Note: This interview was originally conducted before the Academy Awards. We’re reposting it to celebrate Anora‘s Oscar wins.
Anora has had an incredible journey over the course of the past year, from winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival following its first public screening to its recent big wins at the Writers’, Directors’, and Producers’ Guild Awards. The latter victory saw producer Samantha Quan take the stage as a recipient of the top prize, and it marks the latest step in an incredible journey for her as well.
Quan started off her showbiz career as an NYU-trained actress, scoring roles in TV series such as CSI: Miami and Elementary. But she admits she always felt a certain restlessness, a sense that she wanted to do more. “I had this thing where I just thought every time something would happen and I’d get a job, and I’d think, oh, maybe if I do this, then I’ll be happy and fulfilled,” she says. “But it never really happened.”
Things started to change when her real-life partner, filmmaker Sean Baker, asked her to put her skills as an acting coach to work on his movie The Florida Project, helping with the difficult task of coaxing naturalistic performances out of children who’d never been in front of the camera before. Quan earned an associate-producer credit on that film, and moved up to a full-fledged producer on Baker’s subsequent films, Red Rocket and now Anora.
Quan says she’s more satisfied with her new position as producer, but admits there are obvious difficulties when it comes to working on a film with your spouse. “I’m sure you can imagine it can get kind of complicated sometimes, because making a movie is practically impossible in so many ways,” she says. “And it can be very, very stressful. But I think at the end of the day, the thing about Sean and I is we know that we always have each other’s backs.”
Either way, it’s a partnership that’s certainly yielded impressive results: Anora isn’t just a terrific movie in its own right, but an example of the wonders that a filmmaking team can accomplish on a modest budget ($6 million in this case) when they’re lead by resourceful and intelligent producers.
Quan spoke with Awards Focus about how to save money when making an indie film, finding a prominent acting role for long-time collaborator Karren Karagulian, and the incredible moments she’s experienced during awards season.
Awards Focus: You’ve worked as both an actress and a producer. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey in Hollywood and how you first got started?
Samantha Quan: Basically, I started out as an actor. I went to NYU’s grad school for acting and then I ended up working in film and television as an actress for many, many years. And I love the process of acting, but for me, there was something that I always felt like was missing.
I had this thing where I just thought every time something would happen and I’d get a job, and I’d think, oh, maybe if I do this, then I’ll be happy and fulfilled. Or maybe if I reach this level, then I’ll be happy and fulfilled. But it never really happened. Every time I was just like, no, I still feel the same. And also I had this weird thing where I just wasn’t that comfortable with people looking at me.
So I started getting involved in doing other things with my friends and creating things. And then I was also working as an acting coach. And the first big thing that I did with Sean was we were working on The Florida Project and we were watching this Korean movie Miracle on 1st Street. And there were these children in the film who were amazing and there were super-long takes and they were crying and they were doing all of these things. And he turned to me and he said, “I want the kids in The Florida Project to be like this.”
And I said, “Well, you have to work with kids in a very particular way. And sometimes it’s hard, especially with long takes and their energy.” And he just said, “Yeah, I want you to help me with that. Would you do it?” And I said yes. And that’s kind of where that started. So I worked with all of the kids on The Florida Project and the moms because some of them hadn’t acted onscreen before.
And so that was my first time just digging in and working with Sean in a deeper way. I was an associate producer on that, and then I started working with Sean as a full-on producer, and really those itches that I used to have as an actor, I don’t feel those anymore. I love being a part of every single part of the process.
AF: What were the earliest origins for the story of Anora? What inspired the movie?
Quan: Well, there were a few things. Number one, Karren Karagulian and Sean have been working together for many, many years, and he’s been in every single one of Sean’s films. And Brighton Beach and the Coney Island area was a place where they always wanted to make a film because Karren actually had lived there when he first came to America and he sold caviar on the street there to make a living.
And so we were always looking for something for Karren to be in. And I think especially after Red Rocket, where Karren was literally a voice on the phone, it was time for Karren to have a really juicy role. So we wanted to figure out something for Karren to be in that would feature him, and that would happen in Brighton Beach, most likely.
And Sean had done a lot of research for movies like Starlet, so that’s where the sex-worker aspect came in. But we heard a lot of stories about young women who had married the wrong man or married a man very quickly, and realized it was a mistake and he led her down a crazy path. And so we were really intrigued by that.
