Steve Pink In Talks To Helm ‘Sexual Perversity In Chicago’
EXCLUSIVE: Steve Pink is in talks to direct Sexual Perversity In Chicago, the Screen Gems remake of the 1986 film About Last Night. I’m hearing that the film, scripted by Bachelorette‘s Leslye Headland, is on a fast track for an early fall start. Michael Ealy is starring (in the role originated by Rob Lowe) alongside Kevin Hart (in the Jim Belushi role), and Screen Gems is already looking for a young actress to play the Demi Moore love interest role while Regina Hall has been rumored for the other female lead, played originally by Elizabeth Perkins. The film right now is going by the original title of the David Mamet play about two single guys and their sex lives in the 70s.
The film is being produced by Will Packer and Will Gluck, the hit making producer duo. Packer produced Think Like A Man, the Screen Gems hit comedy that starred Ealy and Hart, and he’s got such films coming up as Ride Along with Hart and Ice Cube and Tim Story directing, and No Good Deed, which stars Idris Elba. Gluck produced/directed Easy A and Friends With Benefits, both of which were hits for Clint Culpepper’s shingle.Pink, who directed Accepted and Hot Tub Time Machine, is separately in talks to helm the Bad Santa sequel, something that will happen after Sexual Perversity in Chicago, if they keep that title.
* Let me throw a name out there for consideration : Meghan Markle for the role of Debbie.
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'House of Lies' Actress Joining Catherine Hardwicke's 'Plush'Dawn Olivieri will play a band manager in the erotic thriller toplined by Emily Browning as a rising rock star.
Dawn Olivieri, one of the stars of Showtime’s House of Lies, is joining in Catherine Hardwicke’s erotic thriller Plush.The movie centers on a rising rock star (Emily Browning) who, after losing her brother to a drug overdose, finds new hope and friendship in Enzo (Xavier Samuel), the replacement guitarist who inspires her to reach new creative heights. The married mother of two crosses the sexual line, but as she slowly discovers the man’s dark and troubled history, she realizes she may have let a madman into her home and family.
Olivieri plays the band’s manager, the movie’s second female lead. Cam Gigandet plays the husband.
Jason Blum of Blumhouse is producing with Sherryl Clark. IM Global is financing the movie.
* Emily will take her top off again. Pretty sure about that.
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The Award for Most Underdog Network: Starz
When Tony Soprano had his first panic attack in 1999, HBO underwent a massive shift in its business model — from relying on boxing matches and unsightly sex documentaries to airing some of the best original shows on TV. The head of original programming at the time, Chris Albrecht (who developed The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Deadwood, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Band of Brothers, The Wire, and Entourage — hey, some people like it) not only made that happen — he changed how we think of cable TV. Consider that, before Mad Men and Breaking Bad, AMC's idea of must-see TV was an Ernest Borgnine marathon.Now Albrecht is the president of Starz, which on Thursday announced its plan to break off from parent company Liberty Media. The network needs revenue badly, and it'll probably get it, in the form of some other large parent company (Redbox Instant and Comcast are the names currently being floated). Here's why you should care: If the company has any sense, that money will mean more programming like the promising mob series Magic City or Boss, the best new-ish show on TV you aren't watching. You don't watch it, of course, because you don't subscribe to Starz. In a few years, who knows? It's happened before. "I believe this standalone structure is the first step to unlocking the real potential growth opportunities," Albrecht told the Hollywood Reporter of the news. We have reason to believe he may actually be right.
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Compliance review: How far would you go?
(out of 4)Starring Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker and Pat Healy. Written and directed by Craig Zobel. 90 minutes. Opens Aug. 10 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Rated : 14A
How far would you go in the name of the law?
Compliance writer/director Craig Zobel poses a question that has gained some urgency in modern times, an issue on a micro level not dissimilar to the culpability of soldiers “just following orders” in a war considered unjust by the world community.
Zobel bookends the film with the screen-filling pronouncement — “Inspired by true events” — as the film opens and closes with an alarming statistic: there have been 70 incidents in 30 U.S. states in which telephone hoaxers, posing as police officers, have duped people into violating the human rights of innocent victims.
The story opens at the Chickwich fast-food restaurant where manager Sandra (Ann Dowd) gets a call from a man identifying himself as “Officer Daniels,” who tells her an employee has stolen a patron’s purse, an act that was recorded as part of a police surveillance operation.
Hapless Becky (Dreama Walker) is pulled away from the counter and marched into the office where she is held prisoner and, at the officer’s instigation, subjected to a series of increasingly degrading acts.
It is sad but perhaps not shocking how quickly Sandra goes from perplexity — Becky has always been a reliable employee — to assuming she is guilty and complying with the officer’s increasingly strident and bizarre demands.
But the gleefully evil man on the other end of the line — who casually makes a sandwich at one point — is a master manipulator who probes with innocuous questions and authoritative reassurances to find and exploit weaknesses that will lead to compliance. (Pat Healy nails the role and you loathe him for it.)
Zobel inserts a series of mundane images throughout, including customers chomping down on sandwiches — evoking the thought of sheep being fattened for slaughter — and of the food itself, including a tray of French fries, with one deformed potato wedge standing out from the rest. (Wink, wink: we, as a society, are the fries and Officer Daniels is the twisted chip.)
He’s also assembled a no-name cast of unglamorous folk, allowing his camera to focus in and linger on their moles, wrinkles, messy hair and tacky nails, effectively reminding us of how simply simple folk can become monsters.
If there’s one major flaw, it’s that Zobel takes the story one outrage too far, when Sandra’s boozy boyfriend, Van (Bill Camp), is brought in to stand guard, leading to an assault that doesn’t ring true.
