When you go from dumpster-diving for leftovers to a net worth of US$250 million (Dh918m) by the age of 28 – especially when you are a woman who could charitably be called a misfit and an anarchist – people notice.
People like Oscar-winner Charlize Theron, who snapped up the rights to the rag-trade-to-riches true-life story of Sophia Amoruso, whose autobiography #Girlboss became a New York Times bestseller in 2014.
And people like 30 Rock and Pitch Perfect screenwriter Kay Cannon, who joined executive producers Theron and Amoruso to create Girlboss – a new Netflix series available to stream from April 21 – which traces the outsider's meteoric rise as the founder of the Nasty Gal online fashion empire.
Theron says she bonded immediately with the real-life heroine of the story, a high-school dropout who found a lifeline selling vintage clothing on eBay.
“The book was given to me, and from the image of Sophia on the cover on the bright pink cover page, something just really grabbed me about it,” says Theron, who has long been critical of Hollywood for pigeonholing actresses into mother and girlfriend roles.
“I had no idea what I was going to read, and I was really thoroughly surprised that it wasn’t really [Amoruso’s] life story, but that it was these little chapters that I found very amusing on young adulthood. The young girl in me was kind of envious and wished that she had something like that when she was in her 20s. That sparked something for me.”
Starring as Amoruso – with intensity and attitude that radiate from the screen – is American actress Britt Robertson, whose big break came when she starred as a scientifically curious teen alongside George Clooney and Hugh Laurie in the futuristic movie Tomorrowland in 2015.
Her Girlboss co-stars include: Dean Norris (Breaking Bad, Under the Dome), Ellie Reed (2 Broke Girls), Alphonso McAuley (Breaking In) and Johnny Simmons (The Perks of Being a Wallflower).
Shot in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the 13 half-hour episodes reflect Amoruso’s philosophy that success has nothing to do with where you went to school or how popular you were there – it is about trusting your instincts, following your gut and knowing which rules to follow and which to break.
Within a decade of her eBay debut, Amoruso had put petty theft and hitchhiking days behind her, as she enshrined as the founder and executive chairman of Nasty Gal, a $250 million-plus fashion retailer with more than 400 employees. Celebrity customers include the likes of Christina Aguilera, Ashley Benson, Kelly Osbourne, Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears.
Being her own boss proved the hardest part of the Cinderella story.
“I built a whole career on flawed and [messed] up characters,” says Theron, “so there’s a part of me... I have a love affair with that stuff and this felt so incredibly layered.
“Yes, it’s a true-life story, but it’s a story that we can tell in a way that’s really a homage to her life – but also something we can build and have it be a standalone thing. That just gave it so much possibility.”
Amoruso, now 32, quickly came on board after meeting the producers.
“It was one of those things where all paths were pointing in the same direction,” she says. “This is an incredible team. This is a crazy thing to have happen in your lifetime. So, [I thought] yes [let’s do it]. Wins all around.”
Cannon points out the TV show is a loose retelling of Amoruso’s story, while remaining true to the facts. Telling a woman’s story honestly, warts and all, is still a challenge even in 2017, says Theron, who praises the creative freedom her team enjoyed at Netflix.
“When we got the rights, we pitched this to one other place ... and the feedback that we got was absolutely shocking,” she says. “There were mostly men in the room. [They said] people are not going to like [Amoruso]. People are going to find her too abrasive. You have to make sure that the audience likes her, likes her, likes her, likes her.
"And I always wonder in my head: how many times did Robert De Niro hear that when he was doing Taxi Driver? How many times did Jack Nicholson hear that when he was doing The Shining?"
• Girlboss will be available to stream on Netflix from April 21
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