stars, sex and nudity buzz : 05/23/2012

Mary Elizabeth Winstead is ready for her first nude close-up (well...sort of...)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead: Geek Chic (2012 Cover Story)

By Matt Barone | May 22, 2012 |

In

Now that she's mastered the horror and comic book realms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is staking her claim to blockbuster fame in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Not that she’s ready to abandon the nerds, though.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead has a soft spot for cinephiles, because, well, she is one. This past February, the 27-year-old actress visited her favorite movie theater, the New Beverly Cinema, a Los Angeles old-school revival house, to introduce a midnight screening of her 2010 flick, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, an adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s popular graphic novel series. Though it only earned $31 million, against a reported $60 million budget, Scott Pilgrim is a modern-day cult classic—as evidenced by the full house that greeted Winstead that night. “They do Scott Pilgrim midnight screenings once a month, and they’re always packed,” she explains. “It felt like I was in front of people who really appreciate me.” Read: fanboys who fancy her like none other.
The North Carolina native has made a career out of bringing the fantasies of male comic book fans to celluloid life. In addition to her iconic Scott Pilgrim turn as nerd dream girl Ramona Flowers, Winstead also played the short-skirted cheerleader in Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse: Death Proof (2007), kicked ass in 2007’s Live Free or Die Hard, and fended off aliens in last year’s sci-fi/horror remake The Thing. And Comic-Con regulars have adored it all.
But they ain’t seen nothing yet. In this year’s batshit summer blockbuster Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (produced by Tim Burton), Winstead portrays a fictionalized version of Mary Todd Lincoln, whose soon-to-be-presidential hubby, Honest Abe (played by Benjamin Walker), rids the 1800s of ferocious, bloodthirsty night creatures with a gun-axe. It’s exactly the kind of movie made for a killer midnight screening at the New Beverly. But if all goes as planned, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter should be much more than a cult favorite. Everyone involved is gunning for box-office dominance.
The historically skewed epic exemplifies Winstead’s endearing willingness to embrace out-there genre fare. That same fearlessness will be on display when Smashed, her critically acclaimed independent film about alcoholism, debuts later this year. And to tell the truth, she’s more than ready for the change. “It’s great to get a chance to do a film that really showcases what I can do,” she says. “Hopefully that will open some doors for me.” It’s time to turn the key.

