Marisa Abela reveals her ‘Industry’ character is “loosely inspired” by Ghislaine Maxwell
Marisa Abela has confirmed that her character in the hit HBO series Industry is based on Ghislaine Maxwell.
The acclaimed programme, which airs on the BBC in the United Kingdom, is now in its fourth series, and sees Abela star as Yasmin Kara-Hanani.
Notably, in the third series of Industry, Yasmin’s father, Charles Hanani, portrayed by Adam Levy, fell to his death from his yacht, just like Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine’s father, mysteriously did in 1991.
The comparisons don’t stop there, either. Hanani’s yacht was named Lady Yasmin as a tribute to his daughter, and Maxwell fell from his yacht named Lady Ghislaine.
Additionally, Robert Maxwell was a giant of the publishing industry, owning newspapers such as the Daily Mirror and the New York Daily News, which is also the same field as how Hanani made his wealth in Industry.
While it didn’t take a genius to work out that the Maxwell family had provided a source of inspiration for the Hanani’s, Abela has finally addressed the subject.
In a new interview with Vulture, Abela said in response to a questioning likening Yasmin to Maxwell and series four character Whitney Halberstram being “a Jeffrey Epstein–like figure”, stating, “The fact that Yasmin’s father was a publishing tycoon and died on a boat called the Lady Yasmin, all of these things are [part of it]. We’re looking at a young woman who has never been able to get a foothold on the feeling of safety, or power, or feeling useful or necessary or belonging or loved.”
She added of her character, “And then she suddenly has this intense proximity to power. What does it look like? Does it corrupt? Does she fall into it? That is the comp.”
However, despite the unavoidable similarities between Yasmin and Ghislaine, Abela hasn’t let that infiltrate how she brings her character to the screen, explaining, “I wanted to keep her separate. It felt loosely inspired by something that is so prevalent in the media.”
Abela added of the ongoing fall-out of the Epstein files, “Things were unfolding with the files even as we were filming, but especially now, the whole topic is horrifying and disgusting and very real [so] that I’m very glad I didn’t draw too close a parallel.”
Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.
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