LOS ANGELES, USA – Five months since his Anora romped off with Cannes’ top prize, Palme d’Or, filmmaker Sean Baker finds that his film has not lost its momentum — now, it is being buzzed as the best picture frontrunner this awards season.

Sean’s wildly entertaining comedy-drama about a young sex worker (Mikey Madison, a best actress contender, in a star-making turn) that comments on survival, money, class, and power has since triumphed in other film festivals, from Toronto to London.

Awards pundits and critics are also citing Sean’s eighth feature as one of the year’s best films. Deservingly so — no 2024 best picture list is complete without Anora.

“So far, there’s been a universal love of it,” Sean said about the acclaim for Anora in our recent video conversation. “It’s been beautiful.”

“And people are loving the performances. That means everything to me because I love the performances. So, I’m really glad that other people are recognizing them.”

He shared, “To tell you the truth, across the board, I thought this film might be a little more divisive. And who knows what will happen with general audiences?” Sean will find out when Anora rolls out in theaters in the US and worldwide this month and in November.

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Sean, who also wrote the screenplay, intentionally gave an ambivalent ending to Anora, which narrates how Anora or Ani (Mikey), a Brooklyn sex worker, meets and impulsively marries a young man, Ivan (Mark Eidelshtein) who turns out to be the son of a Russian oligarch.

Ivan’s powerful parents quickly fly to New York to get the marriage annulled, with the help of thugs.

“The ending is left open for interpretation,” said Sean. “So now, I’ve been to several screenings (of Anora). I’m hearing from several people and the interpretations are very interesting.”

“And I love it because that’s exactly what we were hoping for. We were hoping that we would set up this ending that allows audiences to write the epilogue and also spark discussion.”

“It’s been great to see people gather outside of theaters after these screenings. When I listen, I can hear they’re talking about the ending. So, that’s been nice.”

People, including critics, who have seen Anora are also still rhapsodizing about the virtuosic 28-minute scene that let’s just describe as a home invasion sequence to avoid spoilers. Suffice it to say it’s ensemble acting and direction at its best.

“From the very beginning in the script, it’s meant to play out in real time,” Sean explained. “So that’s a challenge. There can’t be any continuity errors. There has to be consistency with the weather.”

“There has to be a flow. What was great is that my cast and crew understood this. They were on board to make this happen.”

“So, it was scheduled for six days. It took eight days but we made our way through it – Mikey and Yura doing their own stunts. My incredible crew just stepping up and making this thing happen. Yeah, it was quite an adventure. I’m glad people are liking it.”

I asked Sean about casting Mikey, Mark, and Yura Borisov, an award-winning Russian actor who plays Igor, a thug with a heart of gold. The three are part of the formidable cast.

“Yura was probably the first person I cast in this film,” Sean began. “I’m sorry, I take that back. It was Karren Karagulian, who played Toros in the movie. He’s been in every one of my movies.”

“So, developing this film, I knew Karren was going to play a major role. Yura came about because I saw Compartment Number 6, the wonderful Finnish film directed by Juho Kuosmanen, at Cannes the year I had Red Rocket there.”

“I saw Yura’s amazing performance and said, he’s going to be in my next film. And then there was Mikey. When we started the development of Anora, I was on the lookout for our Ani.”

“I had seen Mikey in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and was blown away by her performance. I thought she stole the last 15 minutes of the film and was intrigued by her as a young Hollywood actor and kept my eyes on her.”

“And then Scream came about. It was a combination of those two performances that made me say, in the moment, she’s our Anora.”

“I was in the theater watching Scream. I turned to my wife, Samantha (Quan), who’s also the producer of Anora, and I said, we’re calling her reps the second we leave the theater.”

“So, what was wonderful is that I was able to write the screenplay with Karren, Yura, and Mikey already cast. Their faces were in my head as I was developing their characters and the story.”

“Then when we were getting close to production, it was Yura who suggested Mark. He said, ‘I just worked with this wonderful young actor. He’s amazing. You should consider him.’”

“We asked Mark for a self-tape. He sent in one of the funniest self-tapes we’ve ever seen. And from that moment on, we couldn’t see anybody else for the role of Ivan.”

“So, it was an absolute dream cast, wonderful to work with. I feel very grateful for being able to work with them.”

On Yura, who plays an incongruous yet convincing gentle mobster, Sean remarked, “He is an incredible actor. He understands that subtlety is everything. And he knows that, especially for his character, we couldn’t show our hands. So, he knew how to play this.”

“It was incredible to watch where he would give me just enough. And also, being aware; he’s classically trained so he’s very aware of how he’s being shot and what to give to the camera.”

“He brought so many ideas to the table. Playing the entire diner scene with a hamburger shoved in his mouth was his idea.”

“He screaming at her louder than she was screaming during that climactic moment of the home invasion. That’s his idea. Yura is a wonderful actor. And he’s already a star over there (in Russia). I have a feeling he’s about to be a universal star.”

