Sean Baker is scrappy. For years, the writer-director has been making independent films about marginalized groups, from undocumented immigrants to sex workers. He casts his own movies, working with friends and talent he finds on social media.

Yura Borisov is Baker's hidden weapon. He plays the quiet Russian who falls for Anora, and he tells IndieWire about his path to the role — and what else he helped shape in the Palme d’Or winner.

As a writer and director, Baker has dedicated much of his career to elucidating the subtleties of figures like Ani who are often relegated to the background. He’s allowed us to peer inside the fictional lives of trans sex workers on Hollywood Boulevard in his 2015 breakout “ Tangerine ,