Beyond that, Zobel has created a tale that will leave audiences angry if not downright nauseated by journey’s end. His message — that if we aren’t prepared to question authority, we risk losing our dignity as human beings — could not be more timely.
Review of Compliance: True events reveal the power of suggestion
by T’Cha Dunlevy, GAZETTE FILM CRITIC
3.5 stars out of 5Starring: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Bill Kamp, Philip Ettinger
Playing at: Forum cinema.
Parents’ guide: language, nudity.
MONTREAL - Do as you’re told. It’s a rule we learn early in life and, as evidenced by writer-director Craig Zobel’s discomfiting second feature, Compliance, it’s a hard habit to break.
The familiar words “Inspired by true events” are displayed on the screen at the outset, letting us know that this story is not the mere fabrication of a fertile mind. Based on an assault at a McDonald’s restaurant in 2004 — one of 70 such incidents across the U.S. over the previous decade — Compliance is an uncomfortable, fascinating film about the corruptive power of suggestion.
Sandra (Ann Dowd, note-perfect), is a nice, middle-aged manager of a ChickWich fast-food chain. Her day starts off badly — a delivery of bacon and pickles hasn’t come through; one of her employees left the freezer door open the night before, spoiling hundreds of dollars worth of stock; and there’s a plainclothed “control person” coming through later to check up on things, so her staff had better be on its best behaviour.
Sandra’s attempts to chum up to her underlings are less than successful; she gets mocked for using the word “seating.” She phones her fiancé, Van, who gets handed a beer as he talks to her from the construction site where he works.
Then she receives a fateful phone call. It is the police, she is told, and they have received a complaint about one of her cashiers stealing money from a woman’s purse. Becky (Dreama Walker, equally great) is summoned into her office, but swears she didn’t do anything wrong.
The police have been following Becky as part of a larger investigation, Sandra is informed, and “Officer Daniels” (Pat Healy) has her manager on the other line. He also speaks to Becky, pushing her to “just be straight with me,” despite her protests. He asks Sandra to go through Becky’s pockets, then to search her purse.
Zobel does an impressive job of capturing the tension of the situation. Filmed in close range, with lots of reaction shots, the scene becomes a three-way tug of war, with the voice on the other end of the line pulling the most weight.
Sandra is obviously uncomfortable with the things she is asked to do — she likes Becky, and doesn’t want offend — yet she wants to please Officer Daniels, who asks to be called “sir;” she giggles bashfully when told she is doing a great job.
Becky is bewildered. What is happening? And how could her life be taking such a dark turn? We’re not sure she didn’t do it, but by the time Officer Daniels orders Sandra to strip search Becky, we’re pretty sure this is not standard procedure.
And yet, despite the implausibility of the scenario, Zobel paints a distressingly credible account of how events could/did unfold and unravel to such a troubling degree.
It gets worse, and Zobel creates great drama along the way. Heather McIntosh’s moody score and Adam Stone’s vibrant, detailed cinematography (within a fast-food joint, no less) add to the irony and emotional weight of events.
“Is there a reason you didn’t just say no?” Becky is asked, by a flesh-and-blood police officer, near film’s end. The answer can be found in the title of this troubling film, which caused a minor uproar when it premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
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Exclusive: Director Susanna Lo Gives Us The Skinny on the Upcoming Film Manson Girls
by Doctor Gash
August 10th, 2012
August 10th, 2012
Although the actual crimes happened nearly 45 years ago, the Charles Manson murders continue to intrigue people to this day. Understanding that fact, filmmaker Susanna Lo is bringing us a film that looks at the insanity from a new angle.Prepare yourself for Manson Girls.
Based on the unimaginable events leading up to the 1969 murders performed by the Manson Family, Lo's Manson Girls tells a unique story from the perspective of the girls. "This is not Charles Manson's story. This is not Vincent Bugliosi's (Manson's prosecuting attorney who wrote Helter Skelter) story. This is the girls' story and it predominately takes place in their earlier years from their high school days through when they start meeting each other and their life on Spahn Ranch and it actually ends a minute before the actual Tate/LaBianca murders," Manson Girls writer/director Susanna Lo said. "I felt like the murders had been represented enough and, for me, the story was how did so many girls get seduced by this one man. Not just to do drugs or have crazy, wild sex, but to actually murder people and commit multiple crimes. That's really the perspective I took on it after I found out, a few years ago, that I was living across the street from the LaBianca house."
Unsure why so many tourists were curious about her neighbor's house, Lo investigated. "There were a lot of tourists showing up from around the world and I couldn't figure out why," Lo said. "It was that Hollywood famous dead people tour. I finally couldn't help it and had to do some research on all the girls. That started to pique my interest and then I found out that Sandra Good (one of the real Manson Girls) had the exact same birthday as me. And I just had to keep researching."
Lo spoke on why, nearly 45 years later, the Manson murders are still such an intriguing case. "I think it was the first time it was such a horrific crime," Lo said. "Even in 1969 with Vietnam going on, Vietnam was happening in another country. Vietnam was somewhere else. This was right in our backyards. These were girls everybody grew up with. And I think the last element was the amount of fame that surrounded not only the people that were murdered, but the people they were hanging out with. In my telling of the story, Terry Melcher and Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys are definitely represented and how Charles Manson and the girls were hanging out with them and how Terry was going to produces an album for Manson. And, of course, the murder happening to Sharon Tate. And you just don't hear about women, and these were just young girls, committing such horrific crimes. They were just brutal. This is not poisoning somebody. These were multiple, multiple stab sounds. It was just so shocking at the time that I think America went from innocence to no longer a safe place. People started locking their doors after the summer of '69."
