‘Anora’ Director Sean Baker on Why He Chose Brit Boy Band Take That to Soundtrack the Opening Strip Club Scene: ‘It Was Like Serendipity’ (EXCLUSIVE)
There’s an unexpected needle drop in Sean Baker’s screwball sex worker comedy “Anora” — and it kicks off the whole film.
“Anora,” which won the Palme d’Or earlier this year and looks set to be a major awards darling, opens with a five-minute sequence set in a New York strip club, where Mikey Madison’s lead character Ani works the room, flirting with the guests and leading them to the VIP area at the back to perform private dances alongside her colleagues.
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The song chosen to soundtrack this sequence is “Greatest Day,” the uplifting pop anthem by U.K. boy band and 1990s favorites Take That (but released in 2008 after the group had reformed without Robbie Williams). After the world premiere of “Anora” in Cannes, many film critics and writers — most of them Brits — took to social media to express their surprise and delight at the choice.
According to Baker, it was the song’s title that was the key ingredient.
“I was driving around with my wife Sam [Quan, who also produces Baker’s films] and we were just like, ‘Is there a song called “Greatest Day,” because it’s [Ani’s] greatest day?'” he told Variety, speaking on the sidelines of a special “Anora” screening in London on Thursday. “And then she goes on Spotify and finds ‘Greatest Day.'”
Baker admitted that, while he knew Take That, it was from their earlier, pre-breakup period via tracks such as 1995’s smash hit “Back for Good.” Their later work, including “Greatest Day,” had passed him by, as it did many outside of the U.K.
“I had never heard of this song, so we put it on in the car and the next thing you know it had become a total ear worm,” he said. “So I got home and threw it over ‘Anora’s’ opening credits, and it was like serendipity… the way it went up to Mikey and landed there, right when the kick comes in, it was like ‘Oh my God!'”
“Greatest Day” isn’t the first boy band track Baker has used in his films, with N*Sync hit “Bye Bye Bye” used in the opening credits of “Red Rocket,” about a washed-up porn star who returns to his hometown in Texas. But to use that song — even though the sequence in question wasn’t remotely explicit like in “Anora” — Baker had to get approval from the band, who were told how and when it would be used in the film.
For “Greatest Day” however, he says they just “bought the rights” without any details provided.
“I actually don’t think Take That have seen the film yet,” he said. “So I can’t wait for when they do!”
Neon is releasing “Anora” on Oct. 18.
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