Director Sean Baker and star Mikey Madison preview their genre-mixing new film.
The subtitle ofAnora, the latest film from directorSean Baker, is A Love Story.
Isnt that what the American Dream is all about?
Mikey Madison in ‘Anora.'.Neon
I think that she actually is quite hopeful in a lot of ways.
I also think she feels like, Well, of course this would happen to me.
Neon
But there’s more to this story than romance.
Yura Borisov, Mikey Madison, and Vache Tovmasyan in ‘Anora.'.Neon
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I love tonal jumps.
I love roller coasters, Baker tells EW, Zooming alongside Madison but from a separate Telluride hotel room.
Mikey Madison in ‘Anora.'.Neon
He doesn’t just mean the Coney Island Cyclone, which features in the film.
It is scary, though.
But I was very interested in covering different genres with this movie."
Ani’s fellow sex workers in ‘Anora.'.Neon
Then the story keeps going.
I just wanted to flip it on its head, Baker says.
But then were giving you another 90 minutes of reality after that.
As a sex worker, Ani lives the American legend of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
Every dollar she earns comes from the sweat of her own lap dances and pole swings.
The global 1 percent, and their spoiled scions like Vanya, dont live like that.
Will audiences and the Academy reward a story that revolves around a sex worker?
I think that the industry itself is more empathetic.
We want audiences to recognize themselves in these characters, so you have to see the flaws.
Anorahits theaters on Oct. 18.
