Overview
Playing fictional movie star Vincent Chase in eight seasons of Entourage — and in the forgettable Entourage movie, too — Adrian Grenier got pretty comfortable playing someone who was constantly in front of the camera. That trait remains in his latest project, twisty new Netflix thriller series Clickbait. This time, Grenier steps into the shoes of a man who disappears suddenly, leaving his loved ones distraught. Then, when he pops up afterwards, it's in an online video that makes a shocking claim.
In the clip, Nick Brewer (Grenier, Stage Mother) holds a card that says "I abuse women. At 5 million views, I die." His sister (Zoe Kazan, The Big Sick) and wife (Betty Gabriel, Get Out) are already distressed, but their nightmare only worsens once the video starts doing the rounds — unsurprisingly. Across eight episodes, the show then follows their efforts to find and save him, as well as the information they uncover along the way about the man they thought they knew.
Swapping between different perspectives throughout its run, and stepping up the stakes in the process as well, Clickbait ponders the big, broad, important and constantly relevant intersection between our identities and our increasing use of social media. Just how our online and real-life selves can differ — and what types of behaviours we might indulge virtually that we wouldn't IRL — is only going to continue to garner the world's attention, which this Melbourne-shot series clearly attempts to tap into.
Yes, if you spot any familiar sights while you're binging Clickbait from Wednesday, August 25 — or while you're watching the suitably tense just-dropped first trailer for the series — that's because it was filmed in the Victorian capital. It's a big month for high-profile shows that were made in Australia and are now hitting streaming, actually, with Amazon Prime Video dropping the Byron Bay-shot, Nicole Kidman-starring Nine Perfect Strangers as well.
Check out the trailer below:
Clickbait will be available to stream via Netflix from Wednesday, August 25.
Top image: Ben King/Netflix.