I asked Sean at what point did he realize he maybe had something special in Anora. “Pretty early on, I have to tell you, and it was mostly because of my incredible cast,” answered the 53-year-old director. “I would be on set, they would be making me laugh, and they would be surprising me daily.”

“I’d go home at night with a smile on my face. I remember within the first three or four days, me telling Mikey, ‘I think we’re making something special here.’ And she agreed.”

The rest of the terrific cast includes Vache Tovmasyan (Garnick), Aleksei Serebryakov (Nikolai), and Darya Ekamasova (Galina).

Looking back, Sean recalled the moment he won the Palme d’Or, the first American to bag the prize since Terrence Malick in 2011 (for The Tree of Life).

“Oh, my gosh, I’m still processing it,” Sean said. “It was a dream come true. So overwhelming, very surreal.”

“The fact that I received it from George Lucas, the man, the guy who was responsible for me wanting to make movies. That’s otherworldly. That’s a whole other level.”

“So, overall, just an incredible feeling, man. I hope that everyone gets to experience something like this in which their dream comes true because it’s a great feeling.”

Anora joins Sean’s list of films where he casts a sympathetic eye on marginalized people, including Red Rocket, The Florida Project, and Tangerine. It’s this focus on social realism that Sean shares with the late great Filipino director, Lino Brocka, whom he admires.

So in Cannes last May, Sean made it a point to attend the special screening of the restored version of Lino’s Bona.

The filmmaker, who has also seen the Pinoy master’s Insiang, Manila in the Claws of Light, and Cain and Abel, told me in Cannes about Nora Aunor’s performance in Bona:

“The very fact that she is one of the biggest stars from the Philippines and was probably at the height perhaps of her fame at the time…the very fact that she took on a role like this. And she produced it is quite special. And that’s a star playing a fan. That’s meta in itself. But yeah, she’s incredible and it’s really beautiful that she was able to help with this restoration.”

As to what’s next after Anora, Sean answered, “I can’t creatively juggle. So, I’m still in the Anora world. I’m getting it out there. I’m going to have to see Anora out into the world and then approach my next one, which would probably, once again, require research.”

“So I’m going to take some road trips and figure it out. But I will stay in the same wheelhouse.”

“What the Palme d’Or has done is it has allowed me to continue to make these movies the way I want to make them. So, you can expect some more crazy chaos coming your way in a couple of years.”

Mark Eidelshtein

While Mikey anchors Anora, Mark’s portrayal of Ani’s spoiled, sex-crazed prince in the Cinderella tale gone wrong is vital. The film, TV, and stage actor, 22, is being dubbed as the Russian Timothee Chalamet.

In our video conversation, I told Mark that when I first saw Anora in Cannes, he reminded me of Timothee.

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“I thought I reminded myself of James Dean, at his young age with his jacket and hairstyle,” Mark, dressed indeed like the late screen icon, replied with a smile. “There’s a lot of amazing actors here in America and we know that it’s a huge industry.”

“It’s developing very fast and I’m trying to catch the best performances. Timothee Chalamet is one of my teachers but so are Mikey Madison, Karren Karagulian, and Yura Borisov.”

“Because every good actor has a great performance and I’m a young actor trying to catch it, to develop myself and raise my skills.”

Mark shared how he cinched the role from his perspective: “Yura told me about Sean Baker in general, that he is an amazing independent director and he’s looking for some crazy Russian guy.”

“I don’t know why Yura thought that I’m crazy,” he said with a grin. I’m really not. But he said, ‘You can try. It’s an amazing opportunity to talk with a big and very important director.’ ”

“I prepared a little bit but it’s impossible to prepare for a meeting with Sean Baker because you don’t know how to communicate with this iceberg of professionalism. You don’t know how to communicate with that. I read a little bit about him and tried to be open and myself.”

On that 28-minute scene which further challenged the actors since Sean rewrote the script every morning, Mark commented, “Honestly, it wasn’t a big problem that Sean was changing everything, every time. I was happy for Sean because it’s a movie, it’s life organizing, a life structure and it’s like your kid.”

“And when you are looking at your kid and you can see how he’s growing up, you can change something and advise him. Because you are trying to follow him in his way.”

“For me, it was like, okay, Sean changed something so I will change my way of acting, too. Honestly, I didn’t act there. I just catch the vibe of Sean and my vibe is the vibe of Ivan.”

“Mikey helped me a lot, too. And it wasn’t necessary to play something. I was just Ivan on set. It was the magic of Sean and Mikey.”

“I was surprised the first time I felt the reaction of people laughing and clapping,” Mark recounted the Cannes premiere audience’s reaction which culminated in a standing ovation. “Because I thought that we were doing a drama story and I didn’t think that I was doing something very funny.”

“I just did what Ivan could do. I built this character and tried to imagine how he could communicate with Ani because he’s a kid and she’s also a kid.”

“It’s two kids in a big castle mansion trying to find each other and to feel each other. And for me, it wasn’t funny but for the audience, it was very funny. I was surprised and happy.” – Rappler.com