This article contains spoilers for Bad Vegan.
Despite usually wanting to present the objective truth, documentary filmmakers wield an enormous amount of power in shaping the perception of their chosen subjects. Documentarians are the arbiters of what footage does and does not make it into a documentary in the first place. Then, once that footage is incorporated, the filmmakers can always add subtle touches like music, subtitles, or further context to influence the audience in one way or another.
Still, even when documentarians have no preset agenda, sometimes audiences can interpret one bit of footage presented far differently than what the filmmakers intended. Such is the case with the latest buzzworthy Netflix docuseries Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. Directed by Christ Smith (who also directed Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened) and produced by Ryann Fraser (who also produced Netflix’s Tiger King), this four-episode story chronicles...
Despite usually wanting to present the objective truth, documentary filmmakers wield an enormous amount of power in shaping the perception of their chosen subjects. Documentarians are the arbiters of what footage does and does not make it into a documentary in the first place. Then, once that footage is incorporated, the filmmakers can always add subtle touches like music, subtitles, or further context to influence the audience in one way or another.
Still, even when documentarians have no preset agenda, sometimes audiences can interpret one bit of footage presented far differently than what the filmmakers intended. Such is the case with the latest buzzworthy Netflix docuseries Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. Directed by Christ Smith (who also directed Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened) and produced by Ryann Fraser (who also produced Netflix’s Tiger King), this four-episode story chronicles...
- 3/25/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Docuseries “Bad Vegan” debuted on Netflix’s Top 10 list of English-language TV series at No. 5, with 27 million hours of the show viewed in the first five days after its March 16 launch. On the film side, “The Adam Project” maintained its hold as the No. 1 movie for the second week in a row.
From Chris Smith, the executive producer of “Tiger King” and director of “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” “Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives” is a four-part documentary series that explores how Sarma Melngailis, the celebrity restaurateur behind the glittering New York hotspot Pure Food and Wine, went from being the queen of vegan cuisine to being known as the “Vegan Fugitive.” Shortly after meeting a man named Shane Fox on Twitter in 2011, Melngailis begins draining her restaurant’s funds and funneling the money to Fox after he cons her into believing he could make her dreams — from...
From Chris Smith, the executive producer of “Tiger King” and director of “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” “Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives” is a four-part documentary series that explores how Sarma Melngailis, the celebrity restaurateur behind the glittering New York hotspot Pure Food and Wine, went from being the queen of vegan cuisine to being known as the “Vegan Fugitive.” Shortly after meeting a man named Shane Fox on Twitter in 2011, Melngailis begins draining her restaurant’s funds and funneling the money to Fox after he cons her into believing he could make her dreams — from...
- 3/22/2022
- by Jennifer Maas
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix's latest crime documentary, "Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives," is currently airing on the streamer and dives deep into one of New York City's biggest fraud scandals. At the center of the documentary are Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis, lovers-turned-business partners who conned investors and stole over $1 million from Melngailis' esteemed raw vegan restaurant, Pure Food & Wine. Both Melngailis and Strangis didn't get away with their crimes, however, and the two were arrested in 2016, ending their spree of theft. Melngailis served four months in prison, but what happened to her partner-in-crime, Strangis? Here's what to know about where Anthony Strangis is now.
Who is Anthony Strangis?
According to a Vanity Fair report, Anthony Strangis dealt with significant hardships growing up, witnessing threatening fights between his parents and being bounced back and forth between his father and mother's home after their divorce. As a young adult, Strangis met and married...
Who is Anthony Strangis?
According to a Vanity Fair report, Anthony Strangis dealt with significant hardships growing up, witnessing threatening fights between his parents and being bounced back and forth between his father and mother's home after their divorce. As a young adult, Strangis met and married...
- 3/16/2022
- by Alicia Geigel
- Popsugar.com
[Editor’s Note: The following article contains spoilers for “Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.”]
If you’re unpacking the truth behind one of New York’s most confounding public sagas, sometimes it’s best to go straight to the source. To get a better idea about the truth behind the rise and unceremonious end of Manhattan raw food eatery Pure Food and Wine, “Bad Vegan” director Chris Smith spoke to former restaurant owner Sarma Melngailis.
