As the journey to award season is amping up, many films from the year are being considered for nominations for all types of accolades. Among these include Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist and Sean Baker’s Anora, both of which were met with high praise upon release. Variety reported that both Corbet and Baker, who already had a friendship before their respective works, sat down together and discussed various aspects of filmmaking as a whole, but also specific elements of their films from this year.
One aspect of the Anora that Baker spoke to was the struggle he faced with the film’s runtime. Anora follows a sex worker, played by Mikey Madison, who has to navigate a harsh political climate following her marriage to a Russian oligarch’s son.
The final runtime for Anora clocked in at 139 minutes. However, Baker wound up signing a contract to help with the film’s distribution while it was still in its infancy. One of the stipulations was that it would have a runtime of 2 hours and 10 minutes, even though he knew that the runtime would be 2 hours and 20 minutes from the start.
“That killed me, because I knew I was lying when I signed the contract. It’s not cool, because I lived with that stress for over a year. I got to the point where it was two hours long, and I knew there’s no way I’m wrapping this film up in 10 minutes. They said, “Oh, just make a good movie, and if it’s good enough, no problem,” Baker said.
While Baker elaborated on the runtime, Corbet revealed how he handles the creative process of filmmaking, and expressed how much he needs to give himself to it.
Corbet’s film, The Brutalist, is about an architect played by Adrien Brody as his life changes around him in the wake of moving away from Europe after World War II.
Corbet went in depth about some of his own past experiences in film, and his time growing up alongside other child actors. He spoke to how that caused him to realize that to make a movie, he needed to put all his attention into it. “I now know well this is not a job that you can do part time,” he said.
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