You’ve played some tough women, but you’re looking fiercer than ever for this cover shoot. Are you this intense in real life?
[Laughs.] I’m the total opposite of that. The one thing that’s difficult for me, and it’s one thing I had to bring out in this shoot, is being “sexy.” It’s weird to be told to be sexy, because I never know what that means exactly. I can never try to be sexy. [Laughs.] It’s too awkward. I don’t like to do the whole I’m-gonna-come-get-you face—that doesn’t suit me.
And everyone’s interpretation of “sexy” is different. The fans of your movies would find the sight of a cute girl reading a George R.R. Martin novel to be incredibly sexy.
[Laughs.] Exactly. It’s an issue of what we’ve come to think of as “sexy” in our culture, from the things that we’ve seen on billboards and stuff like that. There’s this image of a hot woman with squinty eyes and pouty lips that has been trademarked as “the sexy look,” and that’s not my look. I like to think I’m sexy in my own way.
No arguments here. What do you find sexy?
It’s more about a sense of humor and kindness. In a guy, that instinct to take care of another person is always very sexy to me—a guy who’s chivalrous, in that old-fashioned way. 
So chivalry isn’t dead?
I like to think it’s not dead. [Laughs.] Sometimes I’ll have a door closed in my face by some guy who couldn’t just hold it for me and it feels like it’s dying. But then there are always the nice guys who pop up and remind you that there’s still a bit of chivalry left out there.
Speaking of chivalrous men, you play the wife of Honest Abe in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. What made you sign on to such a bugged-out project?
The title, for one, baffled me. I didn’t know what to think, but I knew it had to be interesting because Timur [Bekmambetov, who directed Wanted] was doing it, and Tim Burton was producing it. When I opened the script and started reading it, I was totally blown away. I wasn’t expecting it to be such a great action-adventure piece, an epic tale that you get totally swept up in. I expected there to be more silliness and camp to it, and it’s just this straightforward journey of a complicated character. It’s like a superhero origin story.
Obviously, the characters’ backstories are flipped. What’s Mary Todd Lincoln’s role in the film’s revisionist, gore-soaked history?
The backstories are actually pretty accurate. The main thing that’s changed, of course, is this fictional element that there were vampires at that time. But everything else is historically accurate, so I got to do a lot of research about Mary Todd. A lot of elements of her personality and legacy aren’t represented in the film, because it’s the story of Abraham Lincoln. It’s not Mary Todd: Vampire Hunter.
A movie in which you slay vampires for two hours? Sign us up!
[Laughs.] Thanks—maybe some day. We focused more on the sides of Mary Todd that were witty, charming, fun, intelligent, and politically involved; all of those things that she was in real life. She was a uniquely strong woman of the period, and she had a real backbone and sense of self.
Why do you think it’s important for this film to not wink at the audience? With something like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, you either have to go totally comedic or totally serious, and it’s interesting that you’ve all chosen the latter route for this one.
I think that the story, as silly as it sounds, is very respectful of the man himself, Abraham Lincoln. Everyone involved just really loved his story, and we all wanted to take the fact that we’ve turned him into a superhero and respect that. Because, if you think about it, we’ve already done that as a country, so it was a matter of taking that idea and running with it, making him a literal superhero on the big screen.
If you’re going to do something like that, then you have to commit to it. You can’t just half-ass it and wink at the audience the whole time, going crazy with these big action scenes and then say, “Oh, we’re just joking.” No, you have to commit to it and be real with it, and if you’re going do that, then you might as well go big. [Laughs.]
It seems like a project that most Hollywood studios would laugh at, though. Especially considering how weary producers these days are of green-lighting any genre films that aren’t remakes or sequels.
It helps tremendously that it was already a successful book; that being the case, it has a built-in audience, and the studio heads can read the book and wrap their brains around how the book works.
But, then again, it’s always scary, because you never know if things that work in a book are going to work in a film—things don’t always translate that way. So it definitely takes a lot of guys to say, “We’re going to stand behind this film, even if it sounds ridiculous. We believe in it.” I think that’s what the studio [20th Century Fox] did, and it’s really brave and cool of them to have done that. There aren’t that many people out there sticking their necks out like that.
With its summer release date and huge budget, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is kind of a big deal. Is that nerve-racking?
This one has been a big surprise to me. It seemed to be some obscure thing, but now everyone’s talking about it. We all want to do films that people see, so I’m thankful to be a part of something that has legs. But it’s also cool to be in something that gains a following over time.
Some of the greatest movies have been slow burns.
Exactly, and I love discovering those kinds of films.
I remember a funny quote from Robert Downey, Jr., back when the first Iron Man came out and made a financial killing its opening weekend, where he said something to the effect of, “It feels good to finally be in a movie that people actually see.”
Yeah, it’s reassuring. Any actor who’s been around for a while has done something that you pour your heart and soul into and then nobody sees it. [Laughs.] It doesn’t negate the experience, because the experience is great on its own, but the reward is getting to share it with people. That’s what you really want to be able to do, so hopefully we’ll be able to share Abraham Lincoln with the world, and people will actually see it.
And you’ve had the good fortune of working with Quentin Tarantino, who’s a walking, talking cinema encyclopedia.
During the shooting of Grindhouse, I watched a lot of those old grindhouse films from the ’70s, and there’s one that Quentin introduced me to called Welcome Home Brother Charles. I loved it because it was so insane. It’s about this guy who kills people with his…um, penis. [Laughs.]
Sounds like a masterpiece!
You have no idea. The best part is that the guy’s penis grows and turns into this snakelike thing, and he strangles people with it. The trailer is one of the best things ever. As crazy as it sounds, I feel lucky to have been exposed to stuff like that.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter falls into the Comic-Con lane that you’ve been working in throughout your career. Has that been a conscious decision?
It’s partly a coincidence of those being the films that I’ve been lucky enough to get to work on. The other part of it is, it’s easy for me to say yes—those are the kind of movies I want to see. It’s harder for a lot of other actors because they don’t appreciate the genre stuff as much; they don’t feel like it’s good for them career-wise. But I’m more likely to go see a horror film over a romantic comedy any day of the week.
Does your preference of horror flicks to rom-coms mean you won’t be in one of those movies that women use to make their boyfriends feel like inferior suitors?
[Laughs.] It’s just harder for me to get excited about a romantic comedy. If I were to do a really smart and funny romantic comedy... actually you could consider Scott Pilgrim a romantic comedy. That kind of thing I can get behind. But there are a lot of rom-coms that talk down to women. I don’t want to be condescended to. I want to see a woman in a romantic comedy who represents a real woman.
In terms of auditions, is it harder to sell yourself as someone who is funny?
It’s definitely nerve-wracking. I’ve had several auditions where I’ve read with really big comedic actors—“chemistry reads,” they call them. You go in and you improv together, and it’s always really intimidating. I don’t come from that world; I’ve never studied how to be a comedic actress, specifically.
I have my own way of doing comedy, and sometimes it doesn’t quite fit into certain comedy worlds that are working and getting made right now. I don’t particularly like the pressure of trying to be funny; it’s a lot like what I was saying earlier about trying to be sexy. I don’t feel like you should have to try to be one thing.
Though it's common for people to peg actresses as just one thing. Some actresses don’t like the “scream queen” classification, because they think it’s limiting. Do you feel that way?
I think it’s great. Admittedly, I will probably focus on doing other things in the future. Even within the genre stuff I’ve done, I’ve managed not to repeat myself. I like to surprise people with every film I do, so it’s hard to find a horror film now where I wouldn’t be repeating myself. But if I were to find something that breaks the mold, I’d be totally excited to do it.
In that regard, a film like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter clearly breaks the mold.
Right. I’ve always wanted to do a period piece, and I’ve always wanted to an action-adventure piece, and that’s what that is. It definitely has a horror element, and there’s a horror vein in there, but it’s so much more than just that. That’s what I can appreciate about it.

