Italian
Mikey Madison begins Sean Baker‘s Palme d’Or-winning drama “Anora” as a stripper who accepts thousands of dollars to be exclusive with her rich Russian client, Vanya (Mark Eidelstein) for a too-perfect week that ends with a diamond ring on her finger. But as quickly as the marriage came together, Vanya runs away while his family’s goons chase, gag and tie Ani up before forcing her to help them arrange an annulment. Needless to say, the film earns its R-rating with violence, drugs and of course, plenty of sex.
But there was no intimacy coordinator on set.
“It was a choice that I made,” Madison said in a conversation with Pamela Anderson for Variety‘s Actors on Actors. She went on to explain that Baker and his wife, producer Samantha Quan, offered her the chance to work with an intimacy coordinator, but she and Eidelstein “decided that it would be best just to keep it small. We were able to streamline it, shoot it super quickly.”
Intimacy coordination is a relatively new practice on film sets. The role was popularized in the late 2010s as studios began hiring experts in movement and mental health to choreograph sexually intimate scenes while offering legal and emotional advocacy to all parties involved. Though some companies have mandated the use of an intimacy coordinator on their sets, there are no industry-wide requirements about the role, leaving the producers of films like “Anora” free to operate as they see fit.
Popular on Variety Rather than bring in someone else to oversee intimate moments, Baker and Quan “would talk about different positions” and “demonstrate what they wanted it to look like,” Madison previously told Variety. Baker added, “I think with intimacy coordination, it’s a case-by-case basis, film-by film-basis. If an actor requests one, 100%. But I have directed approximately 10 sex scenes throughout my career, and I’m very comfortable doing so. It is our No. 1 priority to keep our actors safe, protected, comfortable and involved in the process.”
Speaking to Anderson, Madison said that the “sex shots” in “Anora” were “a very positive experience,” but her comments still sparked heated discourse online. On X, some users called Baker “sleazy” for asking the actor if she wanted an intimacy coordinator “when it should be a mandatory requirement,” or assumed that Madison “was obviously being manipulated into not using” one. Others came to Madison’s defense: “She made an informed decision about the work environment she wanted,” one user wrote, while another asked, “If she was comfortable then what’s the problem?”
To that, intimacy coordinator Marci Liroff says, “She’s empowered, she has autonomy within herself, and I totally get that. But an intimacy coordinator is not just there for the lead actors.” Jessica Steinrock, CEO of Intimacy Coordinators and Directors Inc., concurs: “When framed as ‘Do you want this support or not?,’ it makes sense to me that someone might opt out because they personally do not feel the need for additional advocacy or support, not fully recognizing how the role also supports others on set.” (A representative for Madison declined to comment on this story.)
According to Liroff, whose credits include ““Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and “Dexter: Original Sin,” many in her line of work are unsettled by the idea that actors were positioned as the decision-makers around intimate scenes in “Anora.”
“I admire Sean Baker as a filmmaker a lot, but what became really obvious to me is that he neglects to understand the power dynamics that are inherent on set,” Liroff says. “It is next to impossible for a performer to say no to someone who has hiring and firing power. You don’t want to seem needy. You don’t want to have to spend more money — we’re a new position on set, so we’re a new line item on the budget.” (Representatives for Baker did not respond to Variety‘s request for comment. Neon, the film’s distributor, declined to comment.)
And Madison and Eidelstein aren’t the only actors who’d have to say no to how intimate scenes were being handled.
“We’re really only hearing from the two lead actors, the director and the producer,” points out Lauren Kiele DeLeon, an intimacy coordinator who has worked on the Broadway revival of “Cabaret” and the upcoming Sundance film “Bunnylovr.” “We’re hearing from the people who have the most power on this set, but they can’t speak for how every extra felt on the film.”
Indeed, the world of “Anora” is populated with many background actors who were tasked with sensitive material. The film’s early scenes take place in the strip club where Ani works; before she and Vanya ever have sex, several unnnamed women are seen giving lap dances to several unnamed men. Despite not having lines, each of those performers would have had a chance to talk through what kinds of costumes and contact they were comfortable with an intimacy coordinator if one had been present, Liroff says, having managed ensembles of 30 dancers plus their male clients herself on the Starz drama “Hightown.”
