Director Sean Baker, along with cast members Mikey Madison, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian & Vache Tovmasyan discuss 'Anora' at the Variety Studio at TIFF.
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00:00Should I call 9-1-1?
00:10What?
00:17Thank you so much for doing this.
00:19Sean, a lot of the reviews have made the comparison between Enora and Pretty Woman.
00:25And I wonder, was that something that you were kind of conscious of?
00:28Did you lean into that at all, or was it just kind of happenstance?
00:32I think it's happenstance, because actually I didn't really realize it until about halfway through production
00:37when somebody called out that there are similarities.
00:41But hey, it's such an iconic film.
00:46It's nice that we're being in some way compared to it.
00:51When I heard about that comparison, though, I was in production.
00:55And I didn't want it to in any way affect our film in terms of just the way I was making it.
01:01So I haven't revisited it.
01:03I haven't seen it since 1988, actually.
01:09So how did the idea for Enora come to you?
01:12What was the origin of the idea?
01:14Well, Karin Karagulian and I have been making films together forever.
01:18He's been in every one of my films.
01:21Ways back, over 15 years ago, we were talking about making a film
01:25that focused on the Russian-American community in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.
01:31We didn't know what the plot would be, but we knew we wanted to explore that.
01:36And then I started making films about sex workers,
01:39and that sort of worked hand-in-hand,
01:42because I was interested in exploring the theme of the power dynamics
01:48within the sex work world.
01:52And we thought, oh, perhaps a young sex worker marrying the son of a billionaire
01:59would put us in that situation.
02:02And so that's really how it came about, quite honestly.
02:06When I started fleshing it out, knowing that Karin was going to be in it,
02:11then I came up with this eager character.
02:14I saw Yura in a film called Compartment No. 6,
02:17which is an incredible film, Lithuania.
02:21So I had those two in mind, and we were in development, early in development.
02:27I hadn't written the script yet.
02:29I had seen Mikey in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,
02:33and had my eyes on her.
02:38But it was the day that we went to see Scream.
02:41And I was in the theater next to my wife and producer, Samantha,
02:45and I turned to her and I said,
02:47we're calling Mikey's reps the minute we leave the theater.
02:51Because I just saw in those two roles that she could give me everything I needed for Annie.
02:57We met, I pitched her the idea, and I said, are you interested?
03:01She showed enthusiasm and said, yeah, I'm down for it.
03:05And I said, okay, now I'm going to write the script.
03:07And so I took about a year to write the screenplay.
03:10But it was really wonderful to have these three guys, three guys.
03:14Sorry about that.
03:16I can be one of the guys.
03:18Yeah, he is one of the guys.
03:20To have these three actors in mind, their faces, while I was writing these characters.
03:25It was really special.
03:27So when you are writing the script, Karin and Mikey,
03:29are you giving Sean ideas at all, or are you having conversations,
03:33or is it just kind of come out to you fully formed?
03:37There were conversations, of course, yeah.
03:39Especially about the Russian community, about locations, about things.
03:44Definitely.
03:45I mean, we have conversations regarding we're working on a film or not,
03:48always, because we were friends for a very long time.
03:50But since this project came in, of course, there were a lot of conversations.
03:54And Mikey, what about in developing the character?
03:57Was that a very collaborative process?
03:59How did that work?
04:00Very, yeah, very collaborative.
04:01I would say the most collaborative experience I've ever had working on a character in a film.
04:07While he was writing, we kept in contact and talked a lot.
04:11And then, obviously, sort of gave me permission to have lots of freedom with building the character.
04:17And I think we were both in a very similar mindset
04:20and had similar ideals for how we wanted the character to be.
04:25So Jura and Vasi, was there an audition that you had,
04:30or was it more of just kind of an informal conversation?
04:33How did that work for both of you?
04:36I don't know.
04:37We just spent all our time together.
04:40And during our free days, we did something together,
04:46going to somewhere near New York or spent some time together everywhere.
04:55And it's like we were like one body.
05:04Like I feel.
05:05That's why I don't know where to start and where to finish all these ideas.
05:11And Sean wrote the film, wrote the role for him,
05:15had him in mind from his film Compartment No. 6.
05:18And then you introduced him.
05:21Yeah, there was a kind of audition for me.
05:23I was lucky this man was following me on social media.
05:28And then he recommended me to Sean.
05:31And when Sean called me, I was very surprised,
05:33like how you've seen my comedy or something.
05:35And then I did a quick video audition and welcome on board.
