Early critics praised Stone for his character ManiacalThe dimensions and the twists are certainly odd. Alan Sepinwall wrote for Rolling stone that she is "a game with no surprise for every new turn, and every new genre that she has to embody", adding that "she has the most satisfying emotional bow of the two tracks, and is pulling it out the best".

Jen Chaney of Vulture made similar praise for Stone, writing in her review that "Stone has no trouble dancing between the grief of Annie's confrontation with [her sister], the ridiculousness of becoming an elf in a pseudo-shire embedded in his subconscious … or a sexy assassin with a southern accent who knows his way around a gun. "

Maniacal seems a lot to take, and that's probably the case. But the warm welcome received up here, paired with the fact that viewers have dwelt on Hill and Stone in their roles over the years, suggests that it will likely be an exciting story for the books.