Lo managed to make some pretty intense connections between the story she had written and some of the people who were working on Manson Girls. "I talk to John McFee and Guy Allison of The Doobie Brothers regularly," Lo said. "Guy is the composer of the film and Guy and John are the producers of the soundtrack. When John read my script he was just mortified because there was actually a party scene where he was actually there, hanging out with Susan Atkins and he realized he had not talked about this since it happened. He was so shocked that someone he considered a casual friend that he partied with regularly did what she ended up doing. And Guy, who's slightly younger, was 10 years old and living in the neighborhood of the LaBianca murders and said we started locking our doors after the murders were reported. It was shocking to have everything validated by two people who were around the scene at that time."
Fans of Bill Moseley, who is featured as Charles Manson in the film, may be curious as to what inspired Lo to cast the actor in the role of the leader of the family. "When breakdowns went out for this, it was quite amazing that we received nearly 500 submissions of recognizable names submitted for the Charles Manson part," Lo said. "And it was very clearly stated that you don't ever see Manson's face in this film and we still got amazing submissions because it's such a name, Charles Manson, that actors didn’t' care that their face wasn’t ever going to be seen. But it left an amazing challenge for whoever that actor was going to be. He has to portray Manson by using his voice and his movements and his essence. And nobody does that better than Bill Moseley. Hands down."
Describing how she shot Manson's scenes, Lo said, "He's completely in shadows and you just see body parts and I think it makes it more ominous that you never see Charles Manson's face."
As Lo is creating a film based on a story the world is very familiar with, she explained that it is indeed her fictional take on a true story. "It's inspired by very true events, but I'm not a documentarian and this is not a documentary at all. It's more my take on how America raised a nation of female killers and finding out about the neglect and isolation and, sometimes, downright abuse, that happened to these eight girls, the eight I focused on," Lo said. "I tried to hone down what was the truth and what wasn't the truth. There have been so many conflicting stories."
Finally, on a side topic, Lo talked about the recent surge of quality female directors within the horror genre. "I just attended a film festival of female horror directors," Lo said. "Danielle Harris, who's done a lot of horror films, is now directing one. The films that were there were really quite amazing. It was international, from all over the world, and I didn't see one bad film there. I think the reason female horror directors are succeeding is a no-brainer. Always the woman survives to the end. And, admittedly for actresses, in a lot of the horror films directed by men you've got to get naked, but don't get to speak much. I think a woman director will help you develop the character a little more. So if you've got to get naked or slaughtered, at least you've got a great scene beforehand."
Synopsis
Manson Girls is the story of an American tragedy that could very well be destined to repeat itself if we don’t shine a light on this group of once innocent girls, who became monsters, through neglect and abuse. Their often tragic childhoods led them to the devil incarnate, Charles Manson. This is the girls’ story, told from their perspective; a part of world history that will not go away, told with a fresh twist, not from Charlie's perspective, not from Bugliosi's perspective, just the Manson Girls.
Manson Girls describes how America raised a nation of female serial killers. It’s told from the perspective of eight of the girls in the infamous Manson Family, starting from their teenage years, before they met Charles Manson, and ending just prior to the Tate/LaBianca murders.
Old interviews from 2011. Film productions yet to start at this point. Susanna was looking for sponsors at the Sundance 2011 FF.
Associated Press Interviews Susanna Lo and Tania Raymonde about 'Manson Girls'
Watch live streaming video from aplivesundance at livestream.com
Taryn Manning, Heather Matarazzo
aplivesundance on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free
* Me thinks Tania fibbed about going nude in the movie. There is nudity but Tania was probably trying to catch potential producers attention. Sex/nudity is always a big attraction in order to pull in big wigs wary about lame chick flicks and resulting weak reception at the box office. The movie is scheduled for release in October 2012 but......................
Horror legend Bill Moseley talks 'Manson Girls' (June 12 2012)
Speaking of which, am I right in thinking you’ve just played Charles Manson?
I haven’t played him yet. Actually, I’ve played him in a trailer that we’ve done for Manson Girls, Susanna Lo’s movie. But we haven’t shot it yet. We have a trailer out for which I also recorded a version of the Doors’ song “Five to One” with Guy Allison of the Doobie Brothers and that’s the soundtrack of the trailer. I’m not sure if it’s a trailer that’s been put out for public consumption or if it’s part of a fund-raising package. I think they’re still looking to fully finance before they start shooting.
Latest Update :
I e-mailed the music composer for the movie : Guy Allison and he was nice enough to reply very quickly :
Me : Hi, Mr.Allison. Hoping my e-mail is not too bothersome. I recently discovered you worked on the movie Manson Girls by Susanna Lo. Always had morbid curiosity with Manson murders. Just wondering if the film was ever completed?
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Judd Apatow on 'Girls' Awkward Sex Scenes: 'People Are Way Too Prudish'
The executive producer of Lena Dunham's breakout HBO hit tells THR what he's learned about women from the boundary-pushing show.
The executive producer of Lena Dunham's breakout HBO hit tells THR what he's learned about women from the boundary-pushing show.THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: When and how did you meet Girls creator Lena Dunham?
Judd Apatow: Somebody slipped me the DVD of her film Tiny Furniture before it came out. But when I watched it, I had no idea that the person who starred in it also wrote and directed it! I e-mailed her and told her I thought it was great. It turned out she was in the middle of negotiating a deal to develop a show for HBO and that her partner was Jenni Konner, whom I had worked with on Undeclared and a bunch of other projects. They asked me if I wanted to be a part of it, and I was thrilled to jump in. I hadn't done television since 2002. I was very proud of what we did with Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, but it was very frustrating that they ended so early. I wanted to go back to TV and threw caution to the wind.
