Anora Star Mark Eydelshteyn’s Life Is a Movie

He recently watched and loved Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the Ryan Murphy–fied crime drama series starring Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez. It made him think about the idea of the antihero, something he considered often when he was playing Ivan.

“For me, it was a big challenge to do him bigger than just antagonist,” he says, adding that he and Baker imagined Ivan going through the film in three stages: the first, as a freewheeling prince; the second, a responsibility-avoidant kid; the third, a reluctant villain.

His acting North Star, as is likely true for many in his generation, is Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight. “Heath Ledger hacked the system. Really hacked the system.”

Eydelshteyn saw Anora for the first time in May, when the movie premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. During the screening, he sat in the audience beside Madison.

“I wasn’t ready to watch it,” he admits. Because Baker shot on film, it was easy for Mark to avoid watching the playback footage. He was also anxious about the ending, for the moment when he would break the audience’s heart. “In that moment, I realized that the whole connection that I had with the audience will, in one moment, just break. [Ivan]’s breaking his own heart also. It’s a very scary thing, to lose himself.”

He recalls the moment the film’s memorable opening shot hit the screen—“with booties, yes, and it’s Anora, dance music in the club. I remember I took Mikey’s hand and just like, ‘Okay, okay, let’s go through it together, please. It’s very brave to start from this shot and maybe we already lose the audience right now.’ And she said, ‘Mark, I already watched the movie. Everything will be okay. Just believe me.’ And I said, ‘Okay, but I still hold your hand.’”

Soon enough, he heard applause, laughter. He went into a metaphysical state. “After first two scenes, I already forget that we are in Cannes Film Festival in this theater,” he said. “That there are lots of people watching our movie. I just was there with Mikey’s character, with Yura’s character, Vache [Tovmasyan], Karren [Karagulian]. In the end, I just started crying.” And then, a standing ovation. And then, the Palme D’Or.