Page 22 - AVN August 2017

WHO’S WHO
HABIT FORMING
New Mile High director Ricky Greenwood hopes his debut will hook porn fans
I THINK THIS
MOVIE IS GOING TO
BE A CLASSIC
REMEMBERED BY
ALL WHO SEE IT.
WE ALL WORKED
REALLY HARD TO
CONVEY THE
PROPER MOOD AS
THE STORY EVOLVES.
—CHARLOTTE STOKELY
MILESTONES | By Sharan Street
The directors currently working at Mile High Media comprise an adult industry dream team, with Mason,
James Avalon, Dana Vespoli, Bobby Manila, Mick Blue, Jacky St. James and Robby D. at the helm of
vignette, narrative and gonzo projects for such studios as Hard X, Dark X, Sweetheart Video, Reality
Junkies, Sweet Sinner and Cherry Pop. And this month Mile High adds another director to its fold as
starring Charlotte Stokely.
High.
T
Ricky Greenwood makes his debut for Sweetheart Video with the feature movie Confessions of a Sinful Nun,
Greenwood, a French Canadian who grew up in Montreal, studied film for a couple of years and then
worked for a TV station. From there he went to a production company before making the jump to Mile
Greenwood got ambitious for his first movie, a full feature with an arty, retro feel. He talked with AVN
about the aesthetic influences that shaped him and what he was aiming to accomplish with the project.
“I’m a huge fan of the genre—the nunsploitation film,” Greenwood said. He showed Mile High Vice
President Jon Blitt an example of this subgenre of exploitation films, particularly popular in Europe in
the 1970s, and asked if Mile High would do an X-rated version. Blitt agreed, telling Greenwood, “I think
people will love it.”
“I’m a huge fan of the 1970s movies, the time when they did exploitation films,” Greenwood revealed.
“Faster, Pussycat Kill! Kill!, Caged Heat, Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, all those prison things … That kind of era I
like. And porn wise, I’m a huge fan of those old-school films like Behind the Green Door, The Devil in Miss
Jones. Those kinds of films, they have the stories. I like those old days of porn. I think that’s what’s
missing right now. I like to see those kinds of films coming back. I tried to put my touch on that kind of
style, and see if people will love it. I don’t know. Maybe people have changed and they will not like that
kind of porn anymore.”
He said, “A couple of people saw it already; they really enjoyed it. They were surprised by the look and
the style.”
Producing the movie for Sweetheart Video, Mile High’s all-girl studio, Greenwood made it a message
about the Catholic Church’s oppression of the LGBT community. “Sister Charlotte, she is fighting again
the fact that she’s in love with a younger girl and she doesn’t know how to react. … Her faith is shaken,”
Greenwood explained.
For his take on the nunsploitation genre, Greenwood took his characters seriously and aimed for a
naturalistic feel. “When you see a porno with nuns, it’s dirty nuns and latex suits and stuff like that. I
don’t want to do that.” In Confessions his cast looks “like real nuns. And also they way they act—I wanted
them to be super natural. Most of them do not have tattoos or you can’t see them.”
Greenwood said, “I’m pretty happy with the cast. Working with Charlotte Stokely and Nina Hartley
for your first movie … it makes your job easier.” He runs down the list performers: “We have Lily Adams
with Charlotte Stokely—it’s a very, very nice scene. Lea Lexis with Riley Nixon. Nina Hartley with Mona
Wales, and Penny Pax and Darcie Dolce. It’s a great cast. And we have a cameo of James Avalon playing a
priest.”
Charlotte Stokely was an easy choice for the lead role. “I know she is a good actress,” Greenwood said.
“She does other things outside of porn.” Nonetheless, he said, “She surprised me a lot,” fulfilling all the
demands of the role.
Stokely told AVN, “It was an honor to be chosen as the lead role in this nunsploitation film, especially
considering it’s the first feature [Greenwood] directed. It was really fun to be in character for the role
wearing the nun attire.” Stokely described her character as having “so many conflicting emotions. Crying,
praying, conviction and lust. I always love acting roles
that allow the more conflicting emotions and not just the
typical ‘I’m horny.’ I think this movie is going to be a classic
remembered by all who see it. We all worked really hard to
convey the proper mood as the story evolves.”
She took the role to heart and “also learned about nun
life and Catholic practices I didn’t know about, so that’s
another fun aspect of it. I kept flirting with the girls, lifting
my robes and showing my ankles. So arousing. Also, we
needed to keep the sex scenes realistic. For example, a nun
wouldn’t say, ‘Lick my pussy!’ Instead she would say, ‘My
cup runneth over for you.’ ;) I’m a big fan of innuendos!”
It wasn’t all business, though. “We laughed a lot on set.
There’s a scene where we’re having dinner and Mother Nina
is talking about sin and how it’s bad, and Sister Mona is
giving her sternest look and directed it at me and I busted
out laughing so hard we had to film that take several times.
I thought, I’m totally gonna burn in hell. Then Dana Vespoli
said to Mother Nina, ‘Is it bad I have this intense desire to
get on the table and sit my asshole right on top of this giant
candle?’ We had soooo much fun.”
In fact, Greenwood reported, “All the girls there, they
were really into it. … It was important to me that they
really wanted to do it—not just doing a movie because we
paid them. I wanted to make sure they understand and
that they wanted to do it. And the sex scene between Riley
Nixon and Lea Lexis is just incredible. … After we shot that
scene nobody was talking on the set—we were just, like,
speechless.”
The director was also completely won over by Mona
Wales, who plays the right-hand nun to Nina Hartley’s
Mother Superior. “Mona Wales, she is amazing, he said. “I
didn’t know her before, and now I want to cast her all the
time. She’s a very good actress.”
Nina Hartley, who had performed with Wales before in
a shoot for Kink.com’s EverythingButt.com with Daisy
Ducati, also expressed her delight with Wale. “She’s a
tremendous performer. Smart, educated, aware, politically
active, NICE. … She just dived in.”
Wales is an ideal scene partner, Hartley told AVN,
because she knows about pacing, about how to not move
too fast or too slow—and how to actually have a good time
while still putting on a show that will be enjoyable to watch.
(Continued on page 30)
22 | AVN.com | 8.17