Anna Baryshnikov On Idiotka, Working With Julia Fox & What She Learned From Kristen Stewart

Anna Baryshnikov is a decaf-coffee drinker now; that’s what a double-cold-brew-induced trip to the emergency room will do to you. “The doctor, who was incredibly sweet and felt like a character on The Pitt, was like, ‘Hey, so you just have anxiety,’” Baryshnikov tells NYLON over lunch. “I was like, ‘Got it, got it. No heart attack. Good news.’”

When we meet at Frankies Spuntino in Carroll Gardens for soup and sandwiches, the actor is outfitted in a vintage black Valentino sweater that was gifted to her by a friend. Two days from now, she’ll wear another vintage find from the Italian fashion house, this time to the premiere of her new film, Idiotka. “It’s, like, the most amazing thing I’ve ever put on my body,” the 33-year-old says of the baby-pink skirt-and-top set. “Someone tried to pull it for the [Golden] Globes, and we were like, ‘We need it.’” Sure, anyone would feel that way about 1999 Valentino, but considering this is Baryshnikov’s first leading film role, and she’ll be posing on the carpet alongside co-star Julia Fox, the stakes are particularly high. “Anytime we have to do something, I’m like, ‘What is Julia going to wear?’” Baryshnikov says.

Directed by Nastasya Popov, Idiotka follows Margarita, a classic eldest-daughter type who joins a fashion reality-competition show (think: Project Runway if it was even more DIY) in a last-ditch effort to relieve her dysfunctional Russian family members of their financial struggles and pull them from the brink of eviction. Fox, Camila Mendes, Benito Skinner, Owen Thiele, Saweetie, and the rest of the ensemble provide the campy lightheartedness, but it’s Baryshnikov’s complicated, endearing, and sometimes devastating emotional center that really sells the film. “[Margarita is] so dynamic,” she says of her character. “She’s so guarded but so desperate to learn how to share herself through this show. She’s sarcastic but also very earnest about her work and her family.”

As is the unfortunate reality for most indies, the road to the premiere was never promised. In order to get this movie made, Baryshnikov and Popov shot a teaser to secure funding, Mendes (who serves as a producer on the film) called up Skinner, Popov tapped Thiele, and Popov and producer Tess Cohen lured in Fox by attending her book signing and handing her a script in person. “[They were like,] ‘We’re desperate to have you in this movie. Please read it,’” Baryshnikov recounts. By 2023, they were ready to begin production, but not before receiving an an interim agreement to film during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Yet despite all the hard work, Baryshnikov still counts the experience among “one of the happier months of my life.”

Though the transition from supporting to lead can be daunting, Baryshnikov saw it as an opportunity to learn more about the filmmaking process from her fellow crew members, a trait she may have picked up from observing Kristen Stewart on Love Lies Bleeding. “Kristen is so aware of the entire set,” Baryshnikov says. “She ran and looked at the monitor. She was aware of what the DP was doing. She was very integrated in the process, versus I think sometimes actors show up and are like, ‘I’m just going to stay in character and do my thing.’”

If this is the first time you’re seeing a Baryshnikov project (doubtful), it certainly won’t be the last. She’s slated to appear in Kristoffer Borgli’s upcoming A24 film, The Drama, the trailer for which just so happened to drop the day of our meeting. She bites her tongue when asked about the role so as not to spoil the movie, though she does let it slip that she has a scene with the “lovely” Robert Pattinson. In June, she’ll make her return to the Apple TV screen in a new miniseries adaptation of Cape Fear. Initially, she was panicked when she got the audition (“[It was] intimidating because I love both of those movies,” she says), but the “masterclass” she got from her co-stars made it all worth it. “That set was so kind,” she says. “You always hear horror stories of what people are like at work, and here I was with Patrick Wilson and Amy Adams and Javier Bardem, and all of them were unbelievably respectful and easy.”

As our lunch comes to an end, Baryshnikov throws a faux-fur jacket over her Valentino sweater, straps on a Knicks hat (she’s newly a fan, despite growing up in Rockland County), and secures it tightly with a black headscarf — a sartorial touch Margarita would be very proud of.

Photographer: Emma Beiles Howie

Stylist: Yael Quint

Wearing: Valentino FW1999, Look 156, by Valentino Garavani (sourced by My Sisters Vintage)

Hair: Blake Erik

Makeup: Lisa Aharon

Hotel: 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge