"I wouldn't want to be degraded," writer, producer and director Sean Baker remarks. "Just treated like a human with all the flaws that we all have."
Whether it's a middle-aged retired adult film star or the impoverished inhabitants of a budget motel, Baker has made a career out of taking unfiltered and unadulterated glimpses into communities on the fringes of society. What results can be, at times, uncomfortable moments for his audiences to digest.
During this year's Toronto International Film Festival, Exclaim! sat down with Baker and Mikey Madison, star of Baker's Anora (in theatres this Friday, October 25), a day after the film's Canadian premiere at the festival. It was the latest stop in a whirlwind — and incredibly successful — festival run that began at Cannes, where the film won the coveted Palm d'Or. Anora was also voted in as the second runner-up for Toronto's People's Choice Award, a distinction that typically indicates a boatload of incoming nominations during awards season.
In Anora, Madison plays the titular character, nicknamed Ani, a stripper living in the Brighton Beach neighbourhood of Brooklyn, NY, who becomes entangled with the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, Vanya, played by Mark Eydelshteyn. As Baker had done most recently in Red Rocket, Anora explores the sex industry through a complicated and nuanced lens, giving it a grace not often seen in films set within this world.
The key to Baker's success thus far has been his ability to humanize the marginalized. Rather than taking rose-tinted goggles or a judgmental tone, the filmmaker presents the imperfections of his characters as a part of a person — not their entire being.
"It's okay to show flaws. I think that's what helps humanize [people]," Baker explains. "I think that's what helps create an empathy from the audience towards these characters. Just being real."
As with Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (Tangerine), Dree Hemingway (Starlet) and Suzanna Son (Red Rocket) before her, Baker's film creates a breakthrough opportunity for Mikey Madison. Undoubtedly, Anora wouldn't work without a strong yet tender performance to ground the chaos and brashness of the world.
To prepare for the role, Madison learned Russian and did a deep dive into the world of sex work, including reading Andrea Werhun's 2018 memoir Modern Whore. Werhun, a native of Toronto who appears in a supporting role in Sook-Yin Lee's Paying for It, served as a consultant on Anora. Her book, detailing her time working as an escort and exotic dancer, partly inspired the film's narrative.
"I fell in love with her voice as a writer, and her stories were so honest and interesting," Madison says of Werhun's memoir. "I'm really grateful that I was able to discover her work and also meet her and pick her brain. She added so many incredible, realistic little details to what it's like to be a sex worker and a stripper. It added a lot of important nuance to my performance and to the film."
Through speaking with Werhun and the other research Madison did to form Ani as a fully-realized human being, the actor found her own perspectives on the industry shifting from the image ingrained in her over the years by society. Citing her work on this film, as well as getting older, Madison observes that "we unlearn and form our own opinions."
"Definitely making this film and playing a sex worker has changed my perspective a lot," she continues. "Speaking to consultants [like Werhun] was one of the most valuable things that I could have done for the character."
"It's about whether or not we've done right in their eyes, and if they're signing off," Baker adds, in discussing the importance of Werhun and the consultants used in all of his films. "I don't need to have a corporate head telling me [if they approve]. They [the consultants] are the people with the life experience, so I'm listening to them."
Baker points to the distance he's created throughout his career from studio interference as being a significant reason for his success in telling authentic stories, describing executives as concerned with "covering their asses in terms of being safe."
He says with a laugh, "It's impossible make these sorts of movies, [so] it's important for me to stay independent. Do you think I would be able to get away with that ending without any notes?"
Anora ends with a punch to the soul that brings together every argument, frustration and instance of joy in the film, with Ani and her co-star sharing a moment in a parked car. Shot during an unseasonably snowless winter in New York, Baker recalls filming the final scene as being "quite stressful" as, in his mind, the characters would be engulfed in a cave of snow. But when barely a dusting arrived, Baker had to give in to the clock.
"We had to basically fake it," the filmmaker says, still with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "I don't love putting that out there, but my incredible production designer, Stephen Phelps, pulled it off. I had Alfonso Cuarón ask me if it was real the other day, so that made it all work out in my mind."
Baker's detailed approach to his films has resulted in some of the most compelling entries into the indie space in recent years, and the fact that these films introduce filmgoers to singular talents like Madison only elevates their standing. Anora looks to be one of Baker's most successful films to date, but its heart is in the same space as his previous works: finding the humanity of those most dehumanized.
As Baker simply describes the film, "It's just truthful."