Queer
Cannot wait to see Queer, based on the 1985 William S. Burroughs novel, and directed by Luca Guadagnino.
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Filtering by Tag: MOVIES
What I'm (Re)Watching: True Romance
I’m re-watching True Romance, one of my all-time favorite movies.
From Wikipedia:
True Romance is a 1993 American romantic crime film directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. It features an ensemble cast led by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, with Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Walken in supporting roles. Slater and Arquette portray newlyweds on the run from the Mafia after stealing a shipment of drugs.
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Babygirl
Cannot wait to see Babygirl, the upcoming erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman. You can view the trailer here.
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How The Hardest Working Director In Porn Gets The Job Done
This story was originally published on Forbes.com in July 2024.
On a recent Saturday morning, the adult movie director Ricky Greenwood was busy overseeing the production of a big budget pornographic feature entitled Project X. A couple dozen crew members were buzzing around the office space that previously housed a biotechnology company. For now, most of the action was taking place in a hallway where a hospital gurney had been rolled into position. Soon, a sex scene starring veteran performers Mick Blue and Cherie DeVille would be shot.
These days, Greenwood is one of the most in-demand directors in the adult business. At 42, he has made, by his estimate, over 500 porn movies, among them Grinders (a skateboarding movie), Talk Derby to Me (a roller derby movie), and Machine Gunner (a war movie). Originally from Montreal, Quebec, he is tall, bearded, heavily tattooed, and speaks with a Québécois accent. His favorite movies include The Exorcist, Point Break, and High Fidelity. Among the directors he most admires is Michael Bay: “He’s doing commercial movies that are like a big cheeseburger.” Greenwood says this is not unlike what he does. “I know when I’m making porn, I’m making a sort of entertainment. I go with that and play with it. He’s that type of guy.”
Before he got into the adult business, Greenwood worked in television in Montreal. At a certain point, he took a job directing a porn movie. It wasn’t a positive experience. So he went back to television. A friend had a boss looking for a production manager in adult. So he gave it another try. This time, things went better. He moved to Los Angeles. He wrote and directed adult movies. He won some awards. The story for the movie he’s directing today came from its producer, Digital Playground. It’s about what happens when the government finds an alien ship that has crashed on earth. DeVille plays a biologist. When Blue arrives on set, the wardrobe supervisor hands him a white lab coat with a name tag that reads: “Dr. John Harding GENETICIST.”
Getting on the same page Prior to shooting the scene, DeVille, Blue, two talent liaisons, and Greenwood convene in a room. As a camera records, the group goes over a “Pre-Shoot Discussion & Boundary Checklist.” (The performers are given time to complete the consent checklist prior to the meeting.) Here, the actors identify what they are willing and not willing to do in the scene. DeVille takes the lead, noting her dos and don’ts among the 30-plus items listed in the “Sex Acts” column (said acts range from the vanilla—say, kissing—to the not-so vanilla—say, bondage). “The goal is to make the talent comfortable, to create a safe space for the talent and make them feel heard and respected by production,” Greenwood relates later.
Make it look good High production value is something of a Greenwood signature. Unlike the low-budget, lo-fi “gonzo porn” of yesteryear, his productions are saturated in deep colors, preoccupied with story, and look more like a movie produced by A24 than garden variety smut. “Real porn back in the day used to be cinematic, used to be a movie,” he recalls, nostalgic. “Now we want to go back to it: big production, big budget, something that is entertaining.” In the hallway, DeVille and Blue, clad in white lab coats, await the call for action. The lighting is tweaked. In a dimly-lit adjacent room, Greenwood takes a seat and strokes his beard thoughtfully as he surveys the video feeds from the three cameras displayed on the monitors.
Catching the sex “And, action,” Greenwood announces. The cameras move in and out, following the actors’ lead. There isn’t a lot of direction. When it comes to filming sex, this director takes a mostly hands-off approach, preferring to let things unfold organically. “I like to let them do what they want to do,” he shares. “I barely direct them for sex because I feel I want to have a more natural sex scene. I want to be a fly on the wall watching them. I don’t want to give them tricky angles and positions. I want us to witness and not have them working. If you create that safety zone, they will forget the camera. You will get those nice moments and scenes. If you direct them, it become like a job for them, and it become like a fake scene.”
Work against stereotype “As performers, we are like athletes,” Blue, who has pale blue eyes and an Austrian accent and is canonized in the AVN Hall of Fame, opined earlier when asked what it’s like working with Greenwood. “Not a lot of directors who haven’t performed understand that stuff. The better the director understand what we do, the better the outcome will be.” As Blue and DeVille do their thing on the gurney, Greenwood watches, his face bathed in the green glow of an EXIT sign. He’s good at his job, he says: “Because I care.” He knows that some people don’t respect what he does for a living. “‘It doesn’t matter, it’s just porn,’” he parrots the critics saying. But it matters to him. “We want it to be good. We want to make it interesting and different. If we give them a regular porn movie, what’s the point of doing it?”
