Anora star Mikey Madison got candid on why there was no intimacy coordinator present on set of the romantic-comedy while filming intimate scenes with co-star Mark Eydelshteyn.
The actress, who earned a 2025 Golden Globe nomination for her role in Anora, recently opened up about her decision to forgo an intimacy coordinator while filming the movie’s sex scenes.
“It was a choice that I made,” Madison told Pamela Anderson during Variety‘s Actors on Actors series on Dec. 17. “The filmmakers offered to me if I wanted to bring on an intimacy coordinator or not.”
An intimacy coordinator typically oversees scenes involving nudity or simulated sex, ensuring choreography is respectful while advocating for the comfort of actors and crew.
However, Madison, 25, opted to keep the set intimate, allowing only director Sean Baker, his wife and co-producer Samantha Quan, and co-star Mark Eydelshteyn to be present during filming.
“We were able to just really streamline it, shoot it super quickly,” Madison explained.
“There are less sex scenes, more sex shots—that’s what Sean likes to say. And I think there’s a lot of humor involved in them as well. And so it was a very positive experience for me.”
The Better Things alum also shared how declining the coordinator helped her connect more deeply with her character.
“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,” she said.
Anora follows the story of a Brooklyn-based sex worker who unexpectedly meets and marries Ivan (Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch.
Reflecting on her character, Madison said, “She wears her nudity more like a costume, in a way. She presents herself in this sort of hyper sexualized way, because it’s 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.”