05:40And I was blessed to be there.
05:43And Mikey, what kind of research did you do?
05:46What kind of prep work did you do to get ready to play this part?
05:49I did a lot of emotional preparation.
05:52I spoke to consultants, sex workers.
05:56I watched documentaries, read memoirs.
06:00I went to New York early and visited strip clubs, got some lap dances,
06:05just did all of that, all of the research I needed to do.
06:08And then I trained with a dancer for a handful of months
06:12to realistically seem like I was a real dancer
06:17and worked with a Russian coach, Albert, who helped me,
06:23and a dialect coach as well.
06:25I did a little bit of everything, or a lot of everything.
06:30Sean, were there influences, the tone of this film,
06:33it feels very comedic, but it feels like a throwback to a screwball comedy.
06:38Was that something that you were thinking of at all?
06:41There are lots of different genres that I was trying to tackle with this one
06:46because I wanted to take the audience on a rollercoaster ride.
06:50So it was okay that I was having tonal shifts,
06:54bringing them from, say, a Robert Altman-type ensemble piece,
07:02sort of observational comedy, to a madcap comedy,
07:06to a thriller, to a Russian art house film,
07:10all over the place.
07:12And that was a little bit scary for me as a director,
07:17trying to balance all of this
07:19and trying to allow these genres to flow.
07:24But yes.
07:29As actors, when you're doing some sequences,
07:32like the one at the mansion where you're on the phone
07:36and everything's going, it's so chaotic,
07:39what was it like, the energy on the set that day,
07:41and how did you maintain that intensity between sequences and setups?
07:49Can I start?
07:51Just because I am so impressed that my actors were able
07:57to keep the consistency in the energy and the drama
08:03over the course of seven to eight days.
08:05That's how long it took to shoot this sequence.
08:08It's a 28-minute real-time home invasion.
08:11And I never wanted to be jumping in time.
08:14I wanted the audience to live in that moment with Annie,
08:18in that very terrible, scary predicament that she's in.
08:22And everyone here just delivered every single day,
08:27giving me gold, keeping that tension up.
08:31It was really an incredible thing to watch as a director.
08:34So, yeah.
08:37And they did their own stunts.
08:39They did their own stunts.
08:42Yeah, well, my character is someone who I think is always
08:46constantly ready to jump into a fight or jump into an argument.
08:50So I was always, for every single scene,
08:53not just any of the fighting scenes,
08:55exerting a lot of energy to just be in that place,
08:58sort of like scrappy energy.
09:01And so I think I was just already in that mindset of knowing
09:05exactly who my character is so I can just jump into it.
09:08But, yeah, I think we all went home pretty tired
09:11during those fighting scenes. I did.
09:16I got a lot of help from Samantha.
09:19Sammy, our producer, Sean's wife.
09:21Sometimes I would forget that I have to be angry,
09:24and she would go,
09:26and I would go,
09:28right before the action.
09:31But it was amazing. It was so much fun.
09:34Yeah.
09:36And you said you did your own stunts.
09:38What was that process like to you?
09:41I had a great stunt coordinator who was,
09:45we would kind of just walk through what the stunts would be like
09:49and do it in half speed,
09:51and then just kind of throw ourselves into it and try it.
09:55I mean, we always felt safe, and it was great.
09:58But it was also very free to kind of just,
10:01I mean, I was fighting as hard as I possibly could,
10:04and he was very strong, so he was holding me back.
10:08But at times it felt like it was a real fight.
10:11So, yeah, it was very physically difficult,
10:15but as an actor it was almost easy
10:17because we weren't having to fake anything, you know?
10:22You know when you love the process,
10:26you can feel only love.
10:29Yeah.
10:31Yeah, and it was incredible to,
10:33as the director being behind the monitor watching this go down,
10:37I wanted long one-takes,
10:39and so it wasn't just a punch and then cut.
10:43They had to wrestle throughout this entire room
10:46with the lamps falling and vases flying and stuff like that.
10:49So we, of course, as Mikey said,
10:52we went through at a quarter speed,
10:54but to see it in motion during that first take
10:57was, I think, just as shocking as it is in the final film.
11:03Yeah.
11:05How about the locations that you shoot in, too?
11:07I mean, these feel like locations that have never been on film.
11:11New York is always photographed, and this feels very fresh.
11:14What was the process like to kind of figure out where you wanted to shoot?
11:17Well, thank you.
11:19Our amazing... Sorry, excuse me.
