“Incredible”: the classic arthouse movies Mikey Madison calls her favourites
Mikey Madison might have only been in a handful of movies and television series before she won a ‘Best Actress’ Oscar, but her incredible performance in Anora is proof that she is already leading a new generation of stars.
When she was 15, Madison shot the low-budget romantic drama Liza, Liza, Skies are Grey. Then, she turned her attention to television, landing a role in the Emmy-nominated Better Things. Establishing herself as an unforgettable talent, she garnered more attention when she appeared in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood alongside stars like Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, playing a member of the Manson Family.
It was this performance, in which she appears incredibly erratic and unhinged, that caught Sean Baker’s attention, inspiring him to cast her in his film Anora. So, after a few more parts, such as a prominent role in 2022’s Scream, she took on the role of Ani, a stripper living in Brooklyn who impulsively marries one of her rich clients.
Despite her rather small filmography, it seems as though Madison has a great cinematic education, revealing some of her favourite movies to Criterion. She picked out various titles, many of which contain intense and show-stopping performances, revealing the ones that have inspired her.
With her first pick, Five Easy Pieces, she highlights Jack Nicholson’s “morally grey character” as one that “you’re rooting for,” describing these kinds of characters as the ones “I’m drawn to as an actor.” She added, “You know, nobody’s just, like, good or bad. It’s that sort of weird space in between that’s really interesting to me.”
“One of the most incredible performances by an actress in the history of cinema…”
mikey madison
Madison also selected one of Baker’s early films, Take Out, which he co-directed with Shih-Ching Tsou in 2004. “It’s fun to see one of his first interpretations of New York City,” Madison explained. The movie takes place in one day, following an undocumented Chinese immigrant living in the big city as he figures out how to pay off the debt he owes to the people who smuggled him into America.
The actor also picked out Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, which was the first film directed by the silent star. “You fall in love with this little boy, and he gives such a beautiful performance, obviously without speaking,” Madison said. The movie features Jackie Coogan, who plays Chaplin’s little sidekick, making him one of Hollywood’s first child stars.
The Piano Teacher is a film that Madison talks about at length, calling Isabelle Huppert’s performance “one of the most incredible performances by an actress in the history of cinema” and describing her as “so intense and vulnerable”.
“I remember watching this, and I was like, ‘I have to just, like, go back and see this one more time because I kind of can’t believe that I just saw this performance.’ […] And you imagine, with another actress, what would they have brought to the character? But you can only picture Isabelle Huppert in this role,” she elucidated.
Directed by Michael Haneke, the movie is a masterpiece of filmmaking and performance that centres on a middle-aged woman living with her mother as she involves herself in a relationship that allows her to act on her transgressive sexual impulses. The erotic film, with its unforgettable leading performance, has certainly inspired Madison when it comes to picking boundary-pushing roles.
Madison also quickly referenced her love for the French horror film Eyes Without A Face and the American New Wave classic Easy Rider, which reflected her diverse taste in incredible movies. It seems as though the star doesn’t limit herself to watching certain genres, something that is also reflected in her own acting choices.
Mikey Madison’s favourite arthouse movies:
- Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969)
- Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970)
- Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju, 1960)
- The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke, 2001)
- The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921)
- Take Out (Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou, 2004)
