New Netflix thriller ‘Clickbait’ about viral video set in Oakland
In the opening moments of the Oakland-set “Clickbait,” viewers learn that Nick Brewer (Adrian Grenier) — a seemingly devoted husband and father — has suddenly disappeared without a trace. That is until a disturbing video appears online of a badly beaten Nick holding a sign that claims he abuses women and will be killed when the clip hits 5 million views.
So begins a tantalizing, eight-episode psychological
thriller that has Nick’s family, the Oakland police and a crazy number of Internet trolls racing against time to find out just what the heck is going on. Along the way, the series takes several unnerving twists while serving up a warning about the perilous role the Internet can play in our lives.
Co-creator Tony Ayres says the show calls attention to the ever-widening fractures that sometimes exist between our virtual and real-life personas.
“I was really interested in the idea that the internet is this Pandora’s box that can lead us into all kinds of trouble — trouble that we don’t even understand,” he said in an interview with EW.com. “Especially if you go into it innocently, because it gives you access to that lizard part of your brain which works on impulse and it makes you feel as though you’re anonymous. At the same time, it’s one of the most public recorded verifiable mediums that we have. People exist within this paradox, and I think the paradox in itself has a fracturing effect on our personality.”
As “Clickbait,” which dropped this week on Netflix, unfolds, both viewers and on-screen characters find themselves trying to
figure out if the viral video is a threat, or confession — or both. Meanwhile, mounting evidence seems to indicate that Nick might not really be the person family and friends believe him to be.
Ayres, an Australian producer, chose to film most of “Clickbait” in Melbourne. Still, he set the series in Oakland and his team shot several scenes in the East Bay city. Familiar images of the Tribune Building, Lake Merritt, Paramount Theatre, Bay Bridge and other locales are sprinkled throughout.
So why Oakland? It apparently just felt right.
“I investigated many California cities and was looking for a place that felt big enough for us to tell our story, yet also had a feeling of intimacy,” Ayres told the Bay Area News Group. “Oakland felt right in terms of scale, and the fact that it is in the Bay Area, with its association with digital technology, was an added bonus given what the show is about.”
The city also happened to match up well with Melbourne, according to the filmmaker.
“Pragmatically, we needed to find a place which we could double in Melbourne — (one that) had architectural features we could convincingly replicate here,” he added. “When I drove through Oakland, I felt like I’d come home to Melbourne. They could be sister cities.”
“Clickbait” makes for an intriguing summer binge — but don’t try to watch too much of it in a single sitting. Ayres recommends checking out two episodes at a time so that people can have “conversations about the nature of identity in the virtual age.”