Sean Baker, Mikey Madison on Shooting Intimate Scenes for ‘Anora’ and That Epilogue He Wrote
Director Sean Baker and star Mikey Madison continued their run as darlings of this year’s film festival circuit in London on Thursday evening, sharing some thoughts and insights with a crowd at a Neon-organized screening of their Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora. The film is part of the lineup of the 68th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF).
Neon’s fifth Cannes winner in a row is a screwball dramedy starring Madison (Scream, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood) as the titular character, a sex worker in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, who gets mixed up with the son of a Russian oligarch, played by Mark Eidelstein. Anora premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, following that up with screenings at Telluride, Toronto and San Sebastián.
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The Hollywood Reporter‘s review praised Madison’s performance, saying she plays Anora “with a sweetness that humanizes even the most transactional situations and a defensiveness that makes her dangerous when threatened.”
Thursday evening’s showing of the film at the Ham Yard Hotel in London, which came ahead of three sold-out LFF screenings starting Friday, was followed by a Q&A with Madison and Baker.
In it, they shared how the sex sequences were shot. When asked if the crew used intimacy coordinators, Baker said: “No, we did not. I think it’s very important for an actor to have that option. And of course, we offered both Mikey and Mark [Eidelstein]…that option. But also I have directed sex themes throughout my career, so I was very comfortable doing so and also as a producer on my film, the number one priority is the safety and comfort of my actors. So by the time we got to shooting, I think we were so comfortable that it was approached in such an incredibly clinical way. There was no improv. We like to call them sex shots, not sex scenes, because they’re blocked, they’re calculated.”
Added Madison: “We talked at length about each scene, what it would look like. And Sean and his wife and producing partner Sammy [Samantha Quan] would even block out what it would look like [on screen].”
Baker said Madison showed her deep commitment and education with “months of pole-dancing” lessons for fairly brief footage used in the film. The star shared how she shadowed dancers and did “a lot of research into sex work and what that line of work is like.” Among other things, “I read memoirs that Sean sent me. I watched documentaries. I talked to some really incredible consultants that were brought onto the film. One of our chief consultants, her name is Andrea…wrote a really incredible memoir called Modern Whore, which I read, and it just really spoke to me. I was really intrigued and obsessed with her writing.”
Her dedication went even further. “I went to New York early, about a month early, so that I could live in Brighton Beach and immerse myself more in that neighborhood,” Madison recalled. “Also, so that I could fine-tune the accent.”
Baker on Thursday evening also lauded the whole cast of the film and their hard and great work, saying that it was likely the best cast he has ever worked with and that there was “no toxicity” on set.
Asked about the ending of Anora, Baker said that he knew early on what it would be and that he likes its ambiguity. “For me, it is important to figure out the ending before I start writing,” he said.
Baker also disclosed that he actually wrote an epilogue, but he said he wouldn’t share it. “It was for the actors,” he said, adding that he’d let them decide whether or not they believed it.
Explaining how he shot Anora chronologically, the filmmaker highlighted how it really is “a roller coaster” of genres and styles, following its original Hollywood romantic comedy-type setup. Asked if at least one line in the movie was a reference to Pretty Woman, Baker said he hadn’t seen that film in a long time, but then smiled and said he’d gladly take that comparison.
The opening of the movie was also a topic of debate, with Baker lauding Madison’s great work in various conversations and interactions in a gentlemen’s club. “I shot that in a docu-style way, relying on improv from Mikey,” he said. “She basically set up the film” and her character there. And he shared that “I had Robert Altman on my mind” in crafting the opening sequence.
As he is known to do, Baker used guerrilla-style filming for Anora by sending castmembers into restaurants to ask unsuspecting patrons for the whereabouts of a missing character to capture natural reactions — before later disclosing to restaurant goers that they had been filmed for an indie movie and presenting them with consent and release forms. “We got gold,” he said of the result.
Anora is Baker’s fifth film exploring different aspects of sex work, but he emphasized that he always makes sure to take a different approach. “I want to always treat my characters as individuals,” he said.
Baker also had the audience in stitches with a festival anecdote. “My first film, which I had here at the London Film Festival, and one of the best screenings I’ve ever had in my life, was of my film called Starlet because I had my dog with me,” he said. “Even those who didn’t love the film, as soon as I brought him out for the Q&A, I won the whole audience over.”
Asked about future plans, the filmmaker said that he and Madison would love to work together again. But it’s too early to discuss his next movie. Said Baker: “We haven’t even tackled the next idea yet.”
Neon has Anora for the U.S. and is planning an Oct. 18 release. The film’s next stop will be Sweden, where it will kick off the 2024 Stockholm Film Festival on Nov. 6.
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