Mikey Madison’s efforts put into researching and training for Anora paid off hugely as she took home the Best Actress award at the 97th Oscars.

Mikey Madison’s Anora had a big night at the Oscars after it won five awards, including the Best Actress for Madison. The actress played Anora “Ani” Mikheeva, a Brighton Beach stripper who gets entangled with the son of a Russian oligarch. Madison shared that she learned to pole dance for the film and it wasn’t an easy task to undertake.

Mark Eydelshteyn and Mikey Madison in a still from Anora | Credits: Neon

Sean Baker, who won four out of the five awards for Anora, is known to make films that revolve around s*x workers, and this is his fifth film dealing with the topic. Baker’s film has been discussed in film circles for its close-to-real-life portrayal of a stripper. Baker and Madison did extensive research for the film.

Anora‘s Mikey Madison did some pretty hard work that deservedly won the Oscar

Mikey Madison in a still from Anora | Credits: Neon

Mikey Madison‘s win at the Oscars is truly deserving even though many fans rooted for Demi Moore to win. Madison did complete justice to her role as a stripper in the film. For the role, she went to some extreme levels to make sure that she got the part right. She learned how to walk and dance like a stripper.

Madison shared with W Magazine that she even learned to pole dance like a stripper. She shared that she was covered in bruises after months of pole dancing lessons. Despite it being a hard task, she shared that she was too stubborn to give up on it and wanted the scene to be impressive. She shared about her hard work:

It’s so hard. I was covered in bruises. I’m a very stubborn person, and I wanted it to be impressive—even if it’s just for a short scene, because it tells you so much about her, how long she’s been working at the club.

In another interview with PEOPLE, Madison shared that she went above and beyond to train and research for the role. The pole dancing scene in the film lasted only 20 seconds, but she wanted it to look perfect since Ani has “been dancing for a few years at least”. She took lessons from a real-life nightclub performer, which gave her certain advantages. She shared:

It made me move my body in a different way and gave me, I don’t know, a different nuance to my sexuality. I just really needed to educate myself on all aspects of [nightclub dancing] and give my body time for it to feel easy when I was finally doing it. I didn’t want it to seem like I was exerting a lot of energy. I wanted it to be very effortless looking.

Director Sean Baker and Madison once spoke about how they set up the opening scene. It was just 30 minutes of Madison making rounds around a strip club, holding on her own without any script and purely depending on her improv skills.

Mikey Madison honored the s*x worker community during her Oscars acceptance speech

Mikey Madison in a still from Anora | Credits: Neon

The Oscars night belonged to Anora. Among its five wins, Mikey Madison won the Best Actress Oscar on her debut nomination. She earlier won the BAFTA Award for the role. She took the stage at the Dolby Theatre to accept the award from Emma Stone, the previous year’s winner.

During her acceptance speech, she honored the sex worker community. She shared that she had the privilege of meeting them for the film. She shared:

I want to again recognize and honor the sex worker community. I will continue to support and be an ally. The women that I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community have been one of the highlights of this entire incredible experience.

Sean Baker created Academy Awards history with his four wins for the film. He is the second person to earn four Oscars in the same event after Walt Disney and the first to win it all on the same night. He won awards for Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture categories.

Anora is now available for rent on Apple TV.