Page 20 - AVN February 2024

Chanel Camryn captured the coveted Best New Starlet trophy for the most outstanding new female performer; and the explosive epic Machine Gunner from Digital Playground triumphed in the Grand Reel category as the best narrative movie en route to four total awards. The haul included Best Leading Actress hardware for Kira Noir; Best Oral Sex Scene for Kira and Tommy Pistol; and Best Tag-Team Sex Scene for her tussle with Charles Dera and Scott Nails.
Noir, the 2023 AVN Female Performer of the Year and three-time Best Supporting Actress, told AVN winning the lead acting prize for the role of Nicole Ransom, a black-ops specialist for the U.S. government, “feels absolutely incredible.”
She wore a stunning red evening gown for the occasion because, “I wanted to feel like an evil Disney princess.”
“I’ve never been the lead in a feature before so the fact that the first time I was able to do it I was able to do it well is so important,” Noir told AVN backstage.
In the ambitious movie that was helmed by the versatile Ricky Greenwood—who won Best Directing Portfolio – Cross-Genre—Ransom goes on a mission to apprehend a man that deserted the U.S. government with a bunch of secrets.
It turns out that man was her ex—played skillfully by breakout star Alex Jones.
“It was really intense,” Noir continued. “We had to do training and I tried to work out really hard so I could look good during it.
“Everyone that was acting with me, I feel like they were acting for me. It’s really difficult to do it unless the person that I’m doing the scene with is able to play with me and really help pull a better performance out of me. So I’m really grateful for everyone who I was in this movie with.”
The talented ensemble cast also featured real-life military veteran Kayley Gunner, Nicole Doshi, Damon Dice, Maxwell and Saturday’s vivacious co-host, Luna Star.
“Kira was amazing, she killed it,” Dice said. “Luna was great, too. And Kayley actually being an Army veteran... We had an all-star cast and it just all came together perfectly.”
The movie became especially meaningful for Greenwood, who dedicated the project to the late Robby D—the Hall of Fame director who shot more than 300 movies for Digital Playground.
“Everybody put all this effort into pushing it in the right direction and it shows in the movie,” Greenwood told AVN. “It was a lot of fun and it was also very stressful for me because of the pressure I put on myself. But the fact that we did it for [Robby’s] memory on top of that, now everybody will know that it was the best movie of that year.”
The veteran stud Scott Nails agreed, telling AVN, “This is probably the most fun I’ve ever had on set. We got to play with real guns and blow shit up.”
Jones added, “I got to be the fucking bad guy for the first time.”
Principal photography for Machine Gunner unfolded on an iconic movie ranch in the LA area— the same one that Damon Dice’s great grandfather traversed when he was a prop master for Universal Studios for four decades.
20 AVN.COM | 2.24 | 2024 AVN AWARDS