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Zoe Kazan, Adrian Grenier head the cast of Netflix’s ‘Clickbait’

Adrian Grenier, Betty Gabriel, Phoenix Raei and Zoe Kazan.

Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick, The Deuce), Adrian Grenier (Entourage, Affairs of State), Betty Gabriel (Get Out, Counterpart) and Phoenix Raei are starring in Clickbait, the US-set, Netflix-commissioned thriller now shooting in Melbourne.

Tony Ayres and Christian White co-created the eight-part series which explores the ways in which dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled by social media and the fractures between virtual and real-life personas.

Scripted by White with Ayres as the showrunner, the series is produced by Tom Hoffie (Wanted, Love Child) and Joanna Werner (Riot, Secret City) for NBCUniversal International Studios, Tony Ayres Productions, Matchbox Pictures and Heyday Television.

The lead director, American Brad Anderson (The Sinner) and Emma Freeman (Stateless, Tidelands, Glitch) are each directing two episodes; two directors for the remaining four episodes are yet to be confirmed.

Kazan is playing Pia Brewer, a young woman who is desperate for answers in the search for her missing brother in a case that has become a media sensation.

Gabriel is Sophie Brewer, an Oakland woman who is struggling to keep her family together as they become the subject of the big media story.

Grenier is Nick Brewer, who has a seemingly perfect wife, two sons and a beautiful home. His life is derailed when he gets snared in this bizarre crime.

Named last Friday as one of the Casting Guild of Australia’s Rising Stars, Raei is Roshan Amir, an Oakland detective who investigates the case.

The first Netflix original series to be produced in Victoria is co-funded by the Federal Government’s Location Incentive program and Film Victoria’s Production Incentive Attraction Fund.

Marden Dean is the DOP and the casting directors are Jane Norris, Doug Aibel and Stephanie Holbrook.

The production will bring in more than $36 million of international investment, employ about 540 cast, crew and extras and use the services of 290 local businesses, according to Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts.