Julianne Moore: grin and bare it
(02' I) ‘R()'.' "54:5 "
about (‘alifornian porn kings .lim and Artie Mitchell. who made Behind The Green Door. Sean Penn is considering directing it. with Ashley Judd and Leonardo l)i('aprio. who was set to star in Boogie .\'igltl.s tiiitil lihllllt' came along.
lilsewhere. the story of famed sex star Linda Lovelace who claims she was taken hostage and forced to act in I972‘s classic porn film Deep Throat is due be told by Apollo l3 director Ron Howard in an as-yet-untitled film biography. lirasure singer Andy Bell will star as a porn director in a comedy abotit the sex- toy industry called Good Vibrations; And But/mm d} R()l)lll director Joel Schumacher is being tempted by 8 Mil/iiiieti‘e. a sordid drama by the writer of Seven. about a detective hired by a woman to trace the origins of a porn film found in her dead hubby’s yault.
Despite this eagerness to cash in on the sex craze. many insiders doubt the general public is as fascinated by the adult film industry as Hollywood‘s directors and producers. The People l’s Larry I'lY/Il Milos l"orman’s acclaimed drama about lliistler publisher and porn producer Larry l’lynt ~- flopped badly at the box office. And Boogie Nights was carefully launched in America as a character- driyen piece that deals frankly with sexuality.
The sttidios~ concerns are not suprising in today’s consei'yatiye climate. Despite being directed by IIH/(‘t't'lli l’i'opos‘iil’s Adrian l.yne and starring Oscar winner Jeremy lions. the £35 million remake of Lolita a graphic romance between an older man and a pre-teen — has been branded child pornography and not picked up by any American or British distributor.
lloweyer. those responsible for the crop of new films claim that. if films about the porn industry are well-made. they will bring in an audience.
‘Part of America has problems with films approaching sex as an industry or eyen an act.. insists Michael l)el.uca. president of production at New Line. the company behind Boogie Nights. ‘Btit Boogie Nights has humour and a message about the need for families. and its strong writing will make people look back on this period in the 7()s. at
12 THE lIST 9-22 Jan 1998
how these people behayed and the price they paid. People will go and see it because we all like to go to good inoyies.‘
Many in the film industry disagree. pointing to meagre box office receipts for The People l's' Lorry l’lyitt. .S'lioii‘gii'ls' and l)emi Moore‘s .S'ti'i/iteuse.
‘I see absolutely no indication of any audience appetite for these films.’ says one producer. who doesn’t want to be named for fear of being branded a puritan in the macho llollywood environment. 'These scripts are read with excitement in Hollywood and get big stars attached. but are complete non-events with the audiences because the embarrassment factor means men and women won't see them together. and they aren’t going to go separately. Kids won't go. It just doesn‘t work.‘
This yiew is shared by writer Joe liszterhas. whose sexy Basie liistiiiei was a hit. but whose
Jade and .S'lioii-gii'ls failed big time. ‘What was pushed in the adyertising of
Basie lil.\‘llll('i was the thriller aspect.‘ he
explains. "l‘hen people saw it aitd came away talking about the world-Iamous Sharon Stone crotch shot. But both .S'lioii‘gii'ls and Jude sold the sexual aspects of the films and. in the
current politically correct climate. it doesn‘t go down well. Moyies‘ about sex might only sell if done as complete fairy tales. like Pretty ll'oiiiriii. where there is nothing realistic about that hooker.
‘The world has changed since Martin Scorsese did 'I'ux'i I)i'ii'ei‘.‘ lis/terhas concludes. ‘In View of the current outcry over sex and \‘lOlCllL‘L‘. I wonder if people would go and see such a movie if it got made today.’
Boogie Nights opens on Fri 16 Jan. See review, page 41.
We track down the biggest sex stars of the 705, from the born-again
Christians to ex-junkies.
Linda LOVCIBCE (47) starred in 1972's Deep Throat the most famous porn film of all time ~ and published Ordeal in 1980, claiming she was forced at gunpOint to do the film by her ex-husband, whom she divorced in 1973. Now named Linda Marchiano, she lives on Long Island, outside New York City, With husband Larry and their two children She is a fierce anti-pornography crusader.
Marilyn Chambers (44) starred in 1973’s porn blockbuster Behind The Green Door. Although she only made five porn films, she still receives offers for hardcore films, but has turned them down in favour of softer-sell sexy prolects‘; she also starred in Dawd Cronenberg's Rabid, In 1993, she released Marilyn Chambers ’5 Bedtime Stories, With four Playboy models and a Miss Nude World.
Vanessa Del mo ('43), star of Cherry Hustlers, retired from erotic films, but still makes occasional strip appearances at New York’s Vault, an S&Iv1 club she describes as ’great for pervs like me’. In 1996 she played
a retired porn star on NYPD Blue.
JOhI‘I Holmes claimed to have had sex With 14,000 women and became a cocaine addict. In 1981, after four people were shot dead in a drug-related murder, he was charged in the killing. He was later acqunted, but the murder investigation went on until his death from AIDS in 1988. He was 43, Mark Wahlberg's
character in Boogie Nights is loosely based on his story.
Harry Reems (50), Linda Lovelace’s co-star in Deep Throat (for which he received 8100) became a figurehead for the free-speech movement in 1976 when he was conVic‘ted in a ’corispiracy’ to produce and distribute the famed film. Today, he is a married Christian, and a recovering alcoholic: and drug addict who is
selling real estate in Utah.
L -
Sorry, I'm a bit tied up: getting the bends in 1972's classic porn film Deep Throat