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Tuesday, April 01, 2025
What Really Happened on the Set of 'Anora'?
www.hollywoodreporter.com: A day after Anora swept several major categories at the Oscars, an anonymous social media post threatened to throw cold water on its uplifting narrative of the low-budget indie that could.
6 comments:
Reigh Wilson
said...
To be so honest, overall, I have continued to hear many polarizing and not great things about Anora and the process of creating the film. I was really concerned with the lack of regard when it came to talking about the lack of an intimacy coordinator on the film, as almost a badge of honor in some way during the press tour, when I think they really shouldn’t be putting down a practice that helps with safety of so many parties involved for complex scenes. Then they had such a small budget to film, which was cool, until you learned that they put so much other money in the Oscars promotion of the film, which feels a little icky. And now with this article and the backlash over the crew unionizing for the production. I watched the movie and in my opinion I wasn’t that impressed. I did think Mikey Madison was a great actress but other than that the film kind of fell flat for me and I did not think it deserved the massive award parade that it got this season compared to other movies.
I think the more this story gets circulated, the more it reminds us of the delicate balance indie filmmakers have to strike between creative freedom and worker rights. Baker’s previous comments about struggling with union crews make sense now, but as the Anora incident shows, that tension can have significant consequences—both for the crew and for the director’s public image. It’s a reminder that, even in the indie world, navigating union relationships isn’t just about budgets; it’s about ensuring that the people who make these films happen are treated fairly and respectfully. The report paints a picture of a director who, while trying to keep costs down, may have inadvertently created an environment where workers felt undervalued or uncertain about their rights. There’s a definite tension between being an artist wanting full creative control and recognizing the importance of treating your crew with the respect they deserve, particularly when it comes to union benefits and fair working conditions.
I won’t lie, it was really hard to follow the content in this article, since it jumps around like crazy between different anecdotes. I honestly don’t know how I feel about the lack of unionization, since I’m not fully educated on unions and their impact on a set vs. an individual worker. What I thought was really interesting was how everyone’s experience was so different. Anora is a small indie film that swept the Oscars, which is not something you hear every day, especially with their low budget. I went and did a little research and saw that they had 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, yet 2.6 stars on Google Reviews. This article was written due to an anonymous worker posting about how they had a really bad time, yet mostly everyone else said it was fine. This honestly feels like shitty people trying to tear down success with allegations.
Im not all too shocked that a crew member that worked on the set of anora is coming out now to speak about their poor experience on the job. I also couldn't say if it is fully true or not because it could just be someone trying to ride the wave of people trying to almost cancel the movie and/or the director for not having an intimacy coordinator on set. Which i've actually found it really interesting how all the men’s opinions i've heard about anora have been positive, “oh the main actress consented to it” “ oh that's just how some indie film sets are they just wanna make art in a different way”. What are you even saying bro. I dont care what the main actress thought, on any film set that is of a scale over 20 people, you should have an intimacy coordinator on your set not just for the actors sakes but the crew’s sakes, especially if you are telling stories of sex work, or possible sexual abuse and exploitation. I just feel like this is a no brainer and it's kind of gross how quick to be defensive people have been. Specifically men. Any female opinion I have heard about this agrees with me. Interesting……
This article reminds me that the media is always too involved. As much as journalism and investigative journalism is important, I feel like nowadays that does not really happen and much of the whistleblowing that does happen is not well researched and the claims, that are more often than not false, just spread like wildfire. Sometimes the media just feels like the adult version of everyone in high school who liked to gossip about everything. It feels as if I can never believe anything about anyone in the media anymore and I think that celebrity news comments and the large amount of trashy journalism that is done has largely weighed down the rest of the journalism industry. Everyone is so invested in the lives of celebrities that other news outlets have had to change the way they deliver content with bold headlines and a lot of clickbait so that their news also gets out which has just led to one big giant ball of bad journalism.
As much as I always love to uplift and support indie films in every way I can, I think it's important to acknowledge their shortcomings and the issues that tend to come with a lack of funding, Anora is a solid example of this. Just the caption of the title stating the director had a “hissy fit” when the crew unionized is disappointing to hear, because there is no way the crew just decided to unionize for fun, they had to have been getting treated poorly to the point where they thought risking their jobs with unionizing was the best idea. Just the fact that there was no intimacy coordinator is disappointing to hear, I can’t imagine the performers and crew were all that comfortable with the director with how negatively they appeared to respond when the production team stuck up for themselves. This is often an issue that happens when a film lacks a strong budget and unfortunately the creators typically get a slap on the wrist and nothing more due to the lack of funding for the film, compared to big box production companies that really have no excuse for not providing workers with what they need.
