'Anora' director Sean Baker breaks down a scene alongside Mikey Madison who stars as Ani in the film. Sean dishes on finding the "most luxurious" mansion via Google Earth, keeping things open-ended for interpretation and so much more.
Director: Adam Lance Garcia
Director of Photography: Dave Sanders
Editor: Louis Lalire
Talent: Sean Baker, Mikey Madison
Producer: Madison Coffey
Line Producer: Romeeka Powell
Associate Producer: Emebeit Beyene
Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Talent Booker: Lauren Mendoza
Camera Operator: Nigel Akam
Gaffer: Dave Plank
Audio Engineer: Kevin Teixeira
Production Assistant: Nicole Murphy
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Director: Adam Lance Garcia
Director of Photography: Dave Sanders
Editor: Louis Lalire
Talent: Sean Baker, Mikey Madison
Producer: Madison Coffey
Line Producer: Romeeka Powell
Associate Producer: Emebeit Beyene
Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Talent Booker: Lauren Mendoza
Camera Operator: Nigel Akam
Gaffer: Dave Plank
Audio Engineer: Kevin Teixeira
Production Assistant: Nicole Murphy
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00I don't want to actually touch it.
00:02I feel inappropriate, you can do it.
00:04It's okay, we can do it.
00:05Yep, there we go.
00:07And then like the alcohol comes out.
00:09Yeah, yeah, you pour the alcohol up here,
00:11it comes down right into Mikey's mouth.
00:15Hello, I'm Sean Baker, writer and director of Enora.
00:18And I'm Mikey Madison, and I play Annie.
00:20And this is Notes on a Scene.
00:22No fucking way.
00:24Yes fucking way.
00:26So we're watching the New Year's Eve party scene.
00:29Fucking insane inside, there's an elevator.
00:31Oh my god.
00:32This is actually the first scene that I shot with Luna,
00:34but we already had created a friendship before then,
00:37so we were able to improvise.
00:39I've never seen anything like it.
00:40Are my tits awesome?
00:41No, your tits look amazing.
00:43Perfect.
00:44Wait, are my tits awesome?
00:45No.
00:46We shot this in the winter,
00:47so these two were scantily clad and freezing.
00:50Absolutely freezing.
00:52Yes, but coats don't go with the outfits.
00:54No, no, no.
00:56Now that we're inside here,
00:58the audience is seeing the mansion through Luna's eyes at this moment.
01:03This was a real home, a real mansion in Mill Basin.
01:07I wanted the biggest, most luxurious mansion in the area,
01:12and so I did a little bit of Google Earth searching,
01:16and I found it, and I sent it to my incredible location manager, Ross Broder.
01:22The family that was living there was so wonderful to allow us to shoot this film there.
01:26We spent approximately three weeks at the mansion.
01:29But I really like this close-up of Luna because she's taking it all in,
01:33and it's quite a spectacle.
01:35And it's nice to see Annie's excitement as well,
01:38because you can kind of see that intrigue and excitement building,
01:42and she gets to show her best friend.
01:44Exactly.
01:45Bro, bro!
01:46With movies, sometimes you don't have any music playing,
01:49and the actors have to scream as if there is music,
01:52but we wanted this to seem like a real party,
01:55so we had a DJ blasting music.
01:57We had approximately 50 extras that were crowding in front of the camera
02:02to make it look even bigger.
02:06Here, we're presenting Mark in a great Gatsby sort of way.
02:11Playing it very big in a great way.
02:14Every time Mark was bringing the same amount of energy, if not even more,
02:18he really had to be, I don't know, like the energizer bunny in these scenes,
02:23and sort of like he was the one that was guiding everyone's sort of frenetic energy.
02:28Yeah, he is the center of the party. He is the great Gatsby.
02:31I am so excited that you are here, and let's go drink, yeah?
02:36So we're about to go over to the ice sculpture.
02:38Let's get some drinks, hell yeah!
02:41Yep, right here. There you go.
02:43I'm not going to do it. I don't want to actually touch it.