THR: Lena writes, directs and stars in Girls. What exactly was your role as executive producer?
Apatow: My main job was to help Lena understand what it took to make a television series: how to structure a production, utilize a staff and maintain a healthy budget. It takes time to realize how to make things way more expensive than they actually are! She has so much creative freedom at HBO; the challenge is to take full advantage of it. I worked for HBO on The Larry Sanders Show, and they get mad at you when you don't take risks.
THR: What types of notes did you give on her scripts?
Apatow: We talked a lot about what you need to do when you only have half an hour. The pace is different. You're trying to expose characters, but you're trying to be entertaining. We were also always aware of making the characters borderline unlikable. Lena enjoys exposing people's flaws, and what was interesting when the show came out -- we thought we were clear that was the point of the show -- lots of people didn't get it.
THR: How did you feel about the awkward sex scenes?
Apatow: I talked a lot about that with Lena before the show aired. She's so comfortable with the sex stuff, but I didn't want her to be blindsided by the fact that most people aren't. But she and I both agree people are way too prudish. It's ridiculous that at this stage of the human journey, someone with their top off or pants off is going to give someone a heart attack. Also, I think people feel bad about themselves when everyone they see on TV looks like a Victoria's Secret model. Personally, I've never had six-pack abs, and I've tried. I've always looked more like Norm from Cheers.
THR: What have you learned about women from the show that you didn't know before?
Apatow: Lena talks a lot about the struggle women have in deciding what's important to feel good about themselves, but I don't see it as being unique to women. The show is more about being young, experimenting and learning, but in the back of your head, you're like, "I've got eight years to find a good job and someone to marry." Everyone on Earth is frustrated, sad and lost when they're young.
THR: Have your daughters seen the show?
Apatow: My older daughter, Maude, has been lucky enough to watch the rough cuts. She laughs, but her face goes alight with shock a fair amount of the time. There are some earmuff and blindfold moments.
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Hostess tucking cell phone in her bra captures attention from James Cameron
A hostess has gained a lot of interests online, after her uniform revealed her deep cleavage and a cell phone tucked into her bra at a launching ceremony of Cameron-Pace Group (CPG) China Division at Beijing’s National Museum of China in Beijing.
Recently, China has seen various Hollywood filmmakers and studios coming to join up with Chinese partners to try to seize the shares of China’s film market as it has been growing so fast in the recent few years. Mr. Cameron, the director of blockbusters such as Titanic and Avatar, also hit China now to open the 3D joint venture, CPG China Division, with two local companies.
At the launching ceremony, the girl seemed to have captured the attention of the Hollywood filmmaker Cameron, when she leaned over to him with a nice smile on her face.
A netizen joked, Cameron must have had an urge to ask for her mobile phone number to invite her for an audition for his next film at the moment.
And another netizen followed, smart girl, set the handset in vibrating alert, she explores the multi functions of the mobile phone.
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Five Media Giants That Could Buy Starz
Netflix Would Make a Big Splash, But Deal is Unlikely By: Jeanine Poggi
Now that Liberty Media says it will spin-off Starz into a separate company (after denying it just last month), speculation is turning to the possible step after that -- an acquisition of the premium TV network by one of several media powerhouses.
There are factors conspiring to encourage the its eventual purchase.
Starz, which operates movie and TV channels under the same name as well as the Encore movie channels, has been adding subscribers: Starz boasted about 20.7 million subscribers during the second quarter ended July 31, a 9% increase from the year prior, while Encore's subscription base increased 4% to about 34.2 million. And the Starz network has been trying to better compete against the larger HBO and Showtime by beefing up original programming with shows such as "Boss" and "Magic City."But Starz may have trouble funding this kind of programming on a large scale when it's a standalone company, according to analysts. "While in the short-term Starz can stand on its own, more value can be created as part of a larger player," said Jeff Wlodarczak, analyst at Pivotal Research Group.
Starz also has exclusive rights to distribute movies from Walt Disney and Sony Pictures, but its ability to renew those deals has become less certain since new potential bidders such as Netflix have emerged, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield wrote in a recent note to investors.
There are at least a few media giants that could be eager to help Starz grow as part of their portfolios. The question is which ones could actually pull off a deal.
Comcast
Comcast is the most likely acquirer, according to Mr. Wlodarczak, because it could let the NBC Universal parent to better take advantage of its Universal Studios content, currently wrapped up in a deal with Time Warner's HBO.
For any player whose business depends on retransmission agreements -- like Comcast, owner of the country's largest cable-TV service -- Starz could also give leverage in renewal negotiations, Mr. Wlodarczak added.
NBC Universal's TV production capabilities, meanwhile, could help Starz expand its original programming, Mr. Greenfield has suggested.
News Corp.
Like Comcast and its Universal Studios, News Corp. could use Starz for its Twentieth Century Fox movies.
The company is a big fan of businesses that collect revenue partly from consumers instead of depending entirely on advertising. "News Corp is also quite focused on building subscription-driven assets, with its subscription focus increasing following the publishing split," Mr. Greenfield said.
Viacom
Viacom, which owns the movie channel Epix with MGM and Lionsgate, may look to Starz as a compliment.
Viacom makes the most sense as a potential acquirer, Janney Capital Markets analyst Tony Wible said. "If you combine Starz with Epix you get close to competing with HBO on content," he said. "Epix also needs to boost its carriage and this can be one way to do that."
Time Warner
Time Warner would become the king of pay-TV if it purchased Starz. And Starz CEO Chris Albrecht knows the ins and outs of Time Warner after working at HBO for 22 years. Then again, Time Warner eventually ousted Mr. Albrecht after a fight in a Las Vegas parking lot.
