Mikey Madison shares the prep that went into Anora

Mikey Madison joined us to talk about her leading role in the movie Anora sharing the immense amount of preparation which went into the role for her. In taking on the role of Ani she spent time living in Brighton Beach Brooklyn prior to filming as she wanted to get the dialect of her accent as accurate as possible. In addition to this she also spent time immersed in langauge learning to be able to speak Russian for the role.

Mikey took a lot of care of stepping into the world of a sex worker and spent vast amounts of time at clubs and within the community to understand the day to day of Ani’s world. This also included learning to pole dance to an advanced level as she felt that even if she was only seen dancing on screen momentarily, that it was important to feel like this is something she had been doing several nights a week for a few years for her job.

In playing Ani, she found her to be a character who always has a lot simmering beneath the surface, and that she was someone who was like a spring always ready to unload if needed. With this feeling it was also important to feel like every time Ani’s defense mechanisms kicked in that it stemmed from her backstory and prior experience in the world around her.

One of the highlights in making the film was getting to do her own stunts and finding such a safe and collaborative environment to do so. In working with filmmaker Sean Baker she felt like she was also given a lot of autonomy in choices for her character throughout the process.

Watch the full conversation below:

Q&A on the Neon film Anora with actor Mikey Madison. Moderated by Mara Webster, In Creative Company.

Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.