02:46I feel inappropriate. You can do it.
02:48It's okay, we can do it.
02:49Yep, here we go.
02:52And then like the alcohol comes out.
02:55Yeah, you pour the alcohol up here, it comes down right into Mikey's mouth.
03:01Are you ready?
03:03Now, our wonderful production designer Stephen Phelps showed me this
03:07and was like, would this be appropriate at Yvonne's party?
03:10And I was like, hell yeah!
03:12Now we're introducing some of Yvonne's friends,
03:16played by these three wonderful actors, Ladd, Anton, and Maria.
03:20It's sort of setting up the relationship.
03:22It's also showing, I think, the first instance of sort of a,
03:28perhaps, disrespect towards a sex worker
03:31that you'll see a lot of coming up later in the film.
03:34But just the fact that they're laughing about it and laughing about the situation
03:38I just wanted to drop that little seed in there early on in the film.
03:41Up until now, she's not being paid to be there.
03:45So I think already the lines are being blurred a little bit
03:48between client and also potential boyfriend.
03:54And they're also kind of the same age,
03:56like Annie and Lulu are walking into a party
03:59with people who are the same age as them.
04:02Are they 20?
04:03Yeah, and they're 20s, and so I think it feels different.
04:06Yeah, she isn't there just for business.
04:08There's a little more. There's an intrigue.
04:10You can see it in your eyes, actually, looking at Yvonne,
04:14and you can see there's a little more.
04:17Well, Yvonne is very charming to her as well,
04:20and so I think it disarms her in a different way.
04:25Amazing cinematographer, Drew Daniels,
04:27is right there in the middle of them, dancing along with them,
04:30holding a 35mm camera on his shoulder,
04:33holding a 35mm camera on his shoulder, bouncing.
04:36It was fun. It was really fun.
04:42Oh, and here's the moment where we subtly introduce
04:46Yvonne's Armenian babysitters.
04:48Karin Karagulian, who plays Tauros in the film,
04:51we go way back.
04:52He's been in every one of my films.
04:54It was actually Karin and I who wanted to make a film
04:58about the Russian-American community in Brighton Beach,
05:00the spark of this entire project.
05:02So I always knew that he would be part of this.
05:04He brought a lot to it.
05:06He knows this community very well.
05:08His beautiful wife, Lana, is Russian
05:10and actually plays his wife in the church scene,
05:13in the baptism scene.
05:15Avace Tomasian is probably Armenia's biggest comedian.
05:20He's an incredible performer, so funny.
05:23He came in a little late to this,
05:25meeting into the casting process,
05:27and I'm so, so happy we found him
05:30playing sort of the hired hands of the family,
05:34there to just, you know, to see that everything
05:37is under control on this night.
05:39And we didn't want to, in any way,
05:41draw a lot of attention to them,
05:42because, well, they're part of the twist
05:44that comes later on in the film.
05:45So this was just a subtle reminder
05:47that it's not just Yvonne here.
05:50He's being babysat.
05:52And it's also great to see them so casual.
05:55Like, he's just on his phone texting.
05:57So clearly, Yvonne has parties like these
05:59all the time, and this is nothing different to them.
06:02Exactly.
06:03And the first moment that we see Toros,
06:05he's reprimanding.
06:06He's scolding one of the kids,
06:08because he's always looking down
06:09at younger generations.
06:11Get down! This is not jungle gym!
06:14And, you know, these guys may come across
06:16as intimidating at first,
06:17but we always wanted to break those stereotypes.
06:20We always wanted to humanize
06:21and show that everybody is just
06:23dealing with their own problems.
06:25Everybody is human.
06:26Bocce might come across as a scary bear at first,
06:29but we know he's just truly a teddy bear, ultimately.
06:32Yeah, and at this point,
06:33I don't think Annie even clocks either of them.
06:36No.
06:37Or just sees them as one of the,
06:39I don't know, 20 hired help that the family has.
06:42None of this is registering to her.
06:44These two men.
06:45And hopefully it's not even registering
06:47that much to the audience.
