Cannes entry 'Anora' aims to destigmatize sex work, says director Baker

The movie stars Mikey Madison as the titular character, who meets Vanya, the immature son of a Russian oligarch with seemingly unlimited money, while working at a strip club.

Cannes: Part of director Sean Baker's aim in making Anora a darkly funny and touching drama about a young exotic dancer who becomes involved with a Russian oligarch's son, was to remove the stigma surrounding sex work, he said on Wednesday.

"It's important to explore what sex work is in the modern age," Baker told journalists at the Cannes Film Festival, where the competition film premiered on Tuesday.

"It's a career and job that should be respected. In my opinion – de criminalized – it's up to them to decide."

Baker said he was introduced to the adult film world while doing research for 2012's Starlet.

"There's a million stories to be told in that world," he said.

Anora continues a streak of sex worker-focused films by Baker, including the 2021 Cannes entry Red Rocket and 2017's The Florida Project, that he has no plans of stopping.

"We've already been talking about the next one, and it involves a sex worker. So let's see what happens," he said.

Anora stars Mikey Madison as the titular character, who meets Vanya, the immature son of a Russian oligarch with seemingly unlimited money, while working at a strip club.

Vanya, played by Mark Eydelshteyn, hires Anora to be his girlfriend for a week, deciding on a whim to take his private plane to party in Las Vegas, where they get married. That decision upsets his disapproving parents so much that they jet over from Russia to ensure he gets an annulment.

Reviews were positive, with The Guardian newspaper giving the "stellar" film four out of five stars and The Hollywood Reporter calling it "a very satisfying watch, deftly commenting on questions of class, privilege and the wealth divide."

Shooting the sex scenes was a collaborative process that involved the actors' input, said Madison, who opted not to use an intimacy co-ordinator or bring in a stunt double.

"Those scenes were fun to shoot and all of the lap dance scenes were very fun to shoot as well," Madison said.

Baker said he would support an actor's decision to use an intimacy co-ordinator - who helps choreograph TV and movie scenes involving sex or nudity and ensures actors are not exploited - but was comfortable directing a sex scene without one.

"Our number one priority is to keep our actors safe, protected, comfortable, and involved in the process," he said.