11:21Our amazing location manager, Ross Broder,
11:24found me exactly what I wanted,
11:27and we wanted to shoot...
11:29You know, lots of films have taken place
11:31in the Brighton Beach, Coney Island area,
11:33and we wanted to shoot it in a way that hasn't been shown before,
11:36hasn't been seen before.
11:38So working with my wonderful cinematographer, Drew Daniels,
11:42we just went for angles that I hadn't seen before,
11:46trying to show the color of the neighborhood,
11:49the vibrancy of it,
11:51and shooting in real locations.
11:53Never a set. Never a set.
11:55We were shooting in a real mansion in Mill Basin,
11:58which is right next door to Brighton Beach,
12:00right there on the boardwalk.
12:02People walk around that area during that whole...
12:04We call it the crawl, as they're looking for Yvonne,
12:07her husband that has abandoned her.
12:10There's just...
12:12We shot over several nights,
12:14just actually going to real establishments
12:16in the Brighton Beach area,
12:18interacting with real people on the street,
12:20trying to incorporate as much real life as possible.
12:26A lot of your work has involved sex workers,
12:29and I wonder, why is that a theme that you sort of have...
12:32What interests you about that community, really,
12:35and why is that something that you continue
12:38to kind of return to in your work?
12:41Yes, it's true.
12:43It's my fifth film about sex work, to a certain degree.
12:49When I was first doing research on that first one,
12:51back in 2011, for a film called Starlet,
12:54I think it really...
12:56I came to realize that there are a million stories
12:59to be told within that world,
13:01and I was fascinated by it.
13:03And I had become friends with many sex workers
13:07and remained close with many of our consultants.
13:12So I heard many stories.
13:14I was like, let me put that on the back burner.
13:18That could be a movie down the line.
13:20And that's really how it's kept going,
13:23but the intention behind it
13:25is to help remove this age-old stigma
13:28that's applied to this livelihood.
13:31You know, it's our oldest profession, supposedly, right?
13:35But this stigma has remained,
13:37the unfortunate negative stigma.
13:40So through making these films
13:42that hopefully tell universal stories
13:45and humanize our lead characters,
13:49who are usually sex workers,
13:51hopefully this in some way can help normalize.
13:54What has been the reaction from people in that community?
13:57Have they seen the film, first of all?
13:59And what's been the response to it?
14:01Well, I'll say that Luna, who plays Lulu in the film,
14:05came up to me after our premiere at Cannes,
14:08literally crying and just telling me
14:10that she was so grateful
14:12about the representation in the film
14:15and that she was so happy
14:17with the way that we were all portrayed.
14:19And so to me, that meant the absolute most
14:23and was like a huge stamp of approval
14:25that we did something right.
14:27Yes, and I've been getting a ton of messages
14:30that are very positive
14:33and happy with our representation.
14:36And our chief consultant,
14:39who lives here in Toronto,
14:41will be seeing the film tonight,
14:43so we're very excited about that.
14:45You said that there are a thousand stories.
14:47Do you feel like this is a community
14:49you're going to keep returning to?
14:51Are there other stories you'd like to tell?
14:53Hopefully.
14:54I don't want to ever feel like it's a shtick of mine,
14:57and I don't want to paint myself in a corner with this.
15:01But at the same time,
15:03there are plenty more stories
15:05that I am excited about covering,
15:07so perhaps I'm really not sure what's next.
15:09If you can cast your minds back to May,
15:12I wonder what it was like to win the Palme.
15:15What went through your mind when your name was called there?
15:18May seems like yesterday,
15:20because I'm still processing all of it.
15:26It wasn't just a dream of mine.
15:29It was the dream.
15:31So it came true.
15:33It's scary, quite honestly,
15:35because it's an existential crisis.
15:37What do I do now?
15:39This was seriously something
15:41that I've been working towards for 30 years,
15:44and for it to happen,
15:46it's an incredible feeling.
15:49I just have to thank Greta
15:52and the wonderful jury at Cannes
15:55for recognizing something in our work.
15:58No less a publication than Variety
16:01has suggested that there's a lot of Oscar buzz around this film,
16:04and I wonder what it's like to hear that kind of thing.
16:09It feels all right.
16:15I don't...
16:17I never...
16:19I don't make these films for those sort of awards,
16:22but hey, if people are talking about it, that's wonderful,
16:25and it's exciting.
16:28All I know is this.
16:30These wonderful people deserve all the recognition,
16:34and I hope that's where it goes.
16:37Thank you all so much. I really appreciate it.
16:40Congratulations on the film.