ANTHEM MAGAZINE: A CONVERSATION WITH MIRA SORVINO
February 28, 2022
"For Mira Sorvino, activism has always been a top priority, so much so that the Oscar winner even considered giving up acting for her humanitarian efforts in the past. She’s perhaps best known for raising awareness on human trafficking as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, and as one of the leading voices of the #MeToo movement after going on the record with Ronan Farrow for his groundbreaking exposé in The New Yorker. A true champion of justice, her far-reaching efforts are all-encompassing. It only makes sense that, sometimes, her two passions have a way of colliding.
Based on Erin Jade Lange’s novel, Paul A. Kaufman’s Butter follows its eponymous plus-size adolescent (Alex Kersting), who’s having a really rough go at it. His doting mother, Marian (Mira Sorvino), despite her good intentions, is also enabling, showering affection primarily with food and not realizing the harm it’s causing. Meanwhile, his father, Frank (Brian Van Holt), is emotionally absent. The non-edible comforts in Butter’s life are his saxophone and catfishing a pretty girl from school, who believes she’s corresponding with a sensitive jock from a nearby town. As he grows ever more despondent, Butter hatches a macabre plan: to eat himself to death live on the Internet.
Anthem spoke to Sorvino about her humanitarianism—past and present, and on and off the screen."
