LOS ANGELES, USA – Backstage at the recent 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, director Sean Baker, who made history for winning four Oscars for the same movie, Anora, talked about being inspired by the Filipino and British social realism films.
“Yes, thank you for bringing up social realism,” said Sean, answering the question Rappler posed.
“It’s been a genre, I guess you could say,” continued Sean, who scored an Oscars feat that film icons Francis Ford Coppola, Bong Joon Ho, Alfonso Cuaron, Walt Disney, and Chloe Zhao came close to achieving.
“A genre that has very much inspired my work from, as you just said, the wonderful Filipino social realism to the British social realism.”
At last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Anora began its ascent when it won the Palme d’Or, Sean made it a point to watch the restored version of Lino Brocka’s Bona, starring Nora Aunor, when it was shown under the Cannes Classics program.
In Rappler’s previous interviews, Sean mentioned that he has seen several films of the late great Filipino director.
Sean continued, “And with this film (Anora), we were definitely infusing some social realism in there, but we were trying to mix it up as well. We were actually kind of genre hopping in many ways but I think social realism — what’s so important about it — is that it really focuses on the truth.”
Sean, who won Best Picture — with fellow producers, his wife Samantha Quan and Alex Coco — as well as Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing, added, “It’s often character studies, sometimes issue-based, and it’s really shining a light on subjects that should be spoken about.”
Anora lead Mikey Madison also won Best Actress.
A champion of indie cinema, the boyish-looking Sean was asked about independent films like Anora, Flow (Best Animated Feature) and Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here (Best International Feature) dominating the Oscars.
“As I said on stage, it really feels wonderful that the Academy is recognizing independent film,” Sean said before the assembled journalists from around the world.
“In many ways, we always jump into these projects knowing that we will have to compete with films that have budgets that are literally almost 100 times what we’ve shot our film for.”
“And when we’re actually able to do that, get into the same room as other films such as Wicked, a wonderful movie, but a totally different type of a film from ours, it means that we’re doing something right.”
The 54-year-old director added, “And also, it’s been a great tradition over the last few years of independent films being recognized and this batch this year is so wonderful. We feel very aligned with filmmakers of, for example, The Brutalist – Brady (Corbet, writer-director) and Mona (Fastvold, co-writer).”
“We feel very aligned with the way that they are making movies and we’re very inspired by them. So for us to be just in that conversation this year with these other wonderful independents, it means everything.”
Told that the four Oscar trophies he was clutching seemed like the Academy’s recognition of his oeuvre — The Florida Project, Red Rocket, Tangerine, and Anora — Sean replied, “That’s sweet. Thank you. That’s a very nice view. It does feel like a culmination in many ways.”
“I’ve been covering the topic of sex work in my last four films and it was actually the research I had done on those films and just those films teaching me that eventually led to Anora.”
The director, who chronicles the lives of these workers and members of the marginalized communities, also addressed those who judge and criticize sex workers.
“So I’ve been pretty outspoken about my stance on sex work. It’s our oldest profession yet it has an incredible, unfair stigma applied to it,” he said.
“And what I’ve been trying to do with my films is I sort of chip away at that very unfair stigma. Personally, I think it should be decriminalized and I guess through my work, through hopefully humanizing my characters that are usually seen as perhaps caricatures in most film and television, it will help do that.”
Mikey Madison
Mikey Madison also reflected on her winning moment now that she just scored her first Best Actress Oscar at only 25 years old and with only 13 IMDb credits.
“I really don’t know what will happen,” a beaming Mikey said backstage. “I just know that tonight, I’m going to go home to my new puppies and probably clean up their mess and it’s gonna bring me right down to earth.”
On what she would say to Anora, if she could talk to her character, a New York stripper who impulsively marries a young man who turns out to be a Russian oligarch’s son, Mikey said: “My heart is about to explode right now…”
“I would just say that I’m grateful that I was able to portray you for a short period of time,” she said.
“And there will always be a small part of me that carries around the experience of making the film and the character because it has changed my life in so many ways, not just because of all of this that’s happening right now but just the experience of being able to work with Sean Baker, learning and meeting incredible people from the sex work community who have been such a wonderful part of this.”
Adrien Brody
For his portrayal of a Hungarian Jewish architect who survives the horrors of the Holocaust and immigrates to America in The Brutalist, Adrien Brody joins an elite group of two-time Oscar Best Actor winners – Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins, and Tom Hanks.
Adrien also explained why he openly denounced antisemitism in his acceptance speech.
“We all know that it’s an important time to recognize that there’s no place for intolerance, and as I had mentioned in my speech, I’m oddly receiving recognition for representing a time in history that we witnessed unchecked anti-Semitism and that hatred and oppression have no place in this world and that we must learn from the past,” he said.
Adrien also reflected on his many years as an actor after a historic triumph.
“It’s been a long journey, a beautiful one and an artistic path,” he shared.
“As you try to navigate creative choices, there are many variables and wonderfully, there’s an enormous amount of talented individuals all vying for very few great opportunities, and that’s the bottom line.”
Adrien also admitted that he felt connected with his character Laszlo Toth, who experiences discrimination as a Jewish immigrant.
“I have been working very hard for the past 22 years but nothing quite connected on this level,” he said.