More importantly, analysts said Time Warner may lay low in an acquisition due to some possible anti-trust issues. HBO and Starz together would have access to over two-thirds of movie studios' content, according to estimates.
And adding Starz content wouldn't necessarily bring in more subscribers for HBO, Mr. Wible said, making an acquisition less appealing.
Netflix
Netflix has been pegged as a possible buyer as the streaming giant works to break further into original content. But it's probably a long shot.
Starz could give Netflix more original programming and some exclusivity, which becomes increasingly important as the possibility looms that Netflix's exclusive pact with Epix may not be renewed, Mr. Wible said.
Netflix might not have enough cash, however, to finance such a deal, Mr. Wible said.
Netflix and Starz also have a rocky history. Starz pulled its content from Netflix in February after declining to renew its streaming deal and previously pulled Sony movies from Netflix because of the terms of its contract with Sony, which stipulated a cap on the number of subscribers who can watch online.
"This is a big stretch," Mr. Wlodarczak said. "Netflix has a love/hate relationship with the distributors. If Netflix were to buy Starz it's likely several cable companies would look to exit Starz."
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* need your help in finding this bitch and putting her away for good.
Homeland Security asks public for help to rescue child porn victims
by Stephen Dinan (The Washington Times)
In an unusual move, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are distributing photos and asking for the public’s help in identifying a woman the agency says was involved in child pornography with at least two young girls. 
HSI released a handful of photos of the woman, including one of a large mole on the back of the woman’s left thigh. The investigators said she is between 25 and 35, and has dark brown hair and blue eyes.
The man depicted in videos had his face blurred out, investigators said in an arrest warrant obtained for the woman, labeled Jane Doe in the document. The warrant contains graphic and disturbing descriptions of the sex acts observed on the videos.
The warrant says the home where the videos were taken was somewhere in the U.S., and said Army-issue duffel bags and desert boots were visible in the background, as was a book on a nightstand, titled “Animal Tracking Basics.”
Turning to the public for help is standard for many local police agencies, but is a relatively new technique for HSI and its child exploitation unit. The agency said it’s releasing photos to try to rescue the two children.
Earlier this year HSI agents arrested a man wanted for sex crimes against children after he was identified from a similar plea and photo release. That man, Timothy Valdez, 36, of Modesto, Calif., was arrested after a television viewer in Washington, D.C., saw him on a local newscast.
In that case Danish officials had come across child pornography on the Internet which they suspected was made in the U.S., and referred the case to American authorities.
In June, HSI did another photo release, asking the public to try to identify a teen agents said was in a “dangerous situation” from a blurry photo taken from an online video.
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Runway TV : Kelly Overton Runway Cover Shoot
Check out Kelly Overton's Runway cover shoot for Summer 2012 PreFall edition. Produced by Runway TV.
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Melissa George dishes on new series Hunted
ravishing Melissa George, star of the new Cinemax spy series Hunted, chats with Rob Salem at the TV critics fall previews in L.A.
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Natali Demore and Her Editor Jack Banner Found Dead
LOS ANGELES — Fetish model and producer Natali Demore and her video editor Jack Banner were found dead on Aug. 4 at Demore’s production studio in Van Nuys, where they followed through on an apparent “consensual suicide pact,” multiple sources confirmed to XBIZ on Wednesday.
Demore and Banner died of wounds from two shotguns found at the scene that were rigged to fire simultaneously, sources said.
A beloved member of the tight-knit BDSM community, Demore was best known for running the all-girl sites BondageOrgasms.com and SmotheredSlave.com. She had owned the studio with a dungeon since 2006.
Banner, who was her editor for BondageOrgasms.com for at least the past three years, also produced and directed more than 50 titles since 2000, as well as performed and worked behind the scenes on numerous productions.
Adult industry veteran BDSM player Liam Lockran told XBIZ, “Her and her editor at her company were found on Saturday by her sister-in-law, who was sent to the studio where she was at to see if she was ok. There was a suicide note. It was a suicide pact.”
Soma Snakeoil, a lifestyle and professional dominatrix who knew Demore for the past four years, said there actually were “multiple suicide notes” left behind in various forms and locations, including at the studio where they were found.
“There were letters sent out by herself and [Jack],” Snakeoil told XBIZ. “They had a suicide pact for something like three years. I don’t know what that was based on initially.”
Snakeoil recalled that Demore was excited and appeared happy when she saw her at DomCon LA in May.
“She was interacting. She didn’t show any signs of any major depression,” Snakeoil said.
She also worked with Demore in a session last October.
“She was maybe a little disconnected but she seemed happy,” Snakeoil continued. “I spoke with her quite a few times over the past few months and she seemed really upbeat. She said she wanted to do some double dom work with me and we were making plans to go on trips together. But it ended up not working out. From what I hear she was struggling financially, but she wasn’t very transparent about that with many people.
“I think her site had taken some hits, as the rest of the industry has. I know she relied on a lot of custom work. She was going through some personal stuff, a divorce. She also had a lot of physical pain, especially her shoulder. Apparently [Jack] also had some serious physical things going on.”
Both Snakeoil and Lockran said the double suicide occurred on Friday night, Aug. 3.
Snakeoil described her understanding of what happened.
“I guess they went to her dungeon, put on a Sarah McLachlan CD and they built a tent out of sheets, and I think lightstands and rope that they stood in,” Snakeoil said. “And it appears like they had somehow built some kind of contraption so the shotguns could go off at the same time.”
Snakeoil remembers meeting Demore at a DomCon when Demore approached her and struck up a conversation. They connected quickly because they had a shared interest in medical play. Demore had done extensive work for MedicalToys.com, as well as DungeonCorp which Snakeoil said was like "an extended family" for her.
