If “Anora” is a cockeyed contemporary reconfiguration of the Cinderella story, then actor Yura Borisov is its Prince Charming. Not that you would know it from the way he first slinks onscreen, silent and watchful.
In the film, Borisov plays Igor, hired muscle meant to assist in smoothing out a rough situation when Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the reckless playboy son of a Russian oligarich, impulsively marries a New York stripper named Anora (Mikey Madison). It is Igor who begins to truly see Anora, noticing that her tough exterior hides something tender inside. The same is true for Igor.
“For me, he’s human,” Borisov, 32, said in a Zoom call Thursday from his home in Moscow. “And I want to believe that every human could be like that. I want to do characters that are better than me. I want to do characters that could give to humanity — to give people hope. And that’s why, of course, I love Igor. He’s like a lighthouse for me.”
On Thursday, “Anora” received six Oscar nominations, including directing, original screenplay and editing (all for Sean Baker), lead actress for Madison, supporting actor for Borisov and best picture. His nomination makes Borisov the first Russian actor nominated for an Academy Award in a performing category since Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1978 for “Turning Point.”
“Anora” won the Palme d’Or when it premiered last year at the Cannes Film Festival. It was at the festival years earlier, in 2021, when Baker first noticed Borisov in another project. Baker was there with his own “Red Rocket,” but when he saw director Juho Kuosmanen’s drama “Compartment No. 6,” he was taken with Borisov’s performance.
Vache Tovmasyan, left, and Borisov in the movie “Anora.”
(Neon)
In an interview Thursday morning, Baker remembered reaching out to Kuosmanen to ask him about working with the actor. “He said what I say now when people ask — he’s the best,” Baker said. “He’s not only just an incredible performer, but incredibly thoughtful and really put in a lot of time and elevated what I had on the page with a lot of new ideas.
“And then, of course, his incredible and very consistent subtlety throughout this entire film,” added Baker, “in which he doesn’t have a lot of dialogue yet has to keep something brewing for the audience. Something that will get the audience continuing to hold on and hopefully wonder about this character. And that’s what I think Yura does — he’s able to give a lot when given very little.”
Borisov had not seen any of Baker’s work when the filmmaker first reached out to him. After watching a few of Baker’s films, the actor agreed to participate in Baker’s next project, even though there was not yet a script.
There was something in the energy of those films that appealed to Borisov, even if he couldn’t define it.
“I’m not a critic for understanding how to explain it,” Borisov said. “I could just feel it. Maybe that’s why I’m an actor. I felt something interesting in these films, and I can say it’s important for me.”
Borisov is already well-known in Russia, having won a Golden Eagle award for the 2020 film “AK-47,” in which he played Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the well-known assault rifle. (Baker has called Borisov the “Ryan Gosling of Russia.”) Yet the excitement around “Anora” is something new and largely unexpected.
“I was ready for going to Cannes with this film because Sean was there before — I was there before,” said Borisov. “But it was absolutely crazy that we won the Palme d’Or. And every step after that was more crazy and more crazy. It’s like I’m sitting in the car and looking around while going 200 miles an hour. It’s moving very fast, and I’m still just inside the car.”
From left, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Mikey Madison, Yura Borisov and Sean Baker, photographed at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Igor emerges as a character over the course of the film, going from a still, silent presence to a more active one, largely expressing himself through looks and body language rather than words. It took a specific kind of performer to bring all of that out.
“I didn’t want to show my hand too early,” said Baker. “And the great thing is that Yura is wonderful at the slow burn. A lesser actor would be showing where we’re going the whole time. But he doesn’t. He just gives you very subtle hints throughout, and it’s really with his expression and where his eyes are going.
“As an editor, I got to see even more because I got to see all the takes and the way he would give me slight variations with each take,” Baker added. “He knows what he’s doing. To see an actor who’s very aware of where the camera placement is, where the lighting is, being open to the camera in order to get that emotion across nonverbally — that takes a skilled professional.”
Borisov and Madison met on set and immediately began forging a sense of chemistry between them.
“I remember he walked into the mansion fresh off the plane and was looking at my hair tinsel and was very sweet and curious,” Madison said Thursday. “I loved him from the beginning.”
“We spent all our time together during this shooting,” said Borisov. “And that’s why this relationship between me and Mikey transformed to our characters. Mikey lives in L.A. and was in a different city for shooting. And for me, the same — we’re out of our homes. So this relationship, it’s real.”
A scene where Igor and Ani are alone at Ivan’s house at night takes on a flirtatious charge, as they both start to recognize there is more to the other than they may have initially noticed.
“Sean just gave us freedom to do an absolutely different scene in trying to fill this space, this air around us, together,” recalled Borisov. “And that’s why it was like a small laboratory for trying to find the right direction of energy.”
Shooting in the Russian enclave of Brighton Beach, Borisov would occasionally be recognized by fans. And while it made him uncomfortable in the moment to be distracted from his work, according to Madison, the production was able to secure a couple locations after people noticed who he was.
Though “Anora” is, at times, filled with a fizzy, screwball energy, it reaches its emotional peak in a simple, quietly vulnerable scene that finds Igor and Anora alone together in a car. It could be the end of their relationship or a new beginning, and audiences have responded to the scene with an outpouring of responses regarding the characters’ motivations and what might happen next.
“It was definitely designed to be, No. 1, left up for interpretation and, two, to be divisive,” said Baker. “I’m just really pleased to see it actually having the effect that we were hoping it would have.”
The scene took numerous takes to get right, as the actors found their way to the essential emotions of the moment.
“Me and Mikey at some point did not understand what Sean wanted from us — what are we doing?” Borisov said. “We were doing it again and again. It was the only scene we did like that. And Sean was trying to find the right energy for this moment. What do you feel? It’s because he got it. He found it.”
“I think that we were all just searching for a specific feeling,” added Madison. “We were all sitting in the same car experiencing that moment together, all three of us. And so I think it was just about searching for a moment and then when we finally had it, trying to recognize if it was right.”
As for what might happen for Ani and Igor after that scene, Borisov said, “I can’t answer, because for me it was part of the lives of these characters of Igor and Anora. All I can say is Igor was there, not me.”