Dirty John explores unravelling romance with a sociopath

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. — It was a story too delicious to believe. A wealthy career woman living in Southern California met the man of her dreams on the internet.

Their romance rivalled Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s, though with far less publicity. But the relationship slowly began to unravel when her family noticed disturbing eccentricities in her dashing love.

The story of the fairy tale romance and its bloody demise first appeared as a podcast by journalist Christopher Goffard and later ran as a series in the Los Angeles Times. Now Bravo elevates it to high visual drama when “Dirty John” premières Sunday. Connie Britton plays the elegant Debra Newell, a single mother with a thriving interior design business. Eric Bana is the enigmatic John Meehan in the eight-part series.

Britton (“Nashville,” “Friday Night Lights”) says she got to explore the subject with the real Debra Newell. “We’ve actually spent a good deal of time together,” she says.

“And I really like her a lot. But it’s been such ... a new experience for me to sit down and really get to ask her questions and get to ask the character that I’m playing questions. It’s a very unique, privileged experience. And also it’s helping give so much insight into the story in a way that maybe we weren’t able to experience in the podcast.”

Britton, 51, says it was critical that she understand how such an intelligent person as Newell could be flim-flammed so easily.

“Ultimately, we’re telling the story of how a con man can be so effective. And so it’s important to make Debra relatable so that we can all see ourselves in her, and not just say, ‘Oh, well, that’s because she’s this,’ or ‘That’s because she’s that,’” she says.

To portray the devious Meehan was another story, says Australian actor Bana, who’s known for film work in movies like “Munich,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and “Chopper.” “Whilst there’s a lot of factual information about John, I actually find him really mysterious,” says Bana. “And so there’s a lot of stuff about him that I don’t want to know. Because ultimately, I think, when you’re dealing with something that’s based in reality, you can either choose to do something that’s 100 per cent traceable to the exact facts of how they were — which can potentially be a little bit boring to watch — or you can try and come up with something that has a sense of that person, that might be more interesting.”

The challenge he says, is Meehan was not just one guy who told whopping lies, but a “type” that exists all over the world. “It’s not him individually that’s fascinating. It’s his behaviour and that type of character,” says Bana, 50.