Demore is survived by her boyfriend. It is unclear who received any additional suicide notes left by Demore or Banner, Snakeoil said.
“I don’t know. I’m having such a hard time processing this sort of tragedy and darkness of planning with another person to do that,” she said. “Neither of them talked each other out of it. I don’t know if one person coerced the other or not. We’re still looking for more information.”
However, Snakeoil added, "It was very clear it was a consensual suicide pact. The studio was not sealed off [after the authorities arrived]. There were shotgun shells, and the contraption that they used was just left there.”
Banner, who was 60, had worked extensively for Harmony Concepts, one of the pioneering companies in the bondage community, as well as with Joe Anton Productions, Dominic Wolfe and several other producers, sources said.
“He was very well known for his tight, elbow-together classic bondage style,” said model/producer Anastasia Pierce, who noted Banner’s “big-boob, padded-bra, detective style, damsel in distress stories.”
Pierce added, “Many people loved him and respected him. … He was a great guy to work with and a good friend too.”
Demore studied photography in college and kept her profession in the adult industry private from her immediate family.
“She was an artist. She was really into that and sort of fell into bondage and fetish and that led to girl/girl stuff,” Snakeoil remarked.
“I found her to always be highly respectful and very upbeat in her personality. When people die, I think you start to remember the good things first. But I heard her say good things about people that everyone else would say bad things about, so it was just such a shock hearing this.”
One of the suicide notes indicated that Demore bought a shotgun in May and that “she’s been thinking about this for a long time,” according to Liam Lockran.
“I’ve been in the [BDSM] lifestyle scene for over 20 years and as I traveled around the country to different events, to DomCon and FetishCon and all these parties, I was consistently running into her,” Lockran, who is also known as Master Liam, said. “We’d have friendly conversations and we’d always see each other at different events. We’d talk and laugh. We never got into serious conversations. … She was a wonderful person, very gentle, never rude or mean to anybody. If anything, for a mistress she was very passive.”
He added, “She’ll be missed, I’ll tell you that. I’m still kind of in shock.”
Lockran, a former producer who is currently the general manager at the “Dr. Susan Block Show,” said that Banner “actually shot a few of my films. He seemed like a nice enough guy.”
Demore was believed to be in her 30s.
Veteran BDSM player Tim Woodman, who runs ProVillain.com and BondageBlowjobs.com, told XBIZ he was Demore’s rigger and production assistant off and on for about two years until 2009.
“We happened to have the same accountant and her business was booming and she was looking for some help,” Woodman said. “I was in between rigging jobs. ... She didn’t have time to do the ropes and grab the toys. … I also did backup camera for her.”
Woodman continued, “She loved every minute of her work. You could tell how much fun she was having. She was very generous to who she hired. If a girl was uncomfortable with something, she would change it. … And she always fed everybody well. We’d get either rockin’ sushi or a nice sandwich every day we worked. It was always a long day on her sets because it was a lot of goofing around. She just was not in any hurry to be done.”
Woodman recalled that Demore was also eager to share her contacts with others and helped connect him with talent agents and girls to shoot.
“I can say at least in the last three years more than half of the girls I’ve worked with are because I met them through Natali,” he noted. “I think she was well respected. There was an immediate outpouring of grief and condolences because everybody knows who she was or held her in high regard. Everybody’s got their problems, but I never heard anyone say ‘I can’t stand Natali. I’ll never work with her.’”
Indeed, dozens of adult industry personalities used Twitter to pay tribute to Demore during the past two days.
Performer Ela Darling said on her Twitter feed, “She was incredibly ambitious. She's been an inspiration for me since I met her. A smart, kind woman. RIP Natali Demore. Sweet, ambitious, and one of my favorite ladies in the industry.”
Fetish model Samantha Grace tweeted, “I admit, when I started she was 1 of the established models, I followed what she did. The fact she produced videos. Being like her was my goal. She was 1 of the girls, I would say, ‘I want to be like her when I grow up!’”
Aiden Starr: “The type layers render and the websites expand. I will miss you forever Natali Demore.”
Carissa Montgomery: “She was a wonderful person both in and out of the industry. She will be missed by all.”
Amber Rayne: “Wonderfully sweet and so very talented. Heartbroken that I’ll never see her again. Rest now sweet girl.”
David Mack: “She was a true friend and I am much better 4 knowing her.”
Numerous others offered personal condolences on Twitter, including Tara Lynn Foxx, Brooke Haven, Caroline Pierce, Ashley Edmonds, Dana DeArmond and Isobel Wren.
Veteran producer/model Julie Simone posted a tribute to Banner on her Tumblr page.
“I’m sad and shocked to learn of the passing of Jack Banner,” Simone wrote. “I did the bulk of my movies for Harmony with him. There were times I saw him every week. I learned a lot on his sets. He loved the female form and wanted to make sure the model’s curves were highlighted in every scene. When you worked with Jack you felt like the sexiest, most powerful woman in the world. He built you up where so many men in the adult business just want to tear you down and make you feel like shit.
“His bondage positions were challenging and sexy. Working with him made me a better rigger."
She said Banner's work had a "raw edge and sexual tension," and that Banner got her a directing gig at Harmony.
“Unlike many male directors, he never felt threatened by my talents," Simone continued. "He was smart and utilized them to make his own work better. He had no ego about it. He offered to teach me more about editing and made suggestions that helped me improve my work and hone my style. He shot some stuff for my site for free which was awesome of him.”
Simone said she last saw Banner at GlamourCon a few years ago. “He stopped by my booth to say hi and give me some good feedback about my work. He was always supportive of me which is something I appreciated and will always remember.”
