It makes sense that Mikey Madison so fully embodied Ani, the title character of Anora—she cocreated the role. After being impressed by her performance in the Scream horror franchise, director Sean Baker approached Madison to craft Ani’s character, a task the now 25-year-old embraced wholeheartedly. To fully immerse herself in the part of a sex worker who falls for the reckless son (played by Mark Eydelshteyn) of a Russian oligarch, Madison relocated, along with the cast and crew, to Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach, where the film is set. “I just didn’t want it to end,” she says of the experience. “You uproot your life, move to this place, and become so close with people so quickly. Then you kind of just have to walk away from it.” But Anora’s journey is far from over. After winning the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, it went on to earn five Golden Globe nominations, including a best actress nod for Madison. It also notched seven Critics Choice Awards nods, including best ensemble. With a packed awards season ahead, the gang is getting back together.
Sean Baker wrote the part of Anora for you.
He had just seen me in a horror film. He went opening weekend and called me the next day. I was familiar with his work—The Florida Project and Tangerine, which I love, love, love. We set a meeting, had coffee. He pitched me this idea for, at the time, a Russian mafia film. He asked me if I wanted to do it. I said yes.
You created an entire world together.
There’s something about Sean’s sense of humor that I’m really drawn to. He makes light of really dark situations. Sean gave me so much free range to build this character from the ground up. He allowed me to be involved in so many different aspects of making this film: the costumes, the hair, and the makeup.
The hair tinsel!
That was our hairstylist Justine Sierakowski’s idea. It tells you a lot about Ani’s character: how long it takes to individually put each of those strands of tinsel in her hair—she’s putting forth a curated image of herself. Her nails were a big thing. In strip club culture, you need to have long nails because you’re wearing so little. You have your toes and nails done so you have something to talk about with clients. I put this butterfly on my middle fingernail and I asked Sean, “What do you think of this?” And he said, “That’s perfect because I wrote a line where Ani is called the night butterfly in Russian.” There was some kind of kismet connection between us.
You also have to maneuver in high, high heels.
I wanted Ani to always be on her toes. The high heels make you walk differently. It affects your posture. It makes her so tall—because I’m quite short in real life—but also vulnerable. To have that kind of height but to be wobbling around, it’s an interesting juxtaposition.
You learned to pole dance for this. Sean said you got quite good at it.
It’s so hard. I was covered in bruises. I’m a very stubborn person, and I wanted it to be impressive—even if it’s just for a short scene, because it tells you so much about her, how long she’s been working at the club.
I love all the backstory at the club—there’s both camaraderie and fights with the other girls who are trying to sabotage her.
It’s so real, all of that backstory. There’s family at the club, but you’re hustling when you’re there. You have to tip out the bartender, the DJ, the bouncers, and you have to pay a fee to enter the club. So you’re trying to make up that money, and then you can start making money for the night.
Before you started acting, you were an equestrian. Do you miss horses?
I do miss riding. It was hard for me to step aside from that, but I had to choose—I’m an all-or-nothing person. If I do something, it needs to be my whole life. I don’t know if that’s healthy, but it’s true.
What was the name of your horse?
When I was younger, I had a pony named Tinkerbell and then one named Bubbles. The barn that I rode at, all the pony names were either pastries or some cutesy Disney princess—which is probably why I named my dog Strawberry Jam, now that I think about it. And my cat’s name is Biscuit.
When you were growing up, did you have any movie star crushes?
I loved River Phoenix. When I was getting into acting, I watched all of his films. I sought out My Own Private Idaho.
You have a twin brother.
Yes. He would pretend that we weren’t siblings. On the last day of school, people would ask him, “Miles, why are you getting into Mikaela’s car?” He’d say, “Oh, that’s my sister.” He’s since apologized. At some point, I grew into myself a bit more. But for a long time, I was the weird horse girl.
Madison wears a McQueen vest and pants.
Style Director: Allia Alliata di Montereale. Hair for portfolio by Paul Hanlon at Dawes & Co.; makeup for portfolio by Sam Visser at Art Partner; manicures for portfolio by Michelle Saunders James. Set design by Gerard Santos at Lalaland.
Creative producer to Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott: Leonard Cuinet-Petit at January Productions; producer to Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott: Kevin Isabelle; produced by AP Studio, Inc.; executive producer: Alexis Piqueras; producer: Anneliese Kristedja; associate producer: Kimmy D’Ancona; production manager: Hayley Stephon; production coordinators: Miranda Dos Santos, Susan Lucas; photography assistants: John Neate, Jed Barnes, Chris Whitaker, Kendall Peck; digital technician: Niccolo Pacilli; digital assistant: Cassian Gray; postproduction by Dreamer Post Production; fashion assistants: Tyler VanVranken, Molly Cody, Celeste Roh, Raea Palmieri, Tatiana Isshac, Haleigh Nickerson, Lauren Marron, Savannah Steilner, Sage McKee, Frankie Benkovic, Kaley Azambuja, Tatum Sanchez; production assistants: Gigi Rosenfield, Lily Cordingley, Eli Cash, Lex Vaughn, Anderson Renno, Kat Saravia, Kyle Dekker, Wyatt Noble, Brandon Martin, Moose Krupski, Josh Muwwakkil, Bradley Gonsalves, Drew Carter, Thomas Lynch, Alex Kofman, Jackson Schrader, Anatalia Zavaleta, Joseph Wride, Matt Flynn; first AD: Steve Kemp; location manager: Kyle Hollinger; hair assistants: Kim Garduno, Ben Gregory, Marco Iafrate, Hyacinthia Faustino, Chris Foster; makeup assistants: Shimu Takanori, Laura Dudley, Brian Dean, Beatrice Sandoval; manicure assistant: Cheyenne Vander Schuur; set design assistants: Seth Powsner, Denver Stoddard, Ryan Johnson; tailors: Irina Tshartaryan, Ripsime Vartanyan, Jackie Martirosyan at Susie’s Custom Designs, Inc.
