Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts fueling the year’s most talked-about movies continues with Neon‘s Anora, a zany romantic comedy written and directed by Sean Baker. The film, which won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, stars Mikey Madison as Anora, a sex worker from Brooklyn whose life takes an unexpected turn when she meets and impulsively marries the son of a billionaire oligarch.
Neon released Anora on October 18, and it has grossed $29.5 million to date at the global box office. The pic has been a major presence during awards season, having scored a co-leading five Indie Spirit Awards nominations, seven Critics Choice noms and five Golden Globe noms including for directing and screenplay, and Best Picture. The Los Angeles Film Critics named it film of the year, and it’s on several Top 10 lists including AFI‘s.
Set over three contrasting acts, the film opens with Ani (Madison), short for Anora, working at Headquarters, a Manhattan gentlemen’s club. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she encounters Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), a charming trustafarian who sweeps her off her feet with promises of love and a future together. Their whirlwind romance culminates in a hasty shotgun wedding in Las Vegas.
The clock starts ticking on the newlyweds when Ivan’s parents in Russia get wind of the union and decide to come fetch their errant child. Ivan’s parents order Toros (Karren Karagulian) to handle the situation. He dispatches his associate Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and a Russian named Igor (Yura Borisov) to stand guard over the couple. That plan backfires when Ivan escapes and Ani proves to be a ferocious combatant who is defiant in the face of a threatened annulment. With Ivan’s parents en route, Ani is forced to join Toros, Garnick and Igor in an all-night hunt for her fugitive husband, all the while fighting to hang on to her new life.
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Towards the end of Anora, their whirlwind two-week marriage ends abruptly, forcing Ani back to her suburban reality, a stark contrast to the luxurious life she imagined. At the end, the film abruptly cuts to black, without a soundtrack, offering a more realistic portrayal of life.
The origins of Anora lie in Baker’s career-long collaboration with Karagulian, who has worked with the filmmaker since his debut feature Four Letter Words (2000). Knowing the actor was married to a Russian-American woman from Brooklyn, he used her as inspiration for Anora. “I knew I wanted to do a story about Russian-speaking populations in the Brighton Beach/Coney Island area. Eventually, I came up with this story and it developed approximately over a year.”
Baker’s filmography, beginning with Starlet (2012), has centered on the experiences of sex workers. His films including Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017) and Red Rocket (2021) are notable for their empathetic, humorous and respectful portrayal of his marginalized characters.
Read his script below.