As for why Mikey wound up declining the option? The Better Things alum said it helped her empathize with her character. As she explained, “My character is a sex worker, and so to me, I had seen Sean’s films, and I know his dedication to authenticity—I also wanted to immerse myself in that.”
Indeed, Anora tells the story of a Brooklyn-based sex worker who meets and marries the son of a Russian oligarch, Ivan (Mark).
“She wears her nudity more like a costume, in a way,” Mikey added of Anora. “She presents herself in this sort of hyper sexualized way, because it’s how she how she makes a living, and it’s just what she has to do. And so I think, as an actress, I approached it in a way of it being a job. So, I was very comfortable.”