We kind of put everything together, and those were the seeds of Anora.
AF: Was there any particular difficulty during the making of this film that you had to find a creative solution for?
Quan: You know, it’s really difficult nowadays to make small independent films in America. So budgetary restrictions are always a concern. And it was really important for us, because it was the biggest budget we ever had, we wanted to be able to give Sean everything.
It’s still very similar narratively to his other films, but this was the first time we were focusing on some very rich people. And so when it comes down to dealing with people who are very wealthy, you have to have the accoutrements of that. You have to have the costumes and the private planes and the mansions and things like that, which, you know, budget-wise could have been a strain.
And so we tried to figure out smarter ways of doing that. For instance, we had worked with fashion brands like Khaite and others previously, and so I’d call them up and say, we’re doing this film, there are some very wealthy people in it, would you help us with the costumes? And everyone was very generous with us.
But I think that was with every single department. And also, it wasn’t easy bringing in actors from all over the world on a small budget, but we managed to do it because those kinds of things are imperative.
So I would say probably budget was the biggest thing because, you know, buying days, that’s another thing that’s super important just because we’re a small film and we wanted all of our money to be on the screen. And that meant the highest production level we could get at such a small budget, competing with the films that are are 20 or 30 times as much. So it just was a negotiation.
If we wanted to buy more days, there were other things we had to shoot really, really quickly and there were things we had to cut back on a little bit. But luckily, in addition to being the director, Sean is also a producer, and when we would ask him what we could cut back on at certain times, he would put his producer cap back on and say, okay, I know I said that I need three days for this, but I can do it in one. So we’re lucky that way.
AF: Does your relationship with Sean allow you to push further on your creative disagreements, or does it give you more respect for each other’s vision? How would you say that works?
Quan: We’re a couple in real life, we’re partners in everything. And so I’m sure you can imagine it can get kind of complicated sometimes, because making a movie is practically impossible in so many ways. And it can be very, very stressful.
But I think at the end of the day, the thing about Sean and I is we know that we always have each other’s backs. We can always trust each other. And that no matter what happens, there’s no ulterior motive ever.
And I think because of that, there is a trust. I will say, watching everything he does as an artist, even though I live with him every day, I have so much respect for him. The things that he does, even if we weren’t married, I would follow him. I would want to work with him. And I feel very fortunate to be in the position to be able to share many aspects of our lives together.
AF: You’ve been on such an incredible journey this past year with Anora, from winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes to the recent victories at the DGA and PGA. How has all of that felt?
Quan: To be perfectly honest, it’s been kind of overwhelming. It’s kind of like a dream.
We don’t set out to make movies for this purpose — not that it’s not wonderful, but when we’re making things, it’s because we feel so passionate about making that particular story. And you work for so long, like we make a movie every few years. It takes about a year to kind of figure out what it’s going to be. And then it takes a year to get the production up and running and shoot it. And then it takes another year or two for us to settle in. And because we do everything and Sean edits it himself, it takes about a year to get everything together and edit it properly. And Alex Coco, our other producer, was doing post-production while we were doing all sorts of things.
So you’re on that journey for so long, and you just hope that at the end someone will like it. That it’s not just you watching it being like, “I love this.” And you put it out into the world and you’re like, “I hope someone likes it.” And I think at the time when we finished, Sean had said something like, “I think there’s at least one person in the world where this will be their favorite movie.” And we all kind of smiled about that. But now, for it to be a lot of people’s favorite movie, it’s just, there are no words really.
I mean, before we left for Cannes, Sean was like, we can just have a nice time in France because we’re probably not gonna win anything. I was like, okay. Like we were just so happy to be in the main competition. And then when things kept on rolling in and people kept on commenting and then this past weekend was literally unbelievable. I mean, it’s just such an honor to be there with these other films, to be nominated for things, to be included in the conversation. And honestly, it’s all been a complete surprise. We’re such fans of everyone there and all the other films.
And so at the Critics’ Choice Awards, honestly, I was like, at the end of this, I’ll just take a shot of tequila because I didn’t drink anything. I’ll take a shot of tequila to celebrate that we were at this and Anora was nominated and then we’ll leave, not expecting to win. And so what happened was I never drank that shot of tequila because he called our names and then we were gone.
And then with the PGAs and the DGAs, it was such a crazy whirlwind and it really was just so shockingly wonderful and such an honor. I still don’t think I really comprehend the past six months.