Is Danni Sanders Real? A Closer Look at the Not Okay Protagonist

When Hulu officially released the trailer for the 'Not Okay' movie, fans were thrilled. Many were excited about the unusual but realistic storyline. For others, the movie's main character, Danni Sanders, seemed real. This gave the film a sort of documentary feel. 

However, while the movie has enjoyed decent ratings since its release, the primary question among the fans is whether Danni Sanders is an actual person.

Danni Sanders is the main character in the Hulu movie, 'Not Okay.' Danni is portrayed as an unfulfilled, lonely young woman with a failing influencer career. While Danni has no friends nor an active love life, she has a massive crush on her co-worker, Dylan O'Brien. 

Due to her desperate need for attention, she fabricates a trip to Paris that ultimately helps kick-start her presence in the influencer community. However, when Danni claims she is in Paris, the city experiences a terrorist bombing.

Danni takes advantage of the situation and pretends to be a survivor of the bombing. She even goes to the length of befriending an actual school shooting survivor to simulate how survivors are expected to behave. Ultimately, Danni represents the bulk of new-age influencers who desperately crave attention and do the most bizarre things to get it. The extremely talented Zoey Dutch plays the Danni Sanders character.

No, Danni Sanders is not real. The character is entirely fictional and is not based on the actual life events of any real person.

Questions about whether Danni Sanders is real are probably due to what the character represents. Today, it is common to hear about, or experience people would go the extra mile to fake a luxurious life for social media fame. The ‘Not Okay’ movie also tries as much as possible to make Danni Sanders feel like a real person by showing other fictional influencers and social media content creators who try to distance themselves from Danni after she is “canceled.”

A strikingly similar situation happened years ago with a woman named Tania Head. While she was not an influencer, she took advantage of the tragic 9/11 attacks to gain attention and, ultimately, money. Her cover was blown when the New York Times investigated her story and discovered that she had faked everything. Her story, the characters in the story, and even her name.

‘Not Okay’ is a Searchlight Pictures production released exclusively on the Disney package (including Hulu, Disney+, and Star+). The movie was written and directed by Quinn Shepard (director of the 2017 movie, 'Blame'). 

So far, fan reactions have been pleasant. One exciting feature of the movie for many fans is that Danni Sanders doesn't get a redemption arc. It has become a norm for many movies to portray their protagonist as ultimately redeeming themselves and righting their wrongs. ‘Not Okay’ diverts from the norm, and fans have found it refreshing. In the promotional run leading up to its release, the movie even teases having an unlikable female protagonist. 

Apart from being a satirical comedy, ‘Not Okay’ perfectly incorporates serious themes like terrorism and gun violence without necessarily placing a dim on the entire movie. It is currently rated 74% on Rotten Tomatoes and 6 on IMDB.