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Offbeatr Is A Kickstarter For Your Fantasies
Whether you’re into nude Canadian elk-dancing or Honda tailpipe sniffing, our sexual peccadilloes are all unique. That’s why there’s Offbeatr [NSFW. Seriously. Chill]. Described as a “kickstarter for porn,” the site allows you to support super SEXXXY porn projects that could include a movie on Japanese squid porn or an up-close look at MILF clog-dancing and shape-note singing.Ben Tao and Eric Lai founded the site. Tao was a product manager for Yellowpages.com and Lai worked for Boeing. They founded another startup called ExtraLunchMoney.com which was a sales system for HOTTT amateur content. They also run a podcast where they interview porn folks.
Finding funding was hard. “We’ve bootstrapped the business from personal savings and have been making money since we launched. As you can imagine seed and angel funding for adult businesses, even if you are doing innovative things, isn’t easy to come by. So we knew from day one we had to make money in order to survive. That being said we still like to try the ‘mainstream’ tech ways of getting money. I think we’re on our 3rd rejection from Y Combinator and even have been rejected by every Los Angeles startup incubator (and there’s like a billion of them!),” said Tao. Finally, they started working with the LA Startup Club.
The boys are relatively alone in their efforts to build crowdfunding for PR()N.
“The big thing is there are no serious players in the space for adult crowdfunding. The big guys like Kickstarter or IndieGoGo don’t allow adult projects and honestly never will. Not only are their communities not suitable for adults, but they can’t because of their payment processing,” said Tao.
Fundable projects include paying for a redesign of Cherry.tv and some kind of cross-cultural SEXXXchange between Japan and the rest of the world. If I had my druthers, they’d support my personal HOTTT FANTASY and offer a full XXX remake of Spies Like Us with Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase (and I don’t mean body doubles, I want them in their full flabby glory) completely nude all the time.
Tao is essentially trying to keep porn alive. The site is fairly handsome and they’ve just launched so there’s no telling if this idea will take off, but good on these lads for trying.
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Seka : Raising Penises for Three Generations
by John Reed
Sex in the 70s was Seka. Half Cherokee, half Irish, and looking like a perfect Hollywood trophy, or a divination of death from the Norse Gods—Seka was a flinty mirage of whatever fantasy you had. Porn mag High Society dubbed her the “Marilyn Monroe of porn." Her costars were just as effusive. Jamie Gillis: “She was porn, but a little above it—sort of a white trash queen in a way that I found really erotic.” Veronica Hart: "As long as I have a face, Seka has a place to sit." Dorothea Hundley Patton—Seka—started late for the industry, at 22. A nude spread in Vegas led to movie offers. All of a sudden, she was a star. Not too many porn actors are remembered for their faces—but Seka, with no effort, mainlined into the culture as a "Platinum Princess." She was arguably the last icon of porn’s film era—her films presaged "reality porn" and "performance artists" like Sasha Grey—and the first icon of porn's video era. Most porn actresses don’t get a second act, but in the 80s, after traveling the world on the strip circuit, Seka came back, this time to the small screen via video. She was, according to Playboy, “a bona-fide video phenomenon—just like Boy George and stereo television.” She went on Donahue and The Today Show, appeared in Entertainment Weekly and People. By the mid 80s, she was writing and directing, making her part of a seismic shift in adult entertainment—women having some control of the product. In the late 80s, with the threat of AIDS looming, she got out of the business again, but now, at 58, she’s back and running her own site, Seka.com. I called her up recently to chat about stuff like anal, her days hanging out with rock stars, her wedding night, and giving boners to three generations of men.
VICE: Dorothea Hundley Patton, that's quite a handle.
Seka: Dorothea Hundley was my maiden name.
You married straight out of high school, right?
I was in high school. I got married a week after I turned 18; I wanted out of the house. I guess I was in love with the guy, but I had just turned 18 for God's sake. I was a baby. When I got married on April 21, 1972, I'd never had sex. I was a virgin. And I didn't even have sex on my wedding night; I was too scared. I hid in the bathroom.
When did you have sex with him?
The next day, the next evening.
And?
It was pretty damn good.
And then you ended up working at an adult bookstore?
I was divorced and I didn't like what I was doing. I was at Reynold's Aluminum, standing on my feet all night in a hot metal building pulling a production line. So I applied for a job as a clerk and started dating the owner. Most people think that we were married, but we were never married. He likes to think he was married to me but he wasn't. As a matter of fact, he was already married when I met him, which I didn't know at the time.
You're probably the only adult actress who got her start by reading books.
Not only did I read the magazines and the books, but this was in the day of quarter machines. When the film broke I'd have to get the projector and splice it back together, put it back in the booth, and make sure it was running OK. So I saw a lot of the films and thought, God these women look horrible! It wasn't their fault, it wasn't that they were ugly women. The films represented them badly—they had pimples on their butts, dirty feet, no makeup, and their hair looked like it needed to be washed.
You modeled yourself after Jean Harlow, Marlene Dietrich, Brigitte Bardot—Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. Oh, and Mae West.
Not role models from adult entertainment.
No, but they were sex sirens. And they had an elegance and an innocence about them. They stood out on screen. You didn't see anyone else around them, no matter who was co-starring.
And the way you held yourself, were you thinking about art deco? Erte?
Yes, with the hand on the hip and sideways. But I didn't even think about it, sweetheart, it just kinda... In the words of Jessica Rabbit, “They just drew me this way.”
The aesthetic of the adult business is pretty uniform now, but performers in the 70s had their own looks.
