Mr. Turner seems to use a wonderful shorthand of grunting in the film at times to communicate his point.
He did grunt, but – and we also have this in the film – he was capable of great articulacy and a great number of classical references.


Mr. Turner seems to use a wonderful shorthand of grunting in the film at times to communicate his point.
He did grunt, but – and we also have this in the film – he was capable of great articulacy and a great number of classical references.

Let’s start by talking about the unique backstory to making this film.
Salerno: I grew up in a house where Salinger was a church. My mom was a huge fan and turned me onto his work, but like everyone, I had no idea about the man, I just knew the work. I started researching this project and found out that J.D. Salinger landed on D-Day, that Salinger participated in these horrible battles, that he lost the love of his life, Oona O’Neill, to Charlie Chaplin.

Anora is such an intense and ferocious character, but there’s an understated vulnerability. How did you weave that into the performance?
Mikey Madison: I always saw her as someone who was deeply vulnerable on the inside but is constantly protecting herself by covering it up with anger and spunk.

We’d been trying to cast Sam for months. And we were having a really hard time. My younger sister was, at the time, an eighteen-year-old senior in high school. Almost as a joke, I asked her, do you know any actors? Like, help me out here! And that was how I found Lily. I still can’t believe that’s our story.

A lot of people have talked about the content of this film being edgy and subversive, but it’s actually a pretty sweet story about self-acceptance. Can you talk diving into that idea?
Halina Reijn: For me, that’s core of the film. There was a question that I wanted to ask myself. Is it possible to love all the different parts of yourself?