In the past, you said the one thing you’d never do is get naked in a movie.
When you’re starting out as an actress at a young age, you have a more self-righteous view of things, like, “I’ll never do that.” Once you get older, you realize those things aren’t as important as you thought they were. I have so much respect for many actresses who’ve done nudity. Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine is one of my favorite performances of the last few years. When I see something like that, I say, “OK, I totally understand why she did it.”

So you’re more open to nudity nowadays?
It’s still something that I would be hard-pressed to say yes to. A lot of things would have to fall in line. It would have to be important to the story. I’m not the kind of person who’s just going to take her clothes off casually and be totally cool with it. [Laughs.] But I am more open to it now. All I want is to be true to the character. If it’s important for there to be nudity in that case, then I don’t feel like it’d be right for me to say no.

Has taking that stance in the past limited your career in any ways?
Not a lot, thankfully. There’s certainly one or two things that I look back on from early in my career and I think, “Oh, man, if I had just been a little more open-minded, that would have been a really good thing to do.” But at the same time, it wouldn’t have been right for me to do it then, because I wouldn’t have been comfortable with it.

I definitely don’t have any regrets. Everything has to come at the right time; if I had done nudity at 19 or 20, I think it wouldn’t traumatized me. [Laughs.] And who knows how that would have damaged my career, as a result. Even if it did limit me in certain aspects, that’s OK, because I got the roles that I was supposed to get.

One of the films you have coming out later this year, Smashed, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January to rave reviews, particularly for your performance. Do you look at Smashed as a really important film for your career?
It is, definitely. When you come from doing genre films, like I’ve done, even if those films are great, as an actor you don’t really get as noticed as the special effects and all of the amazing visuals that surround you, and that’s what it should be—that’s why people go to see those films. Hopefully a film like Smashed will give me the opportunities to get more roles that are a bit more of a challenge.

