Video in the player above shows Rick Bentley's top movie picks for 2024. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- The team behind the film “Anora” has some work to do following the Golden Globes ceremonies. Going into the awards show, the film and its star – Mikey Madison – were considered strong contenders to take home Oscars. Those odds have gone down in the Best Picture category because of the success of “The Brutalist” but the real crisis is with Best Actress. Golden Globe wins by Demi Moore for “The Substance” and Fernanda Torres for “I’m Still Here” make Madison’s odds of an Oscar longer. The competition was already strong for Best Actress with Angelina Jolie’s performance in “Maria,” Nicole Kidman in “Babygirl” and the “Wicked” stars having made strong statements to contend for the award. Should one of them take home the Oscar it will keep Madison from the honor she has earned with a standout performance in “Anora.” Madison – a relatively unknown performer compared to other potential Oscar nominees – plays Ani, a Brooklyn prostitute who believes she has met the man of her dreams. In this “Cinderella” on steroids tale, Ani meets and marries the son of a Russian billionaire. Despite her feisty and furious battles, the wedding ends up being a disaster. No matter what happens with the Oscars, “Anora” director Sean Baker is one of Madison’s biggest supporters. “I guess I became aware of her through ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.’ I truly felt that she stole her scene and just was so intrigued by her as an actor,” Baker says. “A few years later when we were moving forward with ‘Anora’, I knew I had to start looking for my Ani. It just happened to be that I went to see ‘Scream’ opening weekend. “I turned to my wife and producer, Samantha Quan, and I said we're calling her representation the minute we step out of the theater because it was apparent just sitting in the theater. I said, ‘We have our Ani’.’ It was a combination of those two performances. And in ‘Scream’ she played a young adult with sass and attitude and very funny.” Along with “Once Upon a Time in America” and “Scream,” Madison’s acting credits include “Monster,” “Nostalgia” and the FX series “Better Things.” The Los Angeles native started her career working in short films after growing up training to be a competitive horseback rider. Madison was drawn to the character of Ani as soon as she read the script. “She was a character that I was immediately very, very interested in and wanted to get to know and understand because she's someone who's so incredibly different from me,” Madison says. “Very far away from home and so, I needed to start to get closer to her and learn as much as I could about her as possible. “I had a long time to do so but it was a very meaningful experience. I was able to get to know and understand the sex work which was a very impactful part of my preparation process. I spoke to some incredible consultants who were able to just breathe a lot of like honesty in life into Ani as a person and I was able to integrate a lot of what I learned from talking to these incredible women.” “Anora” not only tested Madison’s acting skills but pushed her physically. The training she went through to be able to handle all the physical demands – from exotic dancing to fight sequences - was the most intense in her career. The goal for Madison was to make the character come across as real as possible, including choreographing most of her own dance sequences. She found the physicality of the role to be interesting but that was just part of the many lessons she learned making this film. “I can honestly say that it's been one of the most special characters I've ever played.” Madison says. Part of her preparation for the role was a long list of movies Baker gave her to watch that include films ranging from ‘80s screwball comedies to French New Wave. Madison was never 100% certain why she was watching the films at the start but finally understood how the movies influenced Baker when filming started. Now Madison can only wait to see if the hard work will get her an Oscar nomination and eventually a win. There is some good news as the nominees for this year’s “31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards” nominations have been announced and Madison is one of five performers in the running for “Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.” Her competition is Pamela Anderson for “The Last Showgirl,” Cynthia Erivo for “Wicked,” Karla Sofia Gascon for “Emilia Perez” and Moore for “The Substance.” A win for Madison when those awards are announced Feb. 23 would go a long way toward increasing her Oscar odds.