To portray sex work accurately, Anora star Mikey Madison did her homework

To make her portrayal of sex worker Ani in the buzzy new film Anora feel "really real," actor Mikey Madison spent a lot of time developing her character. 

She read memoirs, watched documentaries, interviewed professionals, visited strip clubs and undertook intensive dance training. She even learned Russian, the 25-year-old actor tells Q's Tom Power in a recent conversation. 

"I was coming from having basically no understanding at all to wanting to accurately portray a sex worker in modern times."

Madison describes the character as "very special" to her.  "She is someone who is very vulnerable on the inside, [but] she has a very tough outer shell. She's someone who's at all times ready to jump into a fight — physically or verbally … [Ani] is someone who's just very different from me in every single way," notes the actor, who considers herself a shy person. 

"I love her so much," she says.  

With Anora opening in select Canadian theatres this weekend, Madison's commitment to the role is evidently paying off. The film won the prestigious Palme d'Or when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Now, Anora is being touted as an early frontrunner for Oscar consideration — and Madison, its star, has entered the conversation for best actress.

Director Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project) first saw the L.A. native in her breakout performance, playing a Manson family killer, in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. It was after seeing Madison in the 2022 instalment of slasher franchise Scream, however, that the filmmaker decided to get in touch. 

"He wanted to pitch me an idea for a film," Madison says. "I've never gotten a role that quickly before."

In her quest to connect with her character and understand what Ani was going through, the actor felt it was important she did all her own stunts — including some punishing fight scenes. 

"You can never really prepare for something like that," Madison says. "You can sort of walk through at half speed like, "OK, we'll land here, and hopefully, I'll be able to kick this lamp over eventually, and OK, I guess we just go.' I mean, it's crazy because I was actually fighting a grown man who's incredibly strong, so there's not really much acting involved. I was just kind of fighting for my life, trying to get away from someone."

Having developed such a deep connection with her character as well as her Anora castmates, Madison says she was "heartbroken" once filming wrapped. 

"When you're making a movie, you become family with all of these people. You're working the weirdest hours, doing the craziest things together, making really intimate connections really fast. And it's strange to all of a sudden just pick up and leave it, and then leave this character that I've fallen in love with and have dedicated so many months of my life to preparing. Just letting it go — it's hard, it's sad," the actor says.

"Of course, it's going to change your life."

The full interview with Mikey Madison is available on our YouTube channel and on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Mikey Madison produced by Vanessa Nigro.