Was it difficult to get the Smashed role in the first place?
I expected it to be a lot harder. I don’t think they auditioned anybody else. I never expected them to give me the benefit of the doubt. I expected them to look at me and say, “You’re the girl who did a bunch of horror movies—I don’t know if you can handle this kind of a role.”
Has that actually happened to you?
Yeah, definitely. There were a lot of films that I wasn’t even allowed to audition for, because people said, “Well, she’s not a real actress—she’s a horror movie actress.” A “popcorn flick actress” is one of the things I’ve been called before. I’ve never felt typecast, but I’ve been pigeonholed, as far as the type of genre actress I am. That’s one thing I’m trying to break out of, because I’m more diverse than that.
Yet, to genre movie fans, you’re the coolest woman ever.
[Laughs.] It’s interesting. You go to some place like Comic-Con and you feel like a star, and everywhere else I go I don’t get the same kind of accolades. I’m always going to appreciate having that fan base, even if my career and popularity expands to other circles.
Does that make it easier to sign on to a project like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?
Definitely, though I don’t really worry about that kind of stuff. I don’t understand why I should have to worry so much about what the reaction is going to be, because as long as I’m happy with it, then I can just be happy with it. To have a fan base that stands behind me makes me feel like I’m not making horrible choices.
To dudes who love Scott Pilgrim, you are the ultimate dream girl.
It’s great. [Laughs.] But the thing about Ramona Flowers is I’ll always feel like that’s more a by-product of the character than of me. I feel a separation there. People are obsessed with how cool that character is, and the way she dresses and carries herself. All of those things are different from me, so I certainly don’t take any of those compliments personally.
You realize you’re being way too modest, right?
[Laughs.] Hey, that’s how I see it. It’s all very flattering, though. Remember, I’m the girl who doesn’t know how to be sexy.
One thing you do know how to do, though, that people might be surprised about, is sing. At SXSW in March, you performed an original song with Dan The Automator, which is both incredibly random and seriously cool. Are you about to officially jump into music, too?
Yeah, it’s really cool, really random, but fun. We just started working together. He did a song for Scott Pilgrim, that’s how we met, and I’ve been a fan of his forever. His album Lovage is one the iconic albums of my life, so I’ve always been a fan of his.
I was really excited to meet him. I guess he saw something on the Internet of me singing, and he called me and asked if I wanted to collaborate on a song. So we did a song together, and then one song kind of turned into five, and then we just decided to make an album out of it. So we’re currently working on it, going at our own pace, and not putting too much pressure on ourselves. It’s really fun.
Is music something that you’ve always wanted to do?
You know, it is something I’ve always wanted to do, but on a really small scale. I always thought I’d sing in a movie, like I would do a musical. I don’t think I ever thought that I’d release an album. [Laughs.] So it’s really different. But I’m glad that it’s a collaboration; I don’t think I would’ve done it if it was a solo project that I’d done on my own. It’s great that I’m collaborating with somebody that I admire so much. It makes it really cool and make sense in my head as to why I’m doing it. I’m excited about it.
Do you guys have a name for the project yet, like his past projects Handsome Boy Modeling School or Deltron 3030?
I don’t know. When we were performing, we were like, “Oh, yeah… Do we have a name?” [Laughs.] We’re just so laid back about it, we haven’t thought about those things. I don’t know. I guess there’s a possibility that it might turn out to be just my name or something, but at the end of the day, even if it is that, it’s a collaboration. So I think we’ll come up with a name. We’ll see.
What kind of music are you guys making exactly?The inspiration behind it is, like, French ’60s pop—Jane Birkin, and stuff like that. It’s kind of married with Dan’s sensibility, which is his beats and a little bit of that low-key hip-hop vibe. So it makes for something that’s very unique; it’s very lounge-y and light. It's got a little bit of a French quality.
Dan the Automator also has some really strong hip-hop roots. Are you a quote-unquote hip-hop head at all?
Not particularly. [Laughs.] Not other than Dan's stuff. Dan has such crossover appeal, from having lots of different types of fans. I love Handsome Boy Modeling School, Gorillaz, and all the stuff that he’s done that comes from the hip-hop world. So I have a little bit of hip-hop taste, but it doesn’t go much further beyond Dan’s stuff. [Laughs.]
So there won’t be any rap verses from you on the album?
[Laughs.] No, probably not. Maybe a little spoken-word, but in that French, chartreuse kind of way. Not really in the “white rapper” kind of way. [Laughs.]