Know your niche A little over an hour later, the first scene of the day is completed. “I love working with Ricky,” DeVille, an award-winning MILF performer who ran for president in the 2020 election, says in a bathroom afterwards. “I like being extremely organized,” she adds, something they have in common. Meanwhile, Greenwood is getting ready to film a dialogue scene with other actors. He’s busy, but thankful for the work. His friends who direct mainstream movies make a movie every five years. He makes nine or ten movies in a year. Still, there’s a stigma with which to contend. In Europe, “People see a porn director as any type of director. They see it as the same thing as a regular movie director.” In America, it’s taboo. To him, porn is “just another genre that people like and can watch.” That said, he believes public perception is changing—for some, at least. “The younger generation don’t see it so much as bad.”
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The Porn Director
Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
After a little over a year hiatus, during which time I published and promoted my book, I’m back as a senior contributor to Forbes.com. In my latest story, I spend time with Ricky Greenwood, a very popular, very busy porn director. Ricky is a big bear of a guy, and I enjoyed watching him work. The scene I saw him direct features two award-winning veteran performers: Cherie DeVille and Mick Blue. Read the story here.
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The Porn Library More Recent Updates
I’ve added some new materials to The Porn Library, a compendium of books, movies, television series, journalism, essays, podcasts, art, photography, and online works by authors, filmmakers, directors, journalists, podcasters, essayists, playwrights, artists, photographers, and other creatives about the past, present, and future of the adult movie industry that I created in May. They are Mope directed by Lucas Heyne, Sex Before the Internet produced by VICE TV, Naked Ambition: Women Who Are Changing Pornography by Carly Milne, “In the Playpen of the Damned” by George Plimpton, and Porn Archives by Tim Dean. Check it out.
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Bad Behavior
If you’re looking for something compelling and quirky to watch, I recommend “Bad Behavior.” It stars Jennifer Connelly, Ben Whishaw, and Alice Englert, who is the writer / director and Jane Campion’s daughter. The story concerns itself with a conflicted mother, her equally conflicted daughter, and what happens when you lose it at a semi-silent retreat. Connelly’s performance is a marvel. If you like stupid, you won’t like this movie.
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My All-Time Favorite Movies (in No Particular Order)
These are some of my all-time favorite movies, listed arbitrarily. (A single director can only get one mention.)
Amélie
The Wizard of Oz
Reservoir Dogs
No Country for Old Men
Goodfellas
Sixteen Candles
Moonlight
Grey Gardens
Apocalypse Now
Black Swan
Léon: The Professional
Meshes of the Afternoon
The Zone of Interest
Hustlers
I Am Love
Eastern Promises
La La Land
The Truman Show
I Am Not Your Negro
Sexy Beast
Death and the Maiden
Blue Valentine
Metropolis
Cast Away
Past Lives
Bonnie and Clyde
Un Chien Andalou
Daughters of the Dust
Tár
Sweetie
Blade Runner
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Do the Right Thing
Spring Breakers
Mulholland Drive
The Royal Tenenbaums
Body Double
Children of Men
American Psycho
Dior and I
The Shining
Moulin Rouge
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Magnolia
Irreversible
Brazil
Magic Mike
Alien
Suture
Nomadland
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Canoga Park
Two porn stars shoot a scene in Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley. Photographed by me in April 2009.
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Woman Rewatches Man Bites Dog
I wrote something for HILOBROW: “Repo Your Enthusiasm (18): Man Bites Dog.” Give it a read and share it too.
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Strangers
I watched “All of Us Strangers.” It’s a beautiful movie about ghosts, love, and loss. I highly recommend it.
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High & Low
As a longtime fan of fashion designer John Galliano, I really enjoyed this new documentary: “High & Low.” It’s a complicated portrait of a complicated genius. If you’re not familiar with his work, I’d suggest starting here.
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Pam's Coffy
A movie poster on the wall at the very cool Pam’s Coffy. Follow me on Instagram for more of my photographs.
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Life in LA
Rabbits, Malibu Canyon, and a dress made of books. Follow me on Instagram for more of my photographs.
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Blue Curtain
A blue curtain at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Follow me on Instagram for more of my photos.
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Meta Body Double
On Instagram I’ve been sharing that I’m in the process of attempting to visit every shooting location in “Body Double,” the Brian De Palma directed 1984 erotic thriller masterpiece. You can follow me on Instagram for the latest installments when I share them. The updates are in Stories, so if you miss one, check out Highlights.
Edited to add: I also wrote about this project in my newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re there.
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What He Said
via Clayton Cubitt
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How HBO’s "The Idol," With A Little Help From Valentino, Rewrote The "Pretty Woman" Playbook
In the third episode of the controversial HBO series “The Idol,” Jocelyn, a pop star played by Lily-Rose Depp, and Tedros, a slimy wannabe Svengali played by Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, head off for a shopping spree at the Valentino boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. After bypassing a gaggle of adoring Jocelyn fans out front, the duo undertake some retail therapy. “You see that young lady over there?” Tedros asks a store employee. “Got anything in this store as beautiful as she is?” Jocelyn tries on a series of Valentino outfits as Tedros eggs her on, threatens to “curb stomp” an employee he believes his ogling his girl, and dismisses one top as “trash.”
