It's already been acclaimed as one of the movies of the year and now madcap black comedy Anora hits Irish cinemas this Friday.
It’s a screwball boy-meets-girl story that follows Anora, a dancer at a gentleman’s club in New York, who falls for Ivan, the young playboy son of an Armenian oligarch and how his shady billionaire parents do their very best to break them up.
A modern Cinderella story gone very wrong, the critically hailed film stars breakout actress Mikey Madison, who previously appeared in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and recent Scream reboot, as Anora with newcomer Mark Eydelshteyn as the impetuous Ivan.
There’s also a cast of villainous but incompetent henchman, excellent quickfire dialogue, and some of the funniest fight and chase scenes in years.
"There was a lot of physical preparation for this character. I basically did stripper boot camp with my trainer in LA, I went to clubs, I did a lot of emotional research and research on sex work, I learned as much Russian as I could and went to live in the Russian community in Brighton Beach that my character lives in so I tried to do as much as I possibly could."
Anora was directed by Sean Baker, who has a reputation for making independent films about the lives of marginalised people, especially immigrants and sex workers, such as The Florida Project and Red Rocket.
"I’ve actually never worked with such a dedicated actor as Mikey in my career. It was incredible to watch," he says.
"She even co-choreographed the dance she does for the second date when she’s dancing for Ivan across the floor and onto the couch. So impressive."
Sean knew Mikey was his Anora from the get-go. "Yeah, I saw her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, she stole the last fifteen minutes of that film and really captured my attention," he says.
"I cast my own films and I’m always on the lookout for fresh talent so I knew I’d work with her one day.
"Then we got to the point where we were moving forward with this movie and we went out and saw Scream on its opening weekend and it was really a combination of those two performances that I made the decision right there in the theatre.
"I turned to my wife and producer Samantha Quan and said we’re calling Mikey’s reps the second we step out of the theatre - and we did!"
Anora is high energy, almost gonzo filmmaking that sees the likeable young couple zigzag from strip club to seaside Brooklyn condo to Las Vegas to Coney Island and to JFK Airport and back to Vegas again.
"It was so much fun to make," says Mikey. "I loved my co-workers so much and the shoot was amazing. I play such an amazing character and one I was excited to play. It was a blast."
Anora also has the feel and wisecracking energy of the screwball comedies of Howard Hawks and Ernst Lubitsch.
"I was taking from the long tradition of Hollywood comedy so yes there is definitely some Howard Hawks in there but there’s also a lot of eighties comedy, I have to say," says Sean.
"Jonathan Demme, John Landis, early Zemeckis. That’s when I grew up and I see a lot of DNA from those films in Anora."
It is also a film about misunderstanding - linguistically and otherwise - which is often where a lot of great comedy comes from.
"There is a lot of that going on and sometimes it isn’t that clear from the subtitles," says Sean. "Actually, people who know all three languages - Russian, English and Armenian - are probably going to get the most out of this film because there is a lot going on but everyone has to communicate to get what they want.
"That’s one of the things I’m most proud of in this film - that we were playing with communication and language."
Anora is released in cinemas this Friday, 1 November
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