Page 52 - AVN July 2018

FEATURE
FEATURE | By Sherri L. Shaulis and Sharan Street
more than just showing up for a scene.
“As technology has finally enabled porn to
compete on an equal playing field with at least
indie films, it’s become much more important
to find performers who are also credible
actors,” he said. “The stereotype of bad porn
acting isn’t an unfounded one. When you
shoot as much as I do, you get to know the
personalities of the performers and you can
figure which ones are capable of playing a role
that’s at least close to who they really are.
There are a handful of actors working in the
business today, however, that are every bit as
skilled as their mainstream counterparts.
“Tommy Pistol is my go-to on every project
that requires acting,” Quasar added. “He’s
always great at comedy, but he can get very
dark or very sentimental as well. He’s a
complex guy in real life so he nails everything
that I throw at him. Honorable mentions go
to Ryan McLane, Marcus London, Derrick
Pierce, Charles Dera and a handful of others.”
Formal training as an actor is not
necessarily a requirement, Quasar said, but
the ability to take the subject matter seriously
and the willingness to prepare for an acting
role are key.
Jacky St. James, a writer-director who
got her start with New Sensations and now
makes feature movies regularly for Mile High
Media’s Sweet Sinner imprint, has always
considered acting the most important thing in
her movies.
“I know a lot of people think that what
makes a great actor is doing these gigantic,
epic performances in which someone can cry,
go into a rage, or show how dramatically they
can emote,” she said. “For me, what makes
a great actor is someone who understands
subtlety and nuance. A great acting teacher
once told me, ‘The best performance isn’t the
one where the person cries, it’s where the
person is fighting like hell not to,’ and it is
absolutely true. You won’t see any melodrama
in my work because I don’t think it tells an
interesting story.”
St. James said, for her, the best acting
performances are those that don’t feel like
acting performances. Making a connection
with the words and the material can make the
real difference.
“Line memorization only gets you to a point
where you can really sit with the material and
let the director help you shape it,” she said.
“But understanding the complexities of the
role and looking for those moments that are
not on the page, THAT is what makes a great
actor.
“Who stands out as an actor?” she
continued. “Logan Pierce. Logan Pierce.
Logan Pierce. Two others that also understand
all of the above exceptionally well are Michael
Vegas and Ryan McLane. Those three are
at the top of their game for sure. There are
others, but I’ve seen the most diversity in
performance working with them—which is
why I hire all of them constantly.”
Gamma Films chief Bree Mills, the force
behind Girlsway.com, is among the best
feature directors in adult today, but casting
52 | AVN.com | 7.18
Xander Corvus
Xander Corvus has proven he
can be the sarcastic best friend,
the tender romantic or the
bad-boy villain. He can handle
comedic roles easily, but is not
afraid to take a dramatic turn at
all. And for his next trick? He’ll
be “Deadtool” in The Jerk With a
Johnson: A DP XXX Parody.
Danny D.
Danny D. works across the
pond, filming for Brazzers and
Digital Playground mostly, but
that doesn’t keep American
audiences from appreciating his
acting skills. His performances
comes across as relaxed and
effortless, and he’s long been
the obvious choice for XXX
parodies featuring U.K.-based
source materials, including the
porn treatments of Sherlock
Holmes and Doctor Who.
Seth Gamble
For more than a decade, Gamble
has racked up acting credit after
credit. At the height of the porn
parody craze, Gamble appeared
in adult send-ups of Grease,
Clerks, Iron Man and Animal
House. He’s perhaps best known
for his work in Star Wars XXX,
and is set to take on the title
role in Axel Braun’s Deadpool
XXX later this year.
Marcus London
This buff Brit performs for a
wide array of studios, but he’s
been a mainstay at Wicked
Pictures for more than a decade.
But arguably his best acting
work was in the award-winning
Spartacus MMXII: The Beginning,
which he also directed.
Clockwise from top right: Marcus London,
Seth Gamble, Ryan McLane, Mickey Mod, Danny D.,
Xander Corvus (photo by Marc Star)
male actors in her productions is a recent happening. Yet no matter who she is casting, there are certain qualities that
must be met.
“Speaking for myself and my style of productions, a good actor is someone who is willing and able to lose
themselves in a role,” she said. “I don’t write scripts because I want my actors to look at my films as method acting
challenges. Rather than be preoccupied with memorizing lines, they can focus on getting to the root of the character
they are playing and effectively become them for the duration of the production. I invest a lot of time and energy to
provide them this space to explore and improvise with each other. The results are quite amazing! I don’t believe you
need to have formal training to have this ability ... but you do need to have the right personality fit and desire for it.
Not everyone wants to do a full-day improv acting workshop, but there are many adult actors who love it because they
come from some kind of performance background.”
Mills said she looks for performers who are not just talented, but also interested in acting. And once she gets to
know them, it’s easier for her to write characters for them in the future.
And, like many directors, she has her favorites.
“There are so many names I could add here, but I’ll share the actors that I have brought back the most and have
built the closest working relationships with,” she said. “Tommy Pistol is basically my male muse. Derrick Pierce,
Michael Vegas, Charles Dera, Seth Gamble, Dick Chibbles, Small Hands, Tyler Knight, Steve Holmes … I also recently
began working with Logan Pierce and Jake Adams, whom I have been very impressed with.”