Eventually, the pair end up having sex in a dressing room. When Jocelyn exits before Tedros can finish, he finishes himself off alone in the dressing room while holding onto a rack of Valentino clothes. Afterwards, he looks at his soiled hands. Then his gaze turns to the very expensive Valentino red dresses hanging nearby. The camera cuts away, but the implication is clear: he wipes his hands off on the dresses.
Did Valentino sign off on this? I wondered as I watched the scene. After all, Valentino is a venerated luxury fashion brand. Founded in 1959 by Valentino Garavani, its designs have been worn by Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, and Oprah Winfrey. Had Valentino cosigned on what appeared to be the bespoiling of its brand—or was this was what product placement looked like in 2023? In search of an answer, I reached out to Valentino for comment. I didn’t get a response back.
For an expert’s take, I sent an email to Stacy Jones, the CEO of Hollywood Branded, a pop culture marketing agency. She didn’t know if there was any brand partnership between Valentino and “The Idol,” but she did offer her take on the provocative Valentino scene, which had generated some debate on Twitter.
“While the scene in the Valentino store was certainly explicit, there isn’t damage to the brand,” Jones opined. “Even the derogatory mentions made by Tedros about some of the styles and the store’s stylist had no lasting negative impact. Tedros is shown to be the not-so-nice character he is, and it was in fact Tedros who came off looking poorly, not Valentino. The growing spotlight on Valentino dressing Lily-Rose's character and having her model their clothing on screen feels like a win regardless. The saying that you can’t pay for media worth that is true. This particular product placement is over delivering on brand awareness big time. There is not a lot of risk in offending older Valentino consumers as they simply won’t be watching the series. They are not the target audience.” These days, Valentino may be more interested in targeting millennials and Gen Z as potential customers. According to Bain & Co.: “These generations are expected to account for as much as 70% of the global luxury market by 2025.”
Not only that, it seemed I had missed the point entirely. As Jones pointed out in her email to me, the Valentino scene from “The Idol” was a redux of a scene from the 1990 film “Pretty Woman,” starring Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward, a Hollywood escort, and Richard Gere as Edward Lewis, a wealthy businessman, right down to the “Do you have anything in this shop as beautiful as she is?” line. “I googled to see where [the boutique shopping scene] in ‘Pretty Woman’ was filmed as I thought it had a high likelihood of being Valentino,” Jones added. “This article states ‘Pretty Woman’ filmed the Rodeo Drive scene specifically at Valentino. There are a lot of similarities in the scenes, just taken up many adult notches with an edgier, modern touch.”
Is “The Idol” “‘torture porn’”? Has it “set back the feminist movement by at least a decade”? Is it “anti-feminist spectacle”? Or is something more complex at work? At least in the case of the Valentino scene, the subtext is resolutely feminist. In “Pretty Woman,” Vivian says: “I want the fairy tale.”; she wants a man to rescue her. In Sam Levinson’s “The Idol,” the fairy tale is over. After all, it’s Jocelyn who denies Tedros his own pleasure, who is the star, and who, we presume, foots the bill for their shopping trip. In this retelling, the woman holds the power, not the man.
On a recent Friday afternoon, I made my way to the Valentino boutique. Since it was late June, the well-heeled shoppers making their way up and down the sidewalks had to share space with groups of tourists. In the Valentino store, I was met by a security guard. A salesperson followed me around as I admired a pair of $1,800 see-through platform pumps that reminded me of the strippers’ shoe brand of choice, Pleaser Shoes, and a red dress that looked like one Jocelyn had worn. On the second floor, the salesperson indicated the dressing room where the racy scene for “The Idol” had been shot, supposedly. I opened the door. No one, much less Tedros, was there.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com.
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Possessor
“Possessor” isn’t a good movie. Which is too bad. Because it has some interesting ideas and some interesting imagery. Basically, it’s set in a future in which people use technology to inhabit other people’s bodies. In this case, Tasya is a hitwoman who occupies other people’s bodies to kill other people for reasons that are financially motivated. Andrea Riseborough does a fine / creepy job with the role of Tasya, and it’s interesting to watch the body-hijackings take place. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays her super-creepy boss, Girder. And Christopher Abbott does a forgettable job as the main story line’s victim. The most interesting sequence in the film is a CGI representation of Tasya melting into her victim’s psyche; bodies turn liquid and boundaries go fluid. But the film falls apart on the plot level, leaving us wondering why we should care. Even the hyper-gruesome gore murder parts come across as more of an aesthetic exercise than something we should care about. The ending is super grim, but a curious twist. In any case, I guess when the director is the son of David Cronenberg, happy endings aren’t on the menu.
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