Director Sean Baker has been a fan of Maikey Madison since he saw her performance in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” but he didn't know she was Anora until he saw the actress in 2022's “Scream.”
“I was in the theater next to my wife and the producer.” [Samantha Quan]“I turned to her and said, ‘We’ll call Mikey’s representatives the minute we leave the theater,’” Baker explained. “I saw in those two roles that she could give me everything I needed.” [‘Anora’]”.”
As part of diverse As part of the Toronto International Film Festival, sponsored by J.Crew and SharkNinja, Baker and Madison sat down with “Anora” cast members Karen Karagulyan, Vachi Tovmasyan and Yura Borisov to discuss how to bring the Palme d’Or-winning film to life.
The film revolves around a young sex worker in New York who marries Ivan, the son of a Russian businessman (Mark Edelstein). But when news of their affair reaches their homeland, Ivan's parents do nothing to end their relationship.
Madison described working with Baker as “the most collaborative experience” she had ever had as an actress, adding that he welcomed her involvement throughout the entire screenwriting process.
“While he was writing it, we kept in touch and talked a lot,” Madison said.[He] “Obviously that gave me permission to have a lot of freedom in building the character and I think we were in a very similar frame of mind and had similar ideals of how we wanted the character to be.”
Baker said the idea for Anora first came up “more than 15 years ago” and was inspired by the Russian heritage of longtime collaborator Karagulyan. But the film wasn't completed until Baker found an interest in films centered on sex workers.
“We talked about making a film that focused on the Russian-American community in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn,” Baker said. “Then I started making films about sex workers, and we worked together because I was interested in exploring the power dynamics within the sex work world, and we thought, ‘Oh, maybe a young sex worker marrying a billionaire’s son would put us in that position.’”
Watch the full conversation above.
