Mikey Madison poked fun at her pole dancing skills from Anora while on the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live.
The newly-crowned Oscar winner made her hosting debut on March 29, when she was joined by Morgan Wallen as the musical guest. During her opening monologue, she talked about the dancing scenes for her character, a stripper who marries the wealthy son of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn).
“I performed all my own stunts for the film, including all the dancing,” Madison continued, “So, it does kind of bother me when people assume it wasn’t actually me on the pole, cause it was, and I can prove it right now”.
Approaching a pre-prepared pole to the side of the stage, she tells the audience “I haven’t done this in a minute, but here goes”. The scene then cut to a dancer in a wig who was very obviously not Madison, who performed an intricate pole routine. The actor then reappeared on screen, flipped her hair and gave a wink to the camera.
In February, Mikey Madison discussed learning pole dancing for the movie on The Graham Norton Show. “The first time I went to a club, I was watching these women move…I was like, ‘Oh my God! It’s so effortless. I can do that, I can go upside down on the pole’” she recalled. “I tried a class and it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. I was like ‘Oh, I’m screwed’”.
She then doubled down on her commitment, saying: “I’m going to have to dedicate hours a day to cultivate this skill, because I wanted her to be a very impressive dancer, and I am not sexy like that. So I needed to practice and I bought a pole online”.
Her efforts were not in vein, as she won Best Actress at the Academy Awards on March 2. She dedicated her win to the sex worker community in her acceptance speech.