‘Anora’ season once again in full swing

Would you pay a trillion dollars for California? Isn’t that what a home in Santa Monica goes for these days?

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter. Anyone know where I can get a good Danish?

‘Anora’ is the Oscar front-runner, much to Sean Baker’s surprise

Upstairs at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, Sean Baker is talking shop with Ivan Rothberg as the veteran projectionist threads the fifth reel of “Anora,” Baker’s Oscar-nominated crowd-pleaser that won top honors from the directors and producers guilds last weekend.

Looking out the booth’s window onto the sold-out theater’s screen, we see that Igor (Yura Borisov) has just handed a red scarf to Ani (Mikey Madison) to buffer the frigid night air, so we have some time before Ani’s journey ends. We head to a tiny office around the corner where Baker plops down next to his wife and producing partner, Samantha Quan, and fellow producer Alex Coco. We’re surrounded by shelves stacked with boxes of Red Vines, Kit Kats and sparkling water. Quan grabs a pack of Cheez-Its. You take sustenance where you find it.

Loyal readers of this newsletter might remember a mid-October edition that went out with the subject line “‘Anora’ season is upon us.” And here we are, four months later, hanging out with Baker and the movie’s producers, asking, “Well, how did we get here?”

When I sent Baker a text Saturday night after “Anora” swept the PGA and DGA awards, he wrote back, “I’m hoping I wake up in the morning and it’s still true.” He followed that message with another one that sported a cartoon image. “That’s my dog with an ‘Anora’ thong.”

That’s peak Sean Baker.

Anyway, we had fun talking upstairs at the Aero the other night, musing about why, out of all of Baker’s films, it’s “Anora” that’s connecting with moviegoers and awards voters. Plus he tells stories about John Carpenter and trying to make Christopher Nolan happy. And Quan offers tips for falling asleep when your brain is wired. You can read the story here.

From left, moderator Jim Hemphill, writer-director Sean Baker, co-producer Samantha Quan and co-producer Alex Coco speak after Tuesday’s Aero screening of “Anora.”

(Kay Qiao / American Cinematheque at Aero Theatre)

Catching up on the Oscar-nominated shorts

The Oscars are a little more than two weeks away, and an old friend was asking me this morning if I’ve seen all the nominated short films yet. Sheepishly (well, maybe only a little bit), I told him that I really enjoyed “The Only Girl in the Orchestra,” the documentary short about Orin O’Brien, the first full-time woman member of the New York Philharmonic. It’s on Netflix, and it’s lovely. But outside of that and “Yuck,” a charming animated short about kids being disgusted by the idea of kissing (though they can’t stop talking about it), I’ve been remiss. I have work to do.

Fortunately, Michael Ordoña has me covered, telling me all about the movies nominated for animated short, live-action short and documentary short. Robert Abele will be reviewing them for The Times, as he always does, and his thoughts will be up on our website tomorrow.

As these are the three categories that can make or break Oscar pools, you can bet I’ll be spending part of my weekend watching them and assessing their chances. Seriously, the amount of time I spend obsessing over these races is nothing short of pathological.

I’m going to need a box of danishes to get me through.

See you Monday.

Orin O’Brien in “The Only Girl in the Orchestra.”

(Netflix)