The China Mail - Porn stars: Oscar favorite 'Anora' gets sex work right

If Sean Baker's "Anora" triumphs at the Academy Awards next Sunday, as predicted by most pundits, it will have achieved both.

"Sean gets sex work. He just does," porn actress and director Casey Calvert tells AFP, as she prepares to film an explicit lesbian scene on a set in the San Fernando Valley.

"Sean is the only working mainstream filmmaker who has the ability to get it right. He's also the only one who cares about getting it right," adds adult film veteran Eli Cross, who is the cinematographer for the day.

Baker's journey to the Oscars began in this valley next to Los Angeles, infamously and accurately dubbed the capital of the US porn industry.

It was here that he shot "Starlet," a micro-budget film about a young adult actress who forms an unlikely friendship with an elderly widow.

Baker's candid portrayal of an industry used to being maligned and sensationalized by Hollywood earned him the friendship of porn workers like Calvert, who later worked as a paid consultant on his film "Red Rocket."

She will be among the many pornographers and sex workers cheering on "Anora" as it competes for best picture, best director, best actress for Mikey Madison, and much more on March 2.

"It's so exciting to me that I can't even think about it," says Calvert.

"It would feel like this industry that I love being recognized on a stage it's never been recognized before on."

- 'Really skeptical' -

"Anora" follows Ani, a New York stripper and escort, as she embarks on an ill-fated, whirlwind romance with a bratty young Russian customer who turns out to be the son of an oligarch.

Typical of Baker's movies, it is stuffed with details that "civilian" viewers might miss.

These range from the pole-dancing bruises on Ani's legs, to the way she licks her fingers before instigating a sex act.

"It's just such a sex worker thing to do. It's so in character," explains Calvert.

Authenticity is not something sex workers expect from Hollywood.

Most famously, "Pretty Woman" served up a sanitized fairy tale about a prostitute and her wealthy savior.

"The sex work industry as a whole is really skeptical of any film having to do with sex work," says Calvert.

"Hollywood, historically speaking, has made a lot of movies about prostitution and escorting that are not particularly positive."

Following the world premiere of "Anora," Baker told AFP he had deliberately avoided the "hooker with a heart of gold" cliches.

For Calvert, Baker's films stand out because they are not really about sex work -- they are about the struggles, emotions and humanity of people who happen to do sex work for a living.

"It's not about the taboo of sex. It's just about a marginalized community of people who he finds really interesting and wants to explore," she says.

- 'Consensual' -

"Anora" has already won multiple awards, from the Cannes festival's Palme d'Or to prizes from Hollywood's directors, producers, writers and critics.

Baker has repeatedly dedicated his success to sex workers, and Madison used her BAFTA acceptance speech to pledge to be "an ally."

That such remarks caused zero controversy arguably represents a sea change in Hollywood.

A decade ago, industry heavyweights like Meryl Streep joined a campaign to oppose the decriminalization of sex work.

It is part of a wider, age-old debate about the profession.

Opponents warn that criminal gangs exploit and traffic vulnerable women. Proponents of a regulated industry say it would better protect sex workers, who have the right to do as they wish with their bodies.

Pornographer Siouxsie Q said it was "amazing" to see a film portraying "consensual adult sex work" receiving mainstream accolades.

"We've come a long way, baby -- we really have," she told AFP.

- 'Stigma' -

Still, Calvert says the "stigma" surrounding pornography remains fierce, with highly experienced and talented adult filmmakers rarely able to cross over into Hollywood work.

On the day AFP visited her set, Calvert -- known for directing what she calls "big budget cinematic features" in adult film -- was shooting in a large but outwardly nondescript house on a suburban cul-de-sac.

Neighbors chased away reporters carrying camera gear to the home, wary of what was taking place inside.

Baker is an unusual mainstream director who casts real porn actors in his films, and is genuinely friends with many in both businesses.

Calvert says that fact was "a huge reason why I think that the critical success of 'Anora' is so important."

Baker's work "helps a ton to break down those barriers," she said.

W.Cheng--ThChM