By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, Related Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean Baker received finest director on the Oscars on Sunday for “Anora,” bookending a dominant awards season for the American filmmaker whose tales search to humanize intercourse employees and immigrants.
Baker, 53, wrote, produced, directed and edited the movie, which can be among the many prime contenders for finest image. The comedy-drama stars Mikey Madison as a Brooklyn unique dancer who marries the impetuous son of a Russian oligarch. They impulsively tie the knot on a ketamine-induced Las Vegas getaway, angering his dad and mom, who ship their bumbling henchmen after the couple to power an annulment.
“If you didn’t cast Mikey Madison in ‘Once Upon a Time,’ there would be no ‘Anora,’” Baker informed Quentin Tarantino, who introduced the award.
Baker got here into the night time the favourite for the directing Oscar after incomes the highest prize from the Administrators Guild of America, a win that traditionally all however ensures an Oscars victory. He additionally took residence the highest awards on the Producers Guild and Impartial Spirit Awards.
This yr’s finest director lineup featured 5 first-time nominees within the class for the primary time in practically three many years. All had writing credit on their respective movies, demonstrating the academy’s rising desire for auteurs who can masterfully carry their very own imaginative and prescient to life. For the Oscar, he beat out Brady Corbet of “The Brutalist,” James Mangold of “A Complete Unknown,” Jacques Audiard of “Emilia Pérez” and Coralie Fargeat of “The Substance.”
Going into the night time, Baker had the potential to win a report 4 Oscars for “Anora,” which was nominated for six in complete. He received for finest unique screenplay and finest enhancing — a rarity as administrators don’t sometimes reduce their very own movies. He’s additionally up for finest image.
“Anora” brings Baker’s signature model of provocative comedy from indie theaters into the mainstream, mixing slapstick humor with social commentary in a manner that makes classes about marginalized teams palatable to a wider viewers. He made the movie on a modest finances of $6 million — an quantity one producer joked is smaller than the catering finances of a few of its rivals. Final yr’s finest image winner, “Oppenheimer,” had a $100 million finances.
Baker has been vocal concerning the issue of creating impartial movies and surviving as an indie filmmaker in an trade that more and more helps big-budget spectacles. In a rousing speech on the Impartial Spirit Awards, he stated indies are in peril of changing into “calling card films” — motion pictures made solely as a way to get employed for tasks at main studios. With out backing for impartial movies, he stated, a number of the most artistic and revolutionary tasks may by no means be made.
He exhorted filmmakers to maintain shifting movies for the large display screen, bemoaning the erosion of the theatergoing expertise.
“Watching a film in the theater with an audience is an experience. We can laugh together, cry together, scream in fright together, perhaps sit in devastated silence together. In a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever. It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home,” he stated.
Baker has lengthy been obsessed with utilizing his craft to assist destigmatize intercourse work. His 2012 movie “Starlet” follows a budding friendship between an grownup movie star and a crotchety widow who sells her a thermos full of money at a yard sale. Baker stated the connections he fashioned with intercourse employees concerned within the mission impressed him to characteristic them in a number of different movies.
He obtained widespread reward for “Tangerine” (2015), during which he used three iPhone 5S smartphones to inform a narrative about transgender intercourse employees in Los Angeles. In “The Florida Project” (2017), a single mom residing in an Orlando motel turns to intercourse work to offer for her daughter. And “Red Rocket” (2021) follows a retired porn actor’s journey again to his small Texas hometown.
Initially Revealed: March 2, 2025 at 7:36 PM PST
