“I went in without any preconceived notions of sex work”: Mikey Madison on Anora

Having broken through with a small role as one of the Manson family in Quentin Tarantino’s Once upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019), Mikey Madison has a rising-star status akin to that of her young OUATIH co-stars Sydney Sweeney, Austin Butler and Margaret Qualley. Her lead role as livewire New York City stripper Ani in Sean Baker’s electrifying Palme d’Or winner Anora is one of this year’s most vibrant performances.

Madison met Baker before the script was written and agreed to play the character before she read it; speaking in an interview with Sight and Sound, Baker said he and his wife and producer Samantha Quan “saw Scream [the 2022 reboot] and were wowed by her intensity and her ability to give a grounded young adult who is full of attitude and can be sexy”. 

However, Madison thinks she is very different from Ani, describing her as “a character I built from the ground up”. That said, her interview answers on a video call from New York are often as forthright and entertaining as her onscreen performance. When asked if she had any apprehension ahead of shooting the film’s many nude and sex scenes, the answer is as direct as one Ani might offer: “No. I was excited to explore those things. It was a part of her job: she was a sex worker, so she’s going to be naked.”

Lou Thomas: At Anora’s Cannes press conference you said Sean and his wife, producer Samantha Quan, acted out sexual positions as examples of what you would be doing. How did that work?

Mikey Madison: When we were blocking scenes, there were lots of lines that said: “They have sex.” So, what does that look like? Trying lots of different variations and positions, Mark [Eydelshteyn, who plays Ivan] and I would pitch an idea. Sean and Sammy [Quan] would be, “This is what it would look like in the frame” – fully clothed, obviously. I would look at the frame, then we would get into position and do it. It was funny, but good to see it from the camera’s perspective.

Did you have any familiarity with the world of sex workers beforehand?

I went into my research without any preconceived notions. Obviously, I knew what sex work was, but I really got my education and learned as much as I possibly could. I had never been to a strip club, so when I was preparing for the character, I read memoirs, I went to clubs, talked to lots of dancers and sex workers. 

You hung out with strippers in Headquarters club in Midtown Manhattan, where some scenes were filmed. Did you learn anything interesting?

Absolutely. I shadowed dancers – went to the club, dressed up very nicely, walked around and observed as much as I could from that environment. It was important to blend in with the other girls but also be a fly on the wall so I could observe the way they were picking up men, how they were starting conversations, the kind of jokes they were telling, the kind of men that they were going up to and not going up to. All of it was really important to put in the back of my head when I am doing these improvised scenes. I am essentially doing the same thing, walking from guy to guy and picking them up to see if they want to dance. Sometimes they said no, sometimes they said yes.

Was there a lot of improvisation?

Some scenes are completely improvised. The scenes at the club, especially the intro when I’m walking around trying to talk to men, giving lap dances, those are all improvised.

Is it true your dad installed a pole in your house to practice on? 

Yes. I asked my dad to pick up the pole I ordered, bring it to my house and install it. Bless him, he did it without asking any questions. I wanted to have a pole so I could practice multiple times a day so my movements could be very effortless.

Sean showed you Japanese revenge thriller Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972) to get an idea about the strong female presence. What did you think?

I was blown away by that actress [Meiko Kaji], the presence she has on the screen, her mystery. I understood the energy of what he was trying to show me. He sent me a couple of films to see and I would always watch them. 

You also watched some films by the French director Maurice Pialat?

I was very inspired, especially by Loulou [1980]. There’s some great scrappy scenes in that, amazing fight scenes. I know why Sean wanted me to see this.

Did you have to maintain a particular diet or fitness regime?

I did really intensive pole training, which is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. It is so difficult and the dancers make it seem very effortless. You’re essentially holding yourself up the entire time with your upper body strength, trying to make something look beautiful and sensual. I did pilates, I did bar classes, SoulCycle, everything I could to keep up with the muscle I needed to have to be able to do the things I needed to do. 

Anora is partly set in the Russian-American community of Brighton Beach. Did you know much about that before the film? 

Less than a month before we started filming I went to live in Brighton Beach to get to know the community as best as I could. It’s an amazing place. You meet so many characters – there’s Russian people who have been living there and don’t speak English because they don’t need to because everything is Russian: all the clothing, laundromats, food. 

Did you have to learn Russian for the film?

Yeah. I didn’t speak any Russian before committing to the film. My grandmother spoke Russian, but she didn’t pass it on to any of us. That was incredibly challenging. I still can’t believe that somehow I was able to retain as much as I was able to. The language is very complicated, very difficult to create those sounds. I would fall asleep listening to Russian on YouTube.