Your Question
At what point did you decide to make the transition from actor to director?
My Answer
I had been out of movies for 4 years already and was mostly writing for men’s magazines at the time. I was doing a lot of soul searching to make sure I was OK with the controversial career I had taken on. In the process of looking at whether adult movies were actually bad for society I concluded that sexually explicit art and movies were not necessarily bad and could in fact be informative and inspiring. That said, it seemed to me that most porn was sex-negative and did not present a woman’s point of view or show what women liked sexually. At the same time I could tell women were becoming more curious and felt permission to explore their sexuality due to the woman’s movement of the late ’60’s, early ’70’s. With the advent of home video they had a safe place to look, but there was nothing out there for them. I also sensed that men wanted to share the experience of watching a sexy movie with their woman and again, there was little they felt comfortable bringing home to her. I saw a challenging new market that no one was paying attention to and I felt I would be a perfect person to provide content for it: My whole education had been in the arts, I had been a performer in adult movies and had first-hand experience on the set, and, having been a feminist activist in college, I liked the political challenge of putting a woman’s voice to a genre everyone assumed was for men only.
Your Question
How does your experience as an actor affect the way you make your films?
My Answer
I feel I have more compassion and respect for my actors and actresses. They also trust me because they know I’ve been on their side of the camera and I don’t judge them.
Posted in: The Royalle FAQs