{"id":639396,"date":"2024-09-24T19:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T16:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-anora-got-sex-work-right\/"},"modified":"2024-09-24T19:15:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T16:15:00","slug":"how-anora-got-sex-work-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-anora-got-sex-work-right\/","title":{"rendered":"#How \u2018Anora\u2019 Got Sex Work Right"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n Alex Coco and Samantha Quan knew they had something special in Anora<\/em> from the very beginning. As Sean\u202fBaker\u2019s longtime producers, they\u2019re used to collaborating with the filmmaker from the second an idea begins to form. The concept of Anora<\/em>, 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<\/em> and Red Rocket<\/em>. \u201cWay back when we were working on the script<\/a>, I felt like this was by far Sean\u2019s funniest film,\u201d says Coco. \u201cAnd then one day on set Sean turned to me and said, \u2018I think I\u2019m making my best movie.\u2019 But what we didn\u2019t know is that it would have the response that it\u2019s had so far.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Anora<\/em> went on to win the Palme d\u2019Or at this year\u2019s Cannes Film Festival. Before it opens in theaters Oct. 9, the filmmakers \u2014 along with titular star Mikey Madison \u2014 will return to the Big Apple for a premiere at the New York Film Festival. Here, they tell THR<\/em> how they made it all happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Can you talk about the journey this movie took from the first nugget of an idea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n 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.<\/p>\n

\n Was it challenging to get buy-in from the Brighton Beach locals to film on location?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n ALEX COCO <\/strong>We lived there for a few months before we even started shooting, because we wanted to ingratiate ourselves with the community. That\u2019s a process that\u2019s consistent with all of Sean\u2019s movies<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n QUAN<\/strong> We don\u2019t want it to feel as if we\u2019re going in somewhere, taking advantage and then leaving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n COCO<\/strong> 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\u00a0 Garnick. There were a couple of times we were shooting and we\u2019d see a person we wanted to be an extra \u2014 they\u2019d recognize Vache, so we could just be like, \u201cYou can take a picture with him if you sit in the background of this shot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n The film opens with a song that is heard again during a pivotal scene in the film. How did you choose that track?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\"\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

\n

Samantha Quan and Alex Coco<\/span><\/p>\n

Cindy Ord\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n COCO<\/strong> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n QUAN<\/strong> Then, Sean and I were driving and talking about it. We were like, \u201cWe need something about how it\u2019s going to be the greatest day.\u201d I just went on Spotify and started searching things and we found the song \u201cGreatest Day\u201d by Take That. We couldn\u2019t stop thinking about it.<\/p>\n

\n COCO<\/strong> At first we thought it was too literal, but when we put it into the movie, it was really exhilarating. It\u2019s 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<\/em> has \u201cCelebration,\u201d Red Rocket<\/em> has \u201cBye Bye Bye.\u201d And then when we laid it over the scene we\u2019d filmed, it just dropped right in like a miracle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n As Sean\u2019s films get more and more attention, are larger studios chasing after you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n COCO<\/strong> Sean\u2019s been pretty vocal, even recently, that he\u2019s not going that route. There is interest. I\u2019ve met with some people from bigger companies who would definitely love to partner, but I don\u2019t know. We\u2019ll see. We don\u2019t 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n Lots of people are praising this film. Whose feedback means the most?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n COCO<\/strong> There have been quite a few sex workers who have reached out to say, \u201cYou got this right.\u201d And that means so much to us, for people to feel seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n This story appeared in the Sept. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Coco and Samantha Quan knew they had something special in Anora from the very beginning. As Sean\u202fBaker\u2019s longtime producers, they\u2019re 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":639397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Anora_Still_01-H-2024.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[150292,151985,68160],"class_list":["post-639396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-anora","tag-mikey-madison","tag-new-york-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}