Maitland Ward on what Hollywood can learn from porn about sex scenes

OneSomeone will talk about a time being a dick. On the Netflix series Sex / Life, The glow in Adam’s shower was greeted with astonishment, fear, and flushed face as it was revealed in all its wet, dripping glory. He has pornographic equipment and while an audience will watch the show with Sex in the title is said to have an open and positive mind about it, there are still girlish giggles whenever a cock appears on screen (even if it could be a set prosthetics).

I’m used to seeing talent up close to real and personal erotic-sized talent, so the scene didn’t make me giggle, but it got me thinking. If Hollywood is willing to give us a D, in a purely and non-sexually apologetic show that is universally viewed as the actors who play its main characters, is Hollywood exploiting the bathroom door? Full of adult industry soaps for inspiration?

Sex is not something Hollywood is comfortable with. The love scenes, as they are called, on the Hollywood stage are what the talent and crew must fear the most. The experience is like having one of those quick drops of ginger and cayenne pepper from a juice bar, but you don’t even get hot or feel pain from it, just a gut ache. The only instructions I was given during a love scene as a child were to kiss, rub around the blanket, and not use my tongue. Tongue consideration, especially in network television, is a step too far.

I’ve seen actors trained in soap operas sweat the day they had to film anything that required them to act. Of course, part of it is nudity. Not everyone feels comfortable taking off their clothes, especially not in front of a team of mostly sweaty and hungry men. But really, they’re just hungry for sandwiches at lunchtime, like on an adult set. It can also be the idea of ​​intimacy, but as actors we frequently tap into feelings that are painfully deep and powerful. So, if we’re comfortable with that material, how can portraying the most natural act of intimacy make us so apprehensive?

I think it’s because nobody really knows what they’re doing.

Cinematography is a specific talent that I didn’t even envision until I started working in the porn world and with Vixen Media Group. Lighting, camera angles, movement between performers — as well as crew coordination on small, bed-angled sets and the threat of helicopter limbs — were all required to make it happen. doing an act among ordinary people in real life, let’s face it, not everything has to be pretty to look good. Who hasn’t filmed themselves and thought, should we burn it later? Or at least after we get started with it.

Most sex scenes in porn are shot in a fluid shot, or with as little breaks as possible, whereas mainstream scenes are the constant agony of stopping and starting. start with long breaks in between, maybe for lunchtime sandwiches (porn has to wait until after eating scene). Being naked, sweating, and going in and out all day can be miserable. And there’s no way to achieve a true passion meeting if it’s broken up every few minutes to stop and wait to have another meetup. It may start to feel stuck and lose its fire. It becomes something unreal. And I know that sex in the mainstream isn’t real, but it sure feels that way. Especially for the audience.

The core problem is that most people don’t know how to act in sex movies. They know how to make the scenes look aesthetically pleasing and moody as well as mysterious, but porn brings something raw and unfettered onscreen that I rarely see in movies and television, and I truly believe it was seriously flawed. Porn gives something no fault. A sense of no f*cks, even if f*cks are being offered hard. It doesn’t hold back, and honestly neither does Hollywood – not just because there’s no penetration, but because there’s a sense that any real sex needs to be done in a way that isn’t pleasurable. sinful taste.

Hollywood pretends to hate sin. There is an art to lovemaking, with the curving and wrapping of the body turning into something intense and passionate. Something is recorded in the breath and the face. Hollywood productions would be well served when filming a pivotal sex scene to get porn advice on their set, or even to invite a co-director for such scenes. Someone who is an expert in this craft — yes, pornography is a craft — can provide a sense of authenticity. And it will make actors look good and feel more comfortable in their environment. Hollywood shouldn’t be afraid of this. And it shouldn’t be pornographic. We’ve gone too far in both mediums to fear what the other might have to offer us.

“I don’t like spitting in my mouth,” one girl told me as we talked about do’s and don’ts before a scene, as is standard practice in the adult industry.