06:48I want it to be very subtle, yeah.
06:5017, 16!
06:52This is one of my favorite shots in the entire film
06:55because just watch, just watch Mikey.
06:58Her performance is so beautiful here.
07:00It's so subtle.
07:01She's obviously very intrigued by Yvonne,
07:04so much so that when he enters the scene,
07:07she loses her place counting down.
07:09And it's really cute.
07:10It's really cute the way that she looks over
07:13to her friend Lulu for a second
07:15and then back and then regains her composure.
07:186, 5, 4!
07:21We did our countdown, what, how many times?
07:23Like 10 times?
07:24Yeah, probably.
07:25Yeah.
07:26Okay, so this shot that you paused on,
07:28this is very important.
07:29He's drinking water on New Year's Eve
07:32and he can't toast because of it.
07:34Why?
07:35Well, maybe perhaps Garnick is,
07:37at the current moment, sober.
07:40Later on, he gets kicked in the face by Mikey
07:43and given drugs and then drinks.
07:45And so unfortunately, he obviously relapses.
07:49It's a very subtle thing there,
07:51but all of my actors brought so much
07:54into developing their characters.
07:56Vace and I spoke about the fact that
07:58this whole incident, this whole 48-hour period,
08:01probably causes this character to
08:03unfortunately fall off the wagon.
08:05Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!
08:06Let go, let go, let go, let go!
08:09Time works up!
08:13This was just one night.
08:15I mean, this is an independent film.
08:17Not much money and time.
08:19So, it's an extremely efficient night,
08:21thanks to my wonderful producers
08:23and wonderful crew who just worked so fast.
08:26All these different setups.
08:28We had to shoot all of this within probably,
08:30what, a 10-hour period of time at the most.
08:39I don't know how much the audience is picking that up,
08:41but, you know, obviously he's looking out
08:43that Toros and Garnick don't see what he's doing here.
08:50You look great.
08:53Kind of, like, pulls up,
08:55adjusts the top of Annie's dress,
08:58which is an interesting moment.
08:59Obviously he's comfortable enough
09:01to touch her like that.
09:02He's taking liberties, yeah.
09:03He's taking liberties,
09:04but he's also covering her a little bit,
09:06which I think is something interesting.
09:08You were right.
09:10Huh?
09:11You were right.
09:12This is banging.
09:14Ah, yeah?
09:15Yeah.
09:16Having fun?
09:17Yes.
09:18Are you?
09:19There's a nice balance there.
09:20Yeah.
09:21You're riding that line between, like,
09:23this is just a casual, social interaction
09:26and a little bit of business going on in there.
09:28Yeah, but you can also kind of see in her eyes
09:31how drawn in she is by Yvonne,
09:35curious, and I think also there's that sort of twinkle
09:38of something else happening.
09:40Yeah, yeah.
09:41I mean, do exactly that.
09:43I think the way that Mark played Yvonne
09:46was so earnest and charming.
09:48He's keeping us laughing in between takes as well.
09:51I mean, he's truly the class clown sometimes
09:55and kept us very entertained.
09:57He's also just such an incredibly sweet, sweet human.
10:01He was always looking out for you,
10:03looking out for his fellow actors,
10:05and then with me,
10:07he really wanted to understand his character,
10:10the maturity level, the immaturity level,
10:13and always brought ideas to the table, always.
10:24Maybe.
10:25You know what's interesting about this moment
10:27is that we've seen her interacting with clients
10:30at the club earlier.
10:31That was the whole purpose of opening the film,
10:33with just showing the mechanics of the club
10:36and a night in the life of Annie
10:38and how she has to interact with clients.
10:40This is a little different.
10:41It is a different energy here.
10:42She's not hustling right now.
10:44Exactly.
10:45She's more relaxed.
10:46And I think she was also hoping
10:48that he would say that as well.
10:50I think she assumed
10:51that they would spend the night together.
10:53That's interesting. Okay.
10:54It's cool to hear that
10:56because I love to hear your interpretations of it.
11:03Well, it's New Year's.
