GETTING TO THE HEART OF UNEXPECTED ROMANCE

Oscar-nominated for her role in Anora, Mikey Madison reveals why she got to know sex workers, how her dad helped her install a stripper pole - and why her character is a romantic deep down

- GILL PRINGLE

Mikey Madison has already been nominated for Best Actress at both the for her role as lovestruck stripper Anora in the dark romcom of the same name - and the star reveals that she plunged herself into the world of sex workers in preparation for the part.

"She was a character I immediately wanted to get to understand, because she's so incredibly different from me," says Californiaborn Mikey, 25. The daughter of two psychologists, the actress was largely homeschooled while she dedicated herself to competitive horseriding in her youth.

If director Sean Baker has dubbed his film a "love story", then Anora is a far cry from Disney's happy-ever-after tales or even 1990 hit Pretty Woman. At its heart is heroine Anora (or Ani), a young sex worker from Brooklyn, who gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries Ivan, the son of an oligarch.

But once the news reaches Russia, her fairy tale is threatened as Ivan's angry parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

"I had to learn how to give lap dances and do pole tricks. I even helped choreograph a striptease dance that Ani does for Ivan.