Porn is an industry of consent. And these conversations before the shoot are necessary to gain trust in the people you’re acting with. Before Hollywood hired intimacy coaches, adult industry elites had conversations about boundaries and approval of length. The blacklist, prioritization, and how certain actions will be taken are more interestingly done right before the director’s call to action. This gives a sense of confidence and security to something close in nature and can put someone in a vulnerable position, even if it’s unintentional. Sure, as porn performers, we choose to have sex on camera as a profession, so of course one would assume we’re not worried about using our bodies. , but we want to use them in a way that we control.

What I appreciated during my time making porn was my release from shame. For a long time, I always had the feeling that my body was something to hide, to starve, to mold into whatever the producer or director wanted on screen. The cryptic message of openly sex while keeping her chastity has baffled women for too long. So it’s no surprise that we’re ashamed of our bare skin or the pleasure of having sex. It’s no surprise that we giggle in a feminine way as they appear on screen. Hollywood gives us green balls when it comes to sex — just enough before cutting everything right at the good part. But why does it always have to stop on its way? Why can’t sex be a real part of filmmaking, with real actors and stories and creative minds working together? Now, I’m not saying that every sex scene in a movie has to be real, but why can’t some of them be without shame or abuse? Why can’t just agreeing with actors and performers get to work on epic projects and bring real, passionate, raw sex to them on a grand scale? Why can’t adult audiences see what they want? No more prosthetics.

“You’re being too aggressive,” I was once told by a director in mainstream movies. “Kiss him, don’t eat him alive. Women are not like that. This is not pornography. ” He said it was the lowest a performer could reach.

I questioned myself at the time as a young woman. I thought something was wrong with me so I held back, and I will for many years to come. If I’m too aggressive or seen as wearing a tight suit, I believe I’ll reduce myself as an actress and a human being. It took me years to conclude that it wasn’t my perceived aggression in any of the scenes that upset any of the higher-ups in Hollywood – it was strength and power that I was capable of using. use. Power that all women can use.

Sex is a way to keep women, and specifically in this case actresses, in the places where they are assigned. You rarely see a woman playing the role of a sexual aggressor or a woman who loves sex for no reason. That’s why Samantha from Sex and the city What a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, such characters are few and far between. But in porn, they are abundant. Women are often seen in positions of sexual power, and the power that women have in this industry is astounding. Women are also prominent creators and directors in the field of pornography. Hollywood would be better served if women were to influence directors and screenwriters. There are only so many stories that can be told, and so many films that can only be shot from one man’s point of view.

But Hollywood can also offer some hints about porn. While sex is becoming increasingly hot in the adult industry, it often lacks the element of passion and detail-oriented intimacy that two actors who have honed their skills can achieve. . I truly believe that in porn it is important not only to rely on the physicality of the sexes, because much more can be delivered if there is a commitment to depth, character and realism. Silent moments can be the most erotic and powerful. I never like to hear the phrase, especially heartbreaking when it comes from young performers in the industry, that “it’s just porn”. It doesn’t have to be like that.

In addition, porn needs to transcend the concept of high school musical selection, even though the mainstream has also fallen victim to it. That’s where performers who aren’t the right fit for — or aren’t well equipped to play in — have their roles anyway. There are many talented performers in both of our disciplines, across a wide range of ages, genders, races and body types, who can bring a wide range of experiences and people to their roles and also brings something new to the page and the screen. Don’t lower the quality of filmmaking by constantly pushing a 23-year-old girl into roles she can’t believe.

Work on award-winning projects like Muse 2 from Deeper showed me firsthand how the mainstream and pornographic worlds can be merged to create quality films. But you have to have talent and a production team and staff working together to do it. I’ve always dreamed of filming a project with good acting and writing and production, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have done a lot of that. Now is the time to bring porn back to mainstream and mainstream back to porn. We need to stop sitting in our own corners at the dance, watching each other and wondering if we should move. It’s time to dance.

But maybe the mainstream is really changing. More and more products, like Sex / Life and 365 days, which is pushing the boundaries of what nudity and sexuality mean to mainstream audiences. Does Hollywood benefit from connecting with people in the sex world? Wouldn’t the product of each world be enhanced by learning from each other?

Maybe it’s time to stop f*cking each other and just hold hands.