‘Anora’ director says Mikey Madison stole “the last 15 minutes of” ‘Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood’

‘Anora’ director says Mikey Madison stole “the last 15 minutes of” ‘Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood’

Anora director Sean Baker has hailed the movie’s rising star Mikey Madison, and admitted he was surprised she never got a lead role immediately after appearing in Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood.

READ MORE: Mikey Madison on her Oscar-tipped anti-Cinderella stripper story ‘Anora’

Madison stars as the titular razor-tongued Brooklynite stripper (who goes by Ani) in Anora which has already won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is generating a great deal of Oscar buzz.

Speaking at a Q&A at a screening at the Barbican Centre in London last night (December 9) Baker said he first saw her star as Susan “Sadie” Atkins, a convicted murderer who was a Manson family cult member, who comes to a blood-curdling end in Quentin Tarantino‘s 2019 film.

“I saw her in Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood and I think she steals the last 15 minutes of that film,” he said.

Mikey Madison in ‘Anora’. CREDIT: FilmNation Entertainment/Neon

“And also how she is introduced with her being one of the [Charles] Manson girls. When she comes in the house and Brad Pitt throws a can of dog food in her face and then she goes out to the pool and gets burned up by Leonardo DiCaprio, that was quite a first impression for me because I didn’t know her from her [FX comedy-drama] series Better Things.

“I only knew her from Once Upon A Time and because I cast my own films, every time I see somebody like that, it really captures my attention. At the time, I kind of filed that in the back of my head as somebody I may wanna work with.”

He went on to say he was “shocked” that she didn’t get a lead role straight after her appearance in the movie.

She next appeared as Amber Freeman in the 2022 Scream remake who later turns out to be Ghostface in the movie.

Ghostface in the ‘Scream’ reboot CREDIT: Paramount

It was her role in the reboot that convinced Baker to cast her in the role of Ani in Anora.

“I went to see Scream on its opening weekend with my wife [Samantha Quan] who is a producer on Anora and we were sitting in the theatre and it was just clear to us. Scream wasn’t even over and we were like there’s our Ani.”

He added: “It was a combination of those two performances in Scream before she’s revealed as the killer, she’s also plays a young adult who is full of sass and there’s a lot of humour in that performance. If you go back and look at it, it’s really subtle and fun. So I just knew and I turned to Sam and said ‘We’re gonna call her agent the second we step out of the theatre’.

It comes after Madison recently revealed that fans were “mad” at her after she killed a major character off in the Scream reboot. “People have come up to me, and they’re like, ‘I hate that this happened. I’m mad at you.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t write the script!’ I didn’t want to do it,” she told Collider.

Anora recently came in at Number Five in NME‘s Films Of The Year in 2024.

We said: “The film carefully strikes a balance between darkness and laugh-out-loud comedy – and it’s Baker’s brilliantly written characters, particularly the lead role played by Oscar-tipped Madison, that make the madcap story deeply enjoyable.

“His commitment to shining a light on sex work in a judgement-free, realistic viewpoint – aided by consultant and author of Modern Whore Andrea Werhun – makes the audience root for Ani throughout the whole ordeal and keeps us thinking about her story for weeks after watching.”

The post ‘Anora’ director says Mikey Madison stole “the last 15 minutes of” ‘Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood’ appeared first on NME.

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