Sean Baker's Journey: From Suburban Spielberg Fan to Oscar Winner

Growing up in New Jersey before the internet and multiplexes branched into art-house films, Anora filmmaker Sean Baker got his first taste of cinema like any American kid living in the suburbs.

"It was Spielberg and Lucas — mainstream Hollywood fair," Baker tells ABC Arts.

Mainlining magazines like Premier, Famous Monsters and Fangoria in his bedroom, Baker regularly frequented his local comic book shop.

Soon, he was cutting his teeth on his parents' Super 8 camera, then a VHS camcorder.

"I had the real prestigious title of 'AV guy' at high school," he says, grinning.

"I edited the video yearbook."

Baker, now 55, moved to Manhattan to study film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where his cinematic tastes quickly broadened.

"I went to NYU thinking I was going to make the next Robocop or Die Hard but it was also that time I was discovering alternative indie cinema," he recalls.

It was the end of the 80s.

"Sundance was getting a little bit of a pop, and we were hearing about Spike Lee and Jim Jarmusch," Baker says.

"Then it was the 90s, with Soderberg, Hal Hartley and Tarantino. I was in my freshman year, surrounded by repertory houses and art-house theatres, so my focus started to change, right there."

Headlining at Vivid

Appearing at the Sydney Town Hall in conversation with Alexei Toliopoulos as a headliner of this year's Vivid festival, Baker is now a household name.

He is the only* person to score four Oscars for one film in one night, for 2024's Mikey Madison-led, sex worker-positive rocky romance, Anora, scooping Best Picture (as producer, alongside his partner, Samatha Quan, and their regular collaborator, Alex Coco), Best Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Editing.

Baker is also one of only four filmmakers to claim the top Academy Award after winning the Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palme d'Or.

But his beginnings were a little more humble.

Baker's debut feature, 2000's Four Letter Words — featuring a cameo from Anora star Karren Karagulian, who has appeared in almost all his films — was shot on 'short ends' of 35mm, the stuff left over from other movies.

"Actors would be a quarter of the way through a scene before it would run out," Baker chuckles.

While Baker is a fan of shooting on film, he's made movies any way possible.

Inspired by the pared-back Dogme 95 movement, co-founded by Danish filmmakers Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, Baker shot 2004's immigrant tale, Take Out, co-written and directed by Shih-Ching Tsou, on a MiniDV.

Tangerine, Baker's 2015 Christmas-set sex worker misadventure, was shot on a souped-up iPhone, as was his recent Penang-set short, Sandiwara, starring Michelle Yeoh.

"It's a wonderful tool that can look really cool, so I'm not disrespecting that," Baker says. "I just love shooting on film."

Whatever format emerging filmmakers choose, Baker says the key is to embrace the chaos.

"Don't panic," he says. "Instead of running away from surprises, run towards them. Audiences can detect when there's something real there, an authentic moment."

That ethos held true on Anora, which enjoyed a hefty-for-Baker $US6.5 million budget (still dinky compared to a Hollywood blockbuster).

"I love happenstance and serendipity," he says. "It excites me. If it's all too legit, there's no fun."

Unearthing new talent

Baker's having a lot of fun, and it's working in his favour. His next film, Ti Amo!, has been acquired by Warner Bros' new alternative label, Clockwork, for a rumoured $US22 million.

An enormous step change, it won't distract him from telling his very human stories.

"I'm focused on what it's like to live in this capitalist society, often through marginalised communities struggling while pursuing the American dream, but not exactly taking the same route as others."

For every Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project, Baker loves discovering unknown actors, referencing Spike Lee introducing audiences to Halle Berry and Martin Lawrence.

"I've been extremely lucky in my career, whether it's Prince Adu in Prince of Broadway, Maya Taylor and Katana Kiki Rodriguez in Tangerine, or Bria Vinaite from The Florida Project,' Baker says.

"The common denominator is that they all had that enthusiasm. They're just as hungry as I am, and that's when someone's going to give it their all. So then it comes down to making them comfortable on set, and often it's my wife, Samantha, who's coaching them, getting them where they need to get so I can just show up."

Baker's not ruling out working on a bigger scale in the future.

He points to Martin Scorsese. "He works with DiCaprio, but at the same time, his subject matter isn't exactly as accessible as, say, Project Hail Mary, which I also loved."

A big booster, Baker recognises the sway he has on social media.

"Some directors tell me, 'I haven't watched a film since 1987,' but I love the new and want to celebrate emerging filmmakers," Baker says.

"The other day, we went to see Aleshea Harris's debut, Is God Is; I had to champion [it] because I was so impressed."

Sticking to the right path

The financial security Baker now enjoys has been a long time coming, but he's eternally grateful for the bumpy road along the way.

"I broke in my 50s, not my 20s, so perseverance was everything," he says. "Someone once told me, 'Cream rises; it just might take a while with you,' and I thought, 'All right, I'm going to keep going'."

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That astonishing haul of Oscars and the Palme d'Or has been quite the reward.

"I've had about a year and a bit, now, to absorb it, and the further I move away from it, the more I'm just full of gratitude," Baker says. "It makes me look back at all those years of struggling and thinking, 'You did take the right path'."

He recommends aspiring filmmakers follow their guts, too.

"Keep believing in yourself because, for a long time, you may be the only one," he smiles. "Looking back, I'm really happy I held on, because my dreams came true."

*Disney ties with Baker with four Oscar wins in one night, but they were for four different films.