6 comments:
To be so honest, overall, I have continued to hear many polarizing and not great things about Anora and the process of creating the film. I was really concerned with the lack of regard when it came to talking about the lack of an intimacy coordinator on the film, as almost a badge of honor in some way during the press tour, when I think they really shouldn’t be putting down a practice that helps with safety of so many parties involved for complex scenes. Then they had such a small budget to film, which was cool, until you learned that they put so much other money in the Oscars promotion of the film, which feels a little icky. And now with this article and the backlash over the crew unionizing for the production. I watched the movie and in my opinion I wasn’t that impressed. I did think Mikey Madison was a great actress but other than that the film kind of fell flat for me and I did not think it deserved the massive award parade that it got this season compared to other movies.
I think the more this story gets circulated, the more it reminds us of the delicate balance indie filmmakers have to strike between creative freedom and worker rights. Baker’s previous comments about struggling with union crews make sense now, but as the Anora incident shows, that tension can have significant consequences—both for the crew and for the director’s public image. It’s a reminder that, even in the indie world, navigating union relationships isn’t just about budgets; it’s about ensuring that the people who make these films happen are treated fairly and respectfully. The report paints a picture of a director who, while trying to keep costs down, may have inadvertently created an environment where workers felt undervalued or uncertain about their rights. There’s a definite tension between being an artist wanting full creative control and recognizing the importance of treating your crew with the respect they deserve, particularly when it comes to union benefits and fair working conditions.
I won’t lie, it was really hard to follow the content in this article, since it jumps around like crazy between different anecdotes. I honestly don’t know how I feel about the lack of unionization, since I’m not fully educated on unions and their impact on a set vs. an individual worker. What I thought was really interesting was how everyone’s experience was so different. Anora is a small indie film that swept the Oscars, which is not something you hear every day, especially with their low budget. I went and did a little research and saw that they had 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, yet 2.6 stars on Google Reviews. This article was written due to an anonymous worker posting about how they had a really bad time, yet mostly everyone else said it was fine. This honestly feels like shitty people trying to tear down success with allegations.
Im not all too shocked that a crew member that worked on the set of anora is coming out now to speak about their poor experience on the job. I also couldn't say if it is fully true or not because it could just be someone trying to ride the wave of people trying to almost cancel the movie and/or the director for not having an intimacy coordinator on set. Which i've actually found it really interesting how all the men’s opinions i've heard about anora have been positive, “oh the main actress consented to it” “ oh that's just how some indie film sets are they just wanna make art in a different way”. What are you even saying bro. I dont care what the main actress thought, on any film set that is of a scale over 20 people, you should have an intimacy coordinator on your set not just for the actors sakes but the crew’s sakes, especially if you are telling stories of sex work, or possible sexual abuse and exploitation. I just feel like this is a no brainer and it's kind of gross how quick to be defensive people have been. Specifically men. Any female opinion I have heard about this agrees with me. Interesting……
This article reminds me that the media is always too involved. As much as journalism and investigative journalism is important, I feel like nowadays that does not really happen and much of the whistleblowing that does happen is not well researched and the claims, that are more often than not false, just spread like wildfire. Sometimes the media just feels like the adult version of everyone in high school who liked to gossip about everything. It feels as if I can never believe anything about anyone in the media anymore and I think that celebrity news comments and the large amount of trashy journalism that is done has largely weighed down the rest of the journalism industry. Everyone is so invested in the lives of celebrities that other news outlets have had to change the way they deliver content with bold headlines and a lot of clickbait so that their news also gets out which has just led to one big giant ball of bad journalism.
As much as I always love to uplift and support indie films in every way I can, I think it's important to acknowledge their shortcomings and the issues that tend to come with a lack of funding, Anora is a solid example of this. Just the caption of the title stating the director had a “hissy fit” when the crew unionized is disappointing to hear, because there is no way the crew just decided to unionize for fun, they had to have been getting treated poorly to the point where they thought risking their jobs with unionizing was the best idea. Just the fact that there was no intimacy coordinator is disappointing to hear, I can’t imagine the performers and crew were all that comfortable with the director with how negatively they appeared to respond when the production team stuck up for themselves. This is often an issue that happens when a film lacks a strong budget and unfortunately the creators typically get a slap on the wrist and nothing more due to the lack of funding for the film, compared to big box production companies that really have no excuse for not providing workers with what they need.
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