11:05The accent, I wanted it to be very, very specific
11:09to Brighton Beach
11:11because there's obviously, as New Yorkers will tell you,
11:14lots of different variations of a New York accent.
11:18And so I also wanted her to have a cadence
11:21that was similar to a lot of the girls I met at the club.
11:25Also, Luna specifically had a voice that I really liked.
11:28And I think that when we were working together,
11:31it was almost like we brought it out of each other
11:34even just a little bit more, which was cute.
11:37I know some actors have key phrases
11:39that help them get into a certain dialect.
11:41But for me, I think because I had just, like,
11:44run this accent into the ground, it was already there.
11:48Like, I knew that accent, like, the back of my hand
11:51so that we could be really comfortable
11:53with improvisation in any situation.
11:55So there was no specific phrase.
11:58I think it was just kind of, it was there after a while.
12:02Yeah.
12:03I would go places and try it out at the coffee shop
12:06to see if it worked.
12:07But I think I got the stamp of approval.
12:10Yes, yes.
12:12From me, because I'm from the tri-state area.
12:16I can spot a bad New York accent,
12:19and I was so happy that Mikey nailed it.
12:23What's really cool about it also is that
12:25you allow it to come out when you're more vulnerable
12:29or when you're in, you know,
12:31in more high-pressured situations
12:33where you're not thinking about the...
12:34Or angry or when she's yelling.
12:36Yes, exactly.
12:37So if you see in the beginning of the film
12:38when she's approaching clients at the club,
12:40it's subtle, it's subdued.
12:42She's intentionally suppressing it.
12:46She's putting on more of her, you know,
12:49Annie persona at the club.
12:51She's playing a very specific character,
12:53a version of her there.
12:55And I think that for each person she meets,
12:57there's a slightly different side of her
13:00that we get to see.
13:05I have holiday rates.
13:11Cool.
13:12Okay, see, she is at this point
13:14hustling him a little bit,
13:16but it's a gentle hustle, I will say.
13:18And she's playing with him as well.
13:20They kind of start to tease each other.
13:22They're playing with each other, yeah.
13:23Which is fun. It's flirtatious.
13:26Definitely.
13:27But she knows that she can, like,
13:28squeeze a little bit more out of him
13:30because he's clearly very into her
13:32and she's into him right now.
13:33I think that because these characters are similar ages,
13:38that's why it blurs the line.
13:40I think it's not often that there's, like,
13:42a very wealthy young client
13:44that exists in her kind of world.
13:46So that's what I've been told.
13:48Yeah, most definitely.
13:49It's uncommon.
13:50So I think that in this scene,
13:52there's lots of things that she falls for.
13:55I think it's also, like,
13:56the beginning of a possible fantasy.
13:58She sees his life as, like,
14:00the ultimate dream and goal of what she wants.
14:04And so I think that all of it is intriguing to her.
14:07This sort of, like, you know,
14:08his life is kind of like a fairy tale in a lot of ways.
14:11There may be a few red flags in there,
14:13but she doesn't want to see them
14:15because, you know, she's also, this is a,
14:18yeah, as you just said, very exciting for her.
14:20I mean, who would,
14:21she's hanging out with somebody her own age.
14:23He has a lot of money.
14:25He's partying.
14:26Yeah, and he's been kind to her as well.
14:28Yeah, exactly.
14:29It's a good gig.
14:31Yeah.
14:32I don't think about takeaways
14:33because every audience member
14:35will have their own interpretation of things,
14:37and I've always wanted to keep things open-ended
14:39so that every interpretation can be unique and different.
14:43It's more about themes that I'm tackling,
14:45and one of the big ones is power dynamics
14:48and the respect that one gives to somebody
14:51on a different rung, on the status ladder,
14:54and this scene kind of shows it.
14:56He's asking, those Armenians, are they looking for me?
14:58You know, you see sort of the way,
15:00and the scene that immediately follows this,
15:02you see the way he treats, quote-unquote, the help,
15:06and so I think that's one of the big takeaways here,
15:09if there's a takeaway.