You don't see too many people who look very different now. When I was doing movies we had redheads and blonds and brunettes, platinums and raven-haired women. Big busted, small busted, tall, thin, medium weight.
And it wasn't as if there were a million performers in the 70s.
There weren't that many of us. There were ten or 12 girls or ten or 12 guys who were major players, and I happened to be platinum blond… which happened by mistake.
How was that?
Oh I had either a movie or a photo shoot to do, I don't remember which, but I went to color my roots and I got the wrong stuff at the store. When I washed my hair out it was platinum blond and everybody went crazy for it so I just kept it that way.
Ron Jeremy described the industry back then as “a renegade, hippy-dippy, peace-loving business.” Is that accurate?Pretty much, it was! For the most part, everybody seemed to get along. I mean, I didn't hang out after work with any of those people though. I went home.
You had an independent streak.
Yeah, I made decisions as to what I would and would not do on film. I’m not sure other women had the balls to stand up and say, "No I don't wanna do that," or "No, I don't wanna work with that person." And I just did. And they said, “Oh, you can't do that.” And I said, “Yes, I can.”
So there were scenes you didn't want to do?
Well there was a scene in Prisoner of Paradise where they wanted me to use a riding crop on this girl and really beat the crap out of her. I told them, “If you want to hold up a pillow and have action shots of me smacking this pillow and have somebody get her ass nice and pink and edit it together, fine, but I'm not gonna beat the crap out of this girl. I'm not into that.” And it's not to say there aren't people out there who are, and God bless them. Whatever blows your airbag. But it's not something I was in to and I wasn't gonna do it. I wasn't gonna do it to somebody else and I didn't allow it to be done to me.
Did you have a list of things you wouldn’t do? People you would or wouldn’t work with?
I loved working with Andy West, Mike Ranger, John Holmes, Herschel Savage, Paul Thomas. Jamie Gillis was one of my very favorite people to work with. There was only one person I didn't like working with and I didn't work with him for a long time, not until he apologized to me—that was John Lesley. As a person I got along with him fine, on set absolutely not. He was not a nice guy to women, in my opinion.
What happened?
Well in one of my first full-length features, Dracula Sucks, he tried to write a scene in. I played the nurse and I was supposed to work with John Holmes before I worked with anybody else—but John Lesley wrote in a scene because he wanted me first. I was the new kid on set and it was like being fresh meat. It was a very demeaning scene and I said, “That scene's not in the script and I'm not working with you.” And he said, “Oh yes you will or you'll never work again.” And I said, “Well I don't give a flying fuck.” And I had on a pair of spike heels and I took one off and flung it across the room and missed his head by a hair and said, “Go fuck yourself.” They backed off real quick.
You did, sci-fi, horror, vampire movies—all X-rated, but they had scripts, right?As trite as those films were, at least there was a beginning, middle, and an end. There was some kind of reason for the sex. The movie would open and people had their clothes on.
Of the scenes I've watched, you were copacetic except for a couple double penetration scenes.
Oh well, that was something they paid us extra to do and I did a few of those, but not that many. Anal is not my favorite sex act. Nor is it a really healthy thing to do.
There's a lot of that now.
Yeah, and it's insane. They tell people nowadays that if you don't do it you don't work.
You took a break from film, right?
I did for a while, I went on the strip circuit for several years—traveled the world doing different clubs.
What made you go back?
Money.
By the mid-80s you were on mainstream programs like Donahue, the Today Show, and I think they threw you a cameo on Saturday Night Live, right?
I was dating Sam Kinnison and when they wanted him back on a second time he said, "I'll only do it if I have Seka with me."
Wasn't he really into that dark nightlife stuff? I picture you living in Pomona, hanging around with the dogs and sitting by the pool— not drinking and smoking. Wasn't he into wild stuff?
Um, yes, he was. And by then I was too.
What was it, the lifestyle or...
It was the lifestyle, and it was everywhere, and it was fucking fun. It was fucking fun. I loved the 80s. Great music, great makeup, great clothes. Really good rock and roll. The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Springsteen. Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, and Poison. I knew all those guys.
And you were hanging around with those guys, right? Wasn't that porn/rockstar thing kind of new?
Yeah, it didn't happen that often then. But they wanted to meet me, I wanted to meet them, we became friends. I never had sex with any of them, though.
You were really big and then… you stopped.Pretty much, yeah. AIDS started to become a problem and they didn't want to do testing and they didn't want the people to wear condoms. My life is more important to me than their business.
Into the late 80s, the party line was, “This is not something you're likely to get.”
Well they didn't think it was a heterosexual disease, which was a bunch of bunk. It was crazy. People were dying.
There's a movement now to legislate against pornography as a health issue—to call it addictive.
That's a bunch of bullshit. I'm not saying that it's not possible, but if you're of that mindset, of that personality, then you can get addicted to anything. There's this show I've seen on TV, I think it's called My Strange Addiction. People get addicted to eating chalk or toilet paper, and they can't stop themselves from eating chalk or toilet paper. They're addicted.
And there aren't laws against toilet paper.
Yeah, I mean, come on. And people can be addicted to watching religious shows. Look at how many elderly people are suckered out of their life savings by some religious program.
Yeah, Congress should definitely look at that.
I can think of worse things to be addicted to than sex.
You've seen generations of young men who had the hots for you, was there any kind of change—
Oh, no.
They're all the same?
I got an email the other day from a kid... I call him a kid, he's 22 years old, a pre-law student from Mississippi, and he's head-over-heels for me, and I'm 58. And he goes, “I don't care, I love you, I've always loved you and I just think you're wonderful,” and yada yada yada and you know, my fans go from 18 to 90. So I've got three generations of men that I've raised, so to speak.
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