Adrian Grenier, Zoe Kazan join Australian Netflix series Clickbait

Actor Adrian Grenier has been posting images from Melbourne on Instagram as he explores the city while filming Australian Netflix drama Clickbait. Photo / Instagram, @adriangrenier

Netflix has announced Hollywood stars Adrian Grenier and Zoe Kazan will join the cast of Australian series, Clickbait.

The series is being described by Netflix as a thriller exploring the dangers fuelled by the lawlessness of social media, and "the ever-widening fractures we find between our virtual and real-life personas".

The eight-episode series is shooting right now in Melbourne, the first Netflix original to base its production in Victoria, but will be set in Oakland, California.

Grenier, known for his roles in Entourage and The Devil Wears Prada, has been posting on Instagram about the lack of oat milk in Melbourne cafes.

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He will play a character named Nick Brewer, a man with a perfect life (on the surface) who becomes embroiled in a strange crime.

Kazan is best known for roles in The Big Sick, It's Complicated and What If. She also wrote the screenplay for Ruby Sparks and co-wrote Wildlife with partner Paul Dano. Kazan is playing a character named Pia Brewer, who's described as a young woman desperate for answers after her brother goes missing.

What If co-stars Zoe Kazan and Daniel Radcliffe at the film's New York Premiere in 2014. Photo / Getty Images

Also joining the cast is Betty Gabriel, whose unsettling performance as Georgina the maid in Get Out won her plaudits and recognition. She will play a character named Sophie Brewer who is drawn into the "biggest media story in the nation".

Australian actor Phoenix Raei (The Heights) will play a detective named Roshan Amir.

Clickbait is being produced by Australian companies Matchbox Pictures and Tony Ayres Productions, along with UK producer David Heyman's Heyday Television.

Tony Ayres and Christian White were the co-creators of Clickbait with White serving as the writer on the series. The show will be directed by Brad Anderson and Emma Freeman.

Betty Gabriel turned out a particularly unsettling performance in Get Out. Image / Universal Pictures

Clickbait is the most high-profile production yet of Netflix's originals in Australia, having previously made supernatural melodrama Tidelands and Chris Lilley's comedy series Lunatics. Hannah Gadsby's acclaimed Nanette comedy special is also branded as a Netflix original.

Clickbait is one several Australian original productions that have been commissioned by US-based streaming services. Apple TV+ has a production of Shantaram in the works with South Australian director Justin Kurzel attached, while Amazon Prime Video has wrapped on a comedy competition LOL: Last One Laughing.