Additionally, an intimacy coordinator is responsible for ensuring the comfort and safety of the crew members present for scenes involving nudity. One the most important parts of an intimacy coordinator’s training, Liroff says, is in trauma first aid “in case a performer or a crew member gets triggered by a scene and has a panic attack.”
“These actors felt comfortable with their director — that’s great,” DeLeon says of Madison and Eidelstein. “But I think we leave out a lot of other people when we focus on the people who have the most power. Throughout history, we’ve had cameramen who have to sit there, silently, and literally record assault, and not feel that they could say anything,” she says. “We are in an industry of people who are trained to just say yes and not think about anything further. That’s a hard thing to rewire.”
In her conversation with Anderson, Madison said that Ani’s job was another factor in her decision not to work with an intimacy coordinator. “My character is a sex worker. I had seen Sean’s films, and I know his dedication to authenticity,” she said, referring to “Tangerine” and “Red Rocket,” which also feature sex workers as the main characters. “I also wanted to immerse myself in that, so I was ready for it.”
Speaking about her character, Madison continued: “It requires a lot of her body and her skin. She wears her nudity like a costume. She presents herself in this hypersexualized way because it’s how she makes a living. It’s just what she has to do. So I, as an actress, approached it in a way of it being a job.”
But a problem can arise when sexual content on-screen is conflated with production practices off-screen, DeLeon says.
“We do need to destigmatize sex work. We do need to be showing these stories in authentic ways, and it’s awesome that they had sex work consultants to make sure they were being accurate,” she says. “But the movie being so supportive in that way doesn’t directly translate to intimacy coordination.” While a consultant mainly has eyes on the script, it’s part of an intimacy coordinator’s training to “place bodies in a way that looks real but doesn’t feel real in any way. The good intimacy coordinators I know are collaborative.” And as Liroff puts it, hiring a sex work consultant without an intimacy coordinator is like “talking to someone who wrote a book about stunts and then not hiring a stunt coordination.”
Andrea Werhun, one of the consultants in question on “Anora,” doesn’t disagree.
Werhun was hired onto “Anora” after Baker read “Modern Whore,” a memoir she wrote about her experiences as a sex worker. Now, she’s in post-production on a film adaptation of the book directed by Nicole Bazuin. Werhun plays herself in the film, and Baker serves as an executive producer.
“Our intimacy coordinator, Anisa Tejpar, was present nearly every single day,” Werhun said about the “Modern Whore” film. “It would not have been possible to make our film without the assistance of an intimacy coordinator to ensure that everyone’s consent is being respected, start-to-finish.”
Along with the performers and crew members, she also sees the intimacy coordinator as a way to make sure people feel good about watching the film: “I think it’s important for the audience to rest assured that everything they’re seeing has been played out with complete consent. Everyone knows what they’re getting into. There’s nothing spontaneous. There’s nothing improvised. Everybody feels safe and comfortable on set and beyond.”
“My personal opinion is that intimacy coordinators should be standardized in any film that involves any type of intimacy,” Werhun continues. Working on “Modern Whore,” she observed Tejpar’s thoroughness, including the nudity riders written into performers’ contracts. “A rider needs to be written up for anyone who’s like shirtless, and that includes men. That level of care, I think, is really important to to imbue in all films.”
That said, she understands where Madison is coming from. “She made the call herself that she didn’t want one. And I think it’s important to respect her autonomy there,” she says. “I totally respect her decision, and I don’t think she should be shamed.”
“The reason she said no, I’m sure, has to do with her feeling of trust in Sean and Sammy and the rest of the production team,” Werhun concludes. “Do I think it would have made a stronger film if there was an intimacy coordinator involved? Quite possibly. But Sean Baker might have a different opinion on that.”
Jazz Tangcay contributed to this report.