“On this one, it was really sitting down with Sarma. We did an eight-hour interview, just to get a sense of what this was or what it could be,” Smith said. “At least speaking for myself, I went in with no preconceived notion. We had a vague understanding of what had happened. But to go forensically through the story, from her point of view, in as much detail as possible, it just opened it up in a way that made us look at the story slightly differently.”
If that...
If you’re unpacking the truth behind one of New York’s most confounding public sagas, sometimes it’s best to go straight to the source. To get a better idea about the truth behind the rise and unceremonious end of Manhattan raw food eatery Pure Food and Wine, “Bad Vegan” director Chris Smith spoke to former restaurant owner Sarma Melngailis.
“On this one, it was really sitting down with Sarma. We did an eight-hour interview, just to get a sense of what this was or what it could be,” Smith said. “At least speaking for myself, I went in with no preconceived notion. We had a vague understanding of what had happened. But to go forensically through the story, from her point of view, in as much detail as possible, it just opened it up in a way that made us look at the story slightly differently.”
If that...
- 3/16/2022
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
You’ll want seconds (and perhaps even thirds) of Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives., a delicious four-parter involving a swanky New York City restaurant, stolen cash and promises of immortality. Restaurateur Sarma Melngailis (above) once welcomed celebs like Tom Brady and Alec Baldwin to her in-demand Pure Food and Wine vegan eatery. But her glamorous world falls apart when she meets bad seed Shane Fox (real name: Anthony Strangis) via Twitter, then marries him. Restaurant workers, business partners, and even Melngailis herself recount what director Chris Smith (Tiger King) calls the “perplexing” tale. The controlling Strangis allegedly manipulated the blonde beauty into funneling him money for schemes that he promised would expand her empire—and make her pitbull live forever. Before long, they’re stealing from the restaurant (and its staffers) and on the run. “It was the most bizarre and surreal story I’d ever heard,” executive producer Mark Emms adds.
- 3/15/2022
- TV Insider
“Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives” is the latest documentary from Chris Smith, the director of “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” and “100 Foot Wave,” and an executive producer of “Tiger King.” The four-part Netflix docuseries, which Smith executive produced and directed, explores how New York City celebrity restaurateur Sarma Melngailis went from being the queen of vegan cuisine to fugitive on the run. In 2011, Melngailis – owner of Manhattan’s Pure Food and Wine – began draining the restaurant’s funds and funneling the money to Shane Fox, a con man. Fox convinced Melngalis that he could make her pet pitbull terrier immortal if she obeyed his every request without question. After stealing nearly $2 million from the restaurant and its staff, Melngalis and Fox were found holed up in a Tennessee motel by law enforcement. Their undoing? A charge made under Fox’s real name, Anthony Strangis, for a Domino’s pizza.
- 3/15/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Pick any memorable detail at random from the overview montage at the beginning of “Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.”: an immortal dog, an undercover operation, a circle of picketers. More notable than any of those individual pieces, though, is the whole itself.
Almost a tacit admission that a four-part documentary series with this title wouldn’t exist without things turning out badly, the show begins at the end, teeing up a tell-all conversation with Sarma Melngailis. In the ever-calcifying Netflix house style, there’s the former proprietor of trendy New York eatery Pure Food and Wine, looking straight into the camera and describing how on the verge of turning her restaurant into a blooming culinary empire, the arrival of one enigmatic individual helped to upend it all.
Much like the reputation of Pure Food and Wine in an enthralled subset of New York socialites, Sarma becomes the prism through...
Almost a tacit admission that a four-part documentary series with this title wouldn’t exist without things turning out badly, the show begins at the end, teeing up a tell-all conversation with Sarma Melngailis. In the ever-calcifying Netflix house style, there’s the former proprietor of trendy New York eatery Pure Food and Wine, looking straight into the camera and describing how on the verge of turning her restaurant into a blooming culinary empire, the arrival of one enigmatic individual helped to upend it all.
Much like the reputation of Pure Food and Wine in an enthralled subset of New York socialites, Sarma becomes the prism through...
- 3/14/2022
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
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