Making porn isn't all pleasure for Sasha Grey.
When it comes to porn shoots, there are some things that Sasha Grey is not fucking with. You might think that making adult films is all fun and multiple orgasms for the 22-year-old performance artist who's broken into the mainstream and starred in Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience, but it's not. In 9 to 5: Days in Porn, a new documentary DVD that follows 10 porn stars and other industry professionals for a year to reveal the reality of hardcore show business, Grey talks about the need to push herself as a "sexual athlete" and the difficulties of dating photographer Ian Cinnamon while having sex with other men for a living (they're now engaged). Those are just a couple of the things that she deals with, though. Complex caught up with her to find out what really gets under her skin on the day of a shoot. Keep reading for Sasha Grey's porn set pet peeves...
None
PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BE ENTERTAINED WHEN CAMERAS AREN'T ROLLING
Sasha says: I like to be left alone as much as I can to think about the scene and conserve as much of my energy for the scene, not for entertaining people around me, whether it be performers, production assistants, or production managers. I really like to save every ounce of energy for the performance.
PERFORMERS WITH BAD HYGIENE
Sasha says: Unfortunately you can't control everybody's personal hygiene. [Laughs.] That's one reason why I don't let men use their fingers on me, anymore at least. At the beginning I did until I kinda [realized] not every guy is the best at clipping his nails and cleaning underneath them. There have been times where I've actually sent girls home. It's hard to tell somebody, "Uh, sorry, you're gonna have to go home." It's a sensitive subject. Some people just don't know how to take care of themselves—that's not just porn people, that's everybody.
ALL PENETRATION, NO CHEMISTRY
Sasha says: As a creator of a product, my views have changed and I want to see something that requires more...I guess acting, if you will, to put it simply. I don't even want to see penetration right now, I just wanna see the heat and chemistry between two performers, because I think that, for as much sex as goes on in it all, there's not a whole lot of chemistry.
SITTING AROUND WAITING TO SHOOT
Sasha says: That's something you have to deal with in both adult and non-adult films, but I think the difference in adult filmmaking is that generally people don't communicate to you why you're waiting. There's no call sheet that tells you, "Hey, we're doing this shot and this shot and at noon we're having lunch." It's definitely more guerrilla-style, even when it's a feature film. I generally try and bring a notebook with me and write, or really sit and meditate.
DIFFICULT HOMEOWNERS
Sasha says: If you're shooting at a private residence, oftentimes the owner will have what they call a "house manager", somebody there just to manage what the talent and what the crew are doing. I've been in a situation where they told us, "You have free use of the entire building all day until 9 p.m." and then the house manager comes down at 4:30 and says, "You need to be out of here by 5." Sometimes the owner is like, "You guys have to be confined to this room, you can't mingle about the house," and there's not a lot of privacy. On shoots like that, it definitely gets tiresome, especially if you're there for a long time.
OFF-SET BONUS PET PEEVE: LAZY EDITORS
Sasha says: If I'm uncomfortable and my leg is sinking into a couch and I need to move, I'm like, "Hey, cut! I gotta get up! I'm falling!" There have been a few times when that's happened and, unbeknownst to me, there was some lazy editor that didn't cut it out and it looks hilarious. Not funny, just awkward.
RELATED: Ask Lupe: Complex's Post Star Ethicist Lupe Fuentes
RELATED: 17 Mainstream Actors Who've Done Porn
...OR CLICK HERE FOR MORE MOVIE POSTS!