“So I’m conscious of that and I’m grateful that I had the good fortune of being selected by Brady and Mona to be a part of a very meaningful story, one that speaks to injustice and not just along the lines of what we had discussed but it’s also quite relevant to consider the lives of others, of people who have the hopes and dreams to be free of oppression and very difficult circumstances abroad.”
He also shared how The Brutalist felt personal.
“My grandparents’ struggles, their loss and resilience have paved the way for my own good fortune,” he said.
“I had an opportunity to honor them in this film, and the truths and the insight that I’ve gained of these hardships of so many people, of many different backgrounds and ethnicities, have made me aware of a need for us to be empathetic.”
Zoe Saldana
Zoe Saldana, Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Perez, fielded a reporter’s question backstage that the film, which tells the story of four women in a setting depicting Mexican cartels and their victims, is “really hurtful for us Mexicans.”
“First of all, I’m very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended,” Zoe began. “That was never our intention. We spoke and we came from a place of love and I will stand by that.”
Zoe explained that more than anything, Emilia Perez, zeroed in on the film’s female characters who are “very universal women.”
“I don’t share your opinion. For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We weren’t making a film about a country,” she said.
“We were making a film about four women and these women could have been Russian, Dominican, could have been Black from Detroit, Israel, could have been from Gaza.”
The actress added, “These women are still very universal women who are struggling every day, trying to survive systemic oppression. And trying to find their most authentic voices.”
“So I will stand by that but I’m also always open to sit down with all of my Mexican brothers and sisters, and with love and respect, have a great conversation on how Emilia could have been done better.”
Zoe, who gave an emotional speech on the Oscars stage but was composed backstage, shared what prepared her for the moment.
“I think it’s every time that I went after a part and I didn’t get it. I cared so much and I was so heartbroken for sometimes a day, sometimes a week. But I got up again,” she recalled.
“Because, at the end of the day, if I don’t act, if I don’t do my art, then what am I? Who am I?”
“And realizing that it’s not about the win, when you learn to let that go — and it is about the work, day in and day out — the day that you do win, you just have a deeper appreciation for it. And you feel that you have appreciated every experience and every moment that has led you here.”
Kieran Culkin
“It definitely felt different,” Kieran Culkin said of his character Benji Kaplan, a free-spirited and outspoken slacker, a “man-child,” in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, for which he bagged Best Supporting Actor honors.
“The script was incredibly tight that I didn’t want to rehearse it, talk about it or anything. It just felt like it was the first time I ever read something and went, I fully understand this guy. I don’t even want to read it again,” he shared.
“I wanna show up on the day and go, what scene are we doing? Oh yes, this one. And the words got in here really quickly because they were so well written.”
The 42-year-old also noted why playing the character was an “unusual experience.”
“So that was a fun new approach. And it felt like I knew who this guy was but I couldn’t identify it, and I didn’t want to analyze it because right away, upon reading it, I went, I know who this guy is. I’m just gonna leave it and just do it,” he said.
“It wasn’t until almost a year later when I watched it that I was like, oh my God, I know someone exactly like this, and I didn’t realize I was doing that. And the moment I realized it, my wife (Jazz Charton) leaned over and said his name in my ear.”
“I was like, you’re right, I’m totally doing him and I didn’t even know. Oh, that kind of unusual experience. I’ve never had that before.”
Walter Salles
Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here made history as the first Brazilian film to cop the Academy’s Best International Feature prize.
Fernanda Torres earned a Best Actress nomination as a mother of five in the true story of a family whose patriarch disappears during the military dictatorship in the 1970s.
“This took seven years for us to get here, and at the beginning, we just knew that this was a story that was necessary (to tell),” Walter said backstage in the press room. “And we never thought that we would end here actually.”
“This whole journey was about retracing the memory of a family at the same time as you were retracing the memory of a country during 21 years of military dictatorship. And this real-life story is the one where an extraordinary woman is a protagonist, Eunice Paiva.”
The filmmaker, also known for Central Station (which starred Fernanda’s mother, Fernanda Montenegro) and The Motorcycle Diaries, added, “So I think she (Eunice) is still guiding us. This isn’t really just the film.”
“It’s Eunice really protecting us and being here. And at the same time, it’s Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro, two extraordinary Brazilian actresses, showing us that to resist is important in art, and they did that.”
“They did resist and art flourished, thanks to them. So, this is for these three extraordinary women.”
Gints Zilbalodis
Gints Zilbalodis appeared backstage with his fellow creatives in Flow, adjudged the Best Animated Feature, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens, and Gregory Zalcman.
The Latvian filmmaker boasted that he made his visually stunning film using a totally free software.
“Blender is a free open source software, which means everyone can have access to it. So, any kid now has tools that are used to make these Academy-winning films,” he said.
“I think we’re going to see all kinds of exciting films being made from kids who might not have had a chance to do this before. And so it’s a great tool. It’s not in any way a compromise; it’s just as good as anything out there, and we’re going to use it also for my next film.”
Paul Tazewell
The press room cheered loudest when Paul Tazewell strode in as the first Black to win Best Costume Design for Wicked.
“This is the pinnacle of my career,” declared Paul, who grinned from ear to ear. “I’ve been designing costumes for over 35 years. Much has been on Broadway and now into film, and the whole way through there was never a Black male designer that I saw that I could follow, that I could see as inspiration.”
“And to realize that’s actually me, it becomes a Wizard of Oz moment. It’s like no place like home. So to come back to the inspiration being inside of me is really remarkable.” – Rappler.com