Admittedly, the term “it-girl” gets thrown around pretty liberally in pop culture, but no one is more deserving of the moniker right now, in the best way, than Anora star Mikey Madison. Starring in Sean Baker’s unique, thrilling and meticulously executed film, Madison brought us Ani, one of the most captivating movie characters of the year.
Ani, whose full name is Anora, is a sex worker from Brooklyn, New York who meets the son of a Russian oligarch, Vanya “Ivan” (Mark Eidelshtein). From one night in the strip club where Ani works, HQ, Vanya wants to keep seeing her, and they set off on an experience where the lines between client, friend and romantic partner start to blur, spontaneously getting married in Vegas. When Vanya’s parents hear rumours about the marriage, they send their goons to put Vanya in his place. But When Vanya run away, Ani and the three men working for Vanya’s parents have to try to find him.
In Madison’s approach to playing Ani, leading with authenticity in portraying sex work was critically important for the actor. She also hosted a screening of the film for sex workers and strippers where the film didn’t get get a standing ovation, but the crowd clacked their heels together in excitement and support.
“That kind of reaction has been so absolutely wonderful,” Madison told Yahoo Canada. “That was something that was really important to me.”
“I wanted to, as much as possible, accurately portray Ani’s life and what she does for work, and so I tried to go as deep as possible in terms of my research and understanding, and talking to consultants, and I really was dedicated to accurately portraying sex work. I didn’t want to sensationalize it and I didn’t want to dramatize it. I just wanted it to be exactly what it is for her. … I’m so grateful to that community and I’m so lucky to have gotten to know so many incredible people who are really happy with the portrayal in the film. … It’s been the best reaction.”
‘He really wanted to uplift my voice’
Something that really makes Anora stand out is that while at first glance this seems like your classic Cinderella story, Baker never takes the path towards that cliché. Much of that has to do with how much nuance is in each of these characters. In Ani’s case, she’s never portrayed as a delusional victim who was waiting for a Prince Charming to “save” her, she’s constantly charismatic and funny, while giving us a true exploration of complex emotions in her most heartbreaking moments.
Madison highlighted that working on Anora was an extremely collaborative process, where she was really an active partner in the film’s execution.
“It was definitely a first-time experience for me at this level of collaboration,” Madison said. “It was an amazing experience. I’m so lucky to have been able to be a part of so many different aspects of making this film, and I was so passionate about that too.”
“I think it only enriched my character and my performance, in a way, because I was such a part of the entire world of this film. And I’ve definitely had experiences where that wasn’t the case, and you do the best with what you have, and my job just feels different. … Sean is a amazing person. He’s a spectacular director and a wonderful human, and he really wanted to uplift my voice and and bring me into the process of making this film in a big way. And so I think it takes someone very generous to be able to do.”
The ‘painful’ experience of leaving ‘Anora’
But being so involved in a project meant it wasn’t particularly easy to Madison to walk away from Ani and the team on Anora when they finished the film.
“It was very sad for me to stop,” Madison said. “It’s such a unique experience, what we do, as everyone who is making a film, all of us as filmmakers, we all kind of uproot our lives, move to this one place, and you make family with the people you work with, and it’s hard to say goodbye to that.”
“At least for me, it’s never been easy where I’m like, ‘OK bye! On to the next.’ It’s always very emotional for me and so it was hard to say goodbye to a lot of the relationships that I had developed. And just sort of accepting that it would be different, or that people are going to different countries, and I’m going back to a different state. It’s painful, but I think it was just … acknowledging how special of a film this was and how much we all loved working on the project.”
It was hard to say goodbye to a lot of the relationships that I had developed.