Yura Borisov isn’t a name many are familiar with (yet), though the spotlight on him has intensified following his scene-stealing performance in “Anora.” In the modern-day fairy tale, Borisov plays Igor, the quiet, unassuming yet charming henchman hired to keep a watchful eye on Ani (Mikey Madison’s fiery Brooklyn stripper), who begins to show subtle signs of attraction to his mark. The 32-year-old Russian actor — who is already well-known in his native country with over 50 screen credits to his name — has gained favor in awards and critics circles for his standout role in “Anora,” earning supporting actor nominations at the Golden Globes and Independent Spirit Awards.
“It’s a big surprise for me,” Borisov said over Zoom, recruiting his interpreter to help translate a few random words during the conversation. “I absolutely didn’t know that it was going that way when we were shooting our film.”
Writer-director Sean Baker first saw Borisov in the Finnish romantic thriller “Compartment No. 6,” which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021 and was nominated for the international Oscar. Moved by Borisov’s endearing portrayal of a Russian miner who falls in love with a Finnish student, Baker contacted him about working together. Months of discussions about story, character and script soon followed, producing a unique creative partnership as Baker and Borisov honed in on how the actor could best fit within Baker’s vision.
“Sean is very open, and we were discussing it very openly,” Borisov said. “Together, we tried to create this character for the film. It’s, for me, the best way for creating.”
Borisov acknowledges that actors aren’t often afforded the opportunity to play a vital part in the origination of a character, much less be the inspiration for one. His talks with Baker ranged from establishing Igor’s backstory and family history (though none of that made it into the film) to investigating more intangible things like his dreams, his desires, his lifestyle and his past pain.
“It’s like the root of a tree,” Borisov says. “But the most important things you couldn’t discuss with words because it’s a feeling about loneliness and very sensitive feelings. We spent a lot of time together — with Sean, with Mikey, with Mark [Eydelshteyn], with Vache [Tovmasyan] and our crew — and that’s why you could start to discover the characters.”
That “Anora” was Borisov’s first American production paralleled the isolation his character, Igor, feels throughout the film. During the two-and-a-half months he was in the U.S., he channeled that real-life discomfort into his onscreen performance. “It was my first time in America, and it was a very different feeling for me,” he said. “It was the longest time [I spent] outside of my country. It was this phase of feeling eager because he’s absolutely alone there, like I was. I understood this and started to create based on these feelings because if I have this, I have to use it.”
The wild 30-minute home invasion sequence in “Anora” is the scene that most people ask him about, which he takes as a sign that the actors and the crew got the complicated, intricately choreographed sequence right. “I feel that, ‘Oh yeah, we got it,’ if people ask [about it] every time,” he said with a smile. It wasn’t easy to pull off, either. Meant to feel spontaneous and unrehearsed, Borisov said the scene was anything but. “You want to show that it’s [all] improvisations, but it’s not. You have to be careful, step by step, preparing everything.”
His favorite scene, though is a quieter one between Igor and Ani, where hints of his romantic interest in the audacious escort start seeping through. They’re both on the couch watching television as they share a fleeting moment of intimate conversation. There were numerous versions of the scene due to Baker’s impromptu rewrites and the actors having the freedom to go off-script.
“It was lots of interesting acting points for me,” he said. “When you’re not acting, you’re just real. You just have your character, the situation and you can try to do everything. I liked that Sean was interested and open for everything, and I liked that Mikey was ready and open for everything too.”
With Borisov gaining visibility for his work in “Anora,” he is doing his best to keep true to what he learned in acting school. “Our teachers teach us that art has to be creative, not destructive,” he said. “I feel that people need hope and, of course, love. I try to find love in everything and translate it to people.”
As for the opportunities that may come his way because of “Anora,” Borisov — who has several projects in the pipeline, though none he’s ready to disclose just yet — is staying realistic.
“Every day, some doors open and some doors close,” he said. “It’s just right now, it’s more visible for people from the outside. I’m very happy for all that is happening with [‘Anora’] and with me. But next steps? I’ll decide what’s next and choose the right direction and the right films.”
This story first appeared in the Awards Preview issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the Awards Preview issue here.
