The role of protagonist Ani (or Anora) was written for her by director Sean Baker after he saw her in Scream. “It’s really special,” Mikey said of how this felt. “I’ve never had a director want to write a film for me before, especially somebody like Sean, whose films I really loved. I think a part of me definitely had some imposter syndrome, but I tried to put that aside and just focus on the character.”
While Sean was writing the script, she did her research while constantly in conversation with him about the story. “I was able to read memoirs written by sex workers,” she said. “I watched documentaries. I devoured YouTube videos that were like ‘A night in my life as a dancer’.”
Anora cast
Joining Mikey will be Mark Eidelshtein, Yuri Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Ivy Wolk, Vache Tovmasyan, Ross Brodar, Lindsey Normington, Paul Weissman, Emily Weider, Brittney Rodriguez, Luna Sofía Miranda, Vincent Radwinsky, Ella Rubin, Zoë Vnak, Vlad Mamai and Maria Tichinskaya.
Anora release date
It will be released in cinemas from 1 November.
Anora trailer
Set to a somewhat trippy version of Blondie’s Dreaming, this trailer is also a dream in itself, good and bad. We see a meet cute, and then a family descend to try and break up a “fraud marriage”. Will love prevail?