Alex Coco and Samantha Quan knew they had something special in Anora from the very beginning. As Sean Baker’s longtime producers, they’re used to collaborating with the filmmaker from the second an idea begins to form. The concept of Anora, which follows the short and intense courtship in Brooklyn between a young Brighton Beach sex worker and the son of a Russian oligarch, first came from the stories that Baker collected during his work on such projects as Tangerine and Red Rocket. “Way back when we were working on the script, I felt like this was by far Sean’s funniest film,” says Coco. “And then one day on set Sean turned to me and said, ‘I think I’m making my best movie.’ But what we didn’t know is that it would have the response that it’s had so far.”
Anora went on to win the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Before it opens in theaters Oct. 9, the filmmakers — along with titular star Mikey Madison — will return to the Big Apple for a premiere at the New York Film Festival. Here, they tell THR how they made it all happen.
Can you talk about the journey this movie took from the first nugget of an idea?
Samantha Quan The story is actually an amalgamation of a bunch of different things Sean has heard. But we also talked to sex workers as consultants and went to clubs to talk to dancers. The script really changed based on whatever new information we were getting.
Was it challenging to get buy-in from the Brighton Beach locals to film on location?
ALEX COCO We lived there for a few months before we even started shooting, because we wanted to ingratiate ourselves with the community. That’s a process that’s consistent with all of Sean’s movies.
QUAN We don’t want it to feel as if we’re going in somewhere, taking advantage and then leaving.
COCO We also had a lot of help from our actors. Karren Karagulian, who is Armenian and plays Toros in the film, had talked to Sean about making a movie in Brighton Beach maybe 10, 15 years ago. We took him and Yura Borisov, who is hugely famous in Russia, to a few locations. I remember going into Tatiana [a Brighton Beach boardwalk restaurant] and the waiter there just flipping out because he wanted pictures. And same with Vache Tovmasyan, who plays Garnick. There were a couple of times we were shooting and we’d see a person we wanted to be an extra — they’d recognize Vache, so we could just be like, “You can take a picture with him if you sit in the background of this shot.”
The film opens with a song that is heard again during a pivotal scene in the film. How did you choose that track?
Samantha Quan and Alex Coco
Cindy Ord/Getty Images
COCO We initially had two other songs picked out, from really big artists, and we shot the scene twice timing it out for each song. We were still negotiating the costs, and were getting concerned about the bill.
QUAN Then, Sean and I were driving and talking about it. We were like, “We need something about how it’s going to be the greatest day.” I just went on Spotify and started searching things and we found the song “Greatest Day” by Take That. We couldn’t stop thinking about it.
COCO At first we thought it was too literal, but when we put it into the movie, it was really exhilarating. It’s common for Sean to use music that is poppy, mainstream, to open a movie that might be sad with a song with a lot of joy. Florida Project has “Celebration,” Red Rocket has “Bye Bye Bye.” And then when we laid it over the scene we’d filmed, it just dropped right in like a miracle.
As Sean’s films get more and more attention, are larger studios chasing after you?
COCO Sean’s been pretty vocal, even recently, that he’s not going that route. There is interest. I’ve met with some people from bigger companies who would definitely love to partner, but I don’t know. We’ll see. We don’t know what the future holds, but we obviously like to make the movies independently and then work with a distributor to acquire the film because that’s what allows us to make the version we want to make. And no matter what, distributors agreeing to the 60-day theatrical window is hugely important for Sean.
Lots of people are praising this film. Whose feedback means the most?
COCO There have been quite a few sex workers who have reached out to say, “You got this right.” And that means so much to us, for people to feel seen.
This story appeared in the Sept. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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