Sean Baker on Casting Mikey Madison After Watching ‘Scream 5’

Director Sean Baker was a fan of Mikey Madison ever since he saw her performance in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” but it was not until he saw the actor in 2022’s “Scream” that he knew she was his Anora.

“I was in the theater next to my wife and producer [Samantha Quan], and I turned to her and I said, ‘We’re calling Mikey’s reps the minute we leave the theater,’” Baker explained. “I just saw in those two roles that she could give me everything I needed for [‘Anora’].”

As part of the Variety Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival, sponsored by J.Crew and SharkNinja, Baker and Madison sat down with “Anora” cast members Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan and Yura Borisov to discuss how they brought the Palme d’Or winning film to life.

“Anora” follows a young New York sex worker who finds herself married to Ivan, the son of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eidelshtein). However, once news of their relationship reaches the motherland, Ivan’s parents stop at nothing to end their affair.

Madison described working with Baker as “the most collaborative experience” she has ever had as an actor, adding that he welcomed her involvement throughout the entire scripting process.

“While he was writing, we kept in contact and talked a lot,” Madison said. “[He] obviously gave me permission to have lots of freedom with building the character and I think we were both in a very similar mindset and had similar ideals for how we wanted the character to be.”

Baker said the idea for “Anora” was first hatched “over 15 years ago” and inspired by the Russian heritage of longtime collaborator Karagulian. But the film would not fully take shape until after he found an interest in films centering on sex workers.

“We were talking about making a film that focused on the Russian American community in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn,” Baker said. “Then I started making films about sex workers, and that sort of worked hand in hand because I was interested in exploring the theme of the power dynamics within the sex work world, and we thought, ‘Oh, perhaps a young sex worker marrying the son of a billionaire would put us in that situation.’”

Watch the entire conversation above.