Sean Baker Declares Disinterest In Making “Marvel Movie” As ‘Anora’ Follow-Up, Sticking With Independent Level Budget

Earlier in the year, Sean Baker‘s charming sex worker romantic comedy “Anora” was able to eek out multiple Oscar wins for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, and Baker’s fantastic lead Mikey Madison walking away with a well-deserved Best Actress statue.

We certainly have a soft spot for Baker’s compelling and equally comedic work, making our anticipation high for what the filmmaker is planning on doing next. Baker recently went on The Hollywood Reporter‘s industry podcast “It Happened In Hollywood.” He briefly teased about what he’s not interested in doing as a follow-up effort, and it won’t be a Marvel Comics project or moving outside of the independent budget space.

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“I’m not sure yet,” Baker said on the podcast in response to a question about what film he is cooking up to tackle next. “I’m still exploring some ideas. Don’t expect a Marvel film. It’s not going to happen. I’m intentionally going to stay in the same wheelhouse and with the approximate same budget. I think that I enjoy working in this space of 100 percent independent.”

The cliche Baker is tiptoeing around here is that there ends up a flood of lucrative studio offers after a director of an independent film starts winning awards like “Anora” did with their winning of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, leading to its impressive run at the recent Oscars ceremony. Those award wins lead to opportunities to make extremely expensive projects, which Baker doesn’t sound interested in, given his Marvel example.

His sentiment isn’t all that shocking, as Baker has enjoyed working with smaller budgets than the average studio production, and that means the filmmaker’s vision doesn’t get compromised, which can often be part of getting into the major studio system. Large budgets tend to be tethered to consistent budgetary and artistic compromises.

Whatever Baker decides to make, we can expect he’ll put his heart and passion into that movie as he has with his previous work with “Anora,” “Red Rocket,” “The Florida Project,” and “Tangerine.”

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You can listen to Baker’s full conversation with “It Happened In Hollywood” below.