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October 27, 2005
Homemade porn - a good career move
Los Angeles - B-list Hollywood celebrities from "it" girl Paris Hilton to actor Tom Sizemore are finding that, far from being a kiss of death, the release of their home-made sex videos can be a big career boost.
While Baywatch star Pamela Anderson and her rocker husband, Motley Crue drummer, Tommy Lee fought to keep their sex romps private, they inadvertently launched a new trend that some lesser stars are now happy to feed as celeb nookie becomes a growing niche in the X-rated movie industry.
The couple, who have since divorced, became cult porn stars when a cassette of their raunchy pursuits was stolen in 1997. They waged a legal battle to block the release of the tape, but ultimately reached a settlement and the video went on to sell more than 100 000 copies.
"Since then, I think, because of the notoriety that tape got, there are other celebrities who are interested in allowing footage to come out," said Steven Hirsch, co-founder and joint chief executive of top
US pornography studio Vivid Entertainment.
"I think that celebrities became a little bit more comfortable when they saw that not only it did not hurt their careers, but in fact enhanced it," he said.
Until her taped bedroom escapade with boyfriend Rick Saloman hit the Internet in 2003, hotel heiress Hilton (24) was known for little else than looking radiant and turning up at all the best parties.
As the film, One Night in Paris, was released on DVD selling tens of thousands of copies, Tinseltown came knocking on Hilton's door.
Since then, she has had no fewer than five movie acting roles and her reality television show The Simple Life became a surprise smash hit.
After Hilton recovered from the embarrassment of having her sexploits aired to the world, even she now waxes philosophical about the indignity. "I used to think it was so bad, but it's like, everyone has sex. I'm sure everyone has filmed a tape," she told Vanity Fair.
And actor Sizemore, who had roles in Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, has also decided that baring all is the way to go when one's career is sagging.
As his career slowed and he narrowly escaped jail time following convictions for drug offences and beating up his girlfriend, he gave his blessing to the sale of a recording of his bedroom antics by Vivid.
The strange new cohabitation between mainstream cinema and porn is symptomatic of a blurring of the lines between pornography and pop culture, said University of Southern California sociology professor Julie Albright.
"Of course, as a culture, we're fascinated by celebrities, about movie stars, we want to know about them. Giving this increasing access to pornography by the everyday person, the combination of sexuality and celebrity is very seductive," she said. - Sapa-AFP
Published on the web by Star on October 28, 2005.
Posted by Jeremy at October 27, 2005 4:25 PM
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