WATCH MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD'S BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO:

* It has to be noted nearly all Q-and-A sessions needed to be vetted by the star/publicist before it goes on print or air. So it’s interesting Mary Elizabeth Winstead is putting out a notice that she is prepare to take on roles requiring nudity. Of course like she stressed it have to be right for the character and blah, blah.  She also brought up the age factor. After all MEW is closing home on big 3-0 soon. While she is a cult figure among horror fans – her tale of the tape at box-office has been dismal. Lack of tangible success. She has a lot riding on big-budgeted Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. If it flops money-wise, Elizabeth could find herself at career crossroads with dwindling movie offers - pretty much certain with her advancing age and stuck in a particular genre. She was effective in indie flick Smashed (yet to be released) and her part in Charlie Sheen’s A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III is still unclear (Charlie’s GF?). MEW is not yet at desperate stage of her career but she is getting there. I really hope Al: VH performs well for her sake. For my sake I want to see her buck naked. Just look at her in that tight blue dress. Holy shit! Imagine her standing there without a shred of cloth on her. She is surprising a prude being a dancer and all. My prediction is she will strip sooner than later. Maybe in an indie flick with her husband helming it. My money is on a cable series following in footsteps of Anna Paquin.

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Tonight's TV (22 May 2012): Chloe Sevigny's debut in Hit and Miss brings full-frontal nudity

The film star plays pre-op transsexual contract killer Mia

One of the most anticipated series of the year sees Chloe Sevigny in her British TV debut in Sky Atlantic's first home-grown drama. And what a role.
Film star Sevigny plays Mia, a contract killer who also happens to be a pre-op transsexual.
Produced by Paul Abbott (Shameless, State of Play), Hit and Miss sees Mia turn up in a West Yorkshire village after learning that, before the hormones kicked in, she fathered a son by an ex-girlfriend.
With the boy's mother dead, she's also now the legal guardian of three other kids as well. (And what a pity that the better title of The Hit Man and Her was already nabbed back in the 80s by Pete Waterman and Michaela Strachan.)
Before it aired, this six-part series attracted notoriety - firstly as Sevigny described Manchester as "one the grimmest places I'd ever been".
Secondly as the opener has (entirely necessary) full-frontal nudity to make its point.
Its unique style should make it memorable, too.

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The Taste of Money (Korea - 2012)

Young-jak who is a private secretary of madam BAEK, the center power of Korean conglomerate, deals with immoral private issues of her wealthy family. As his desire for money and power grows, he endures whatever he's ordered to do and letting people around him get hurt is not a concern for him. Meanwhile, Young-jak reports to madam BAEK that madam BAEK's husband, Mr. YOON is having an affair with a Filipino nanny, Eva. Madam BAEK is now despaired, then greedily seducing Young-jak for her sexual desire.
On the other hand, he begins to feel conflicted by madam BAEK's daughter, the only family member who approaches him with the true heart. Lost between his morality and shortcut to successful life, he has to make the biggest decision he's ever made to choose whom he will hang on to, in order to survive in this harsh world.
The Taste of Money (R-Rated Trailer)


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Anja Rubik Gets Raunchy with the Relaunch of Her Fashion Erotica Magazine 25

Does Anja Rubik know good sex? We’ll soon be finding out: The catwalk queen with the pelvic bone seen round the world is set to relaunch 25 Magazine, a project she started way back in 2009 with her then-future husband, fellow model Sasha Knezevic. She’ll re-introduce the glossy tomorrow at Cannes.
Inspired by 1970s adult women’s erotica magazine Viva, the model-cum-editor chose to revamp 25 with an overtly sexual erotica theme. In addition to Viva, other inspirations that led to the new 25 include Carine Roitfeld and 1970s Playboy, Anja told Style.com. The first issue under her complete control will be 300 pages of nude (and clothed!) photographs lensed by ladies like Inez van Lamsweerde, Annie Leibovitz, and Ellen von Unwerth. There will be no advertisements in sight, at least for the first few issues.
Anja told Style.com:

It’s less of a magazine, more of an album. And in general, 25 is more than the magazine. We were trying to create an identity, to do a lot of projects connected to it. 25 is basically directed toward very strong-minded, ambitious women, who are very comfortable with themselves and their sexuality. I was thinking a lot recently and looking how sex is approached nowadays, and nudity, and bodies. Erotica kind of disappeared. The way we approach sex is either really prude or very vulgar.

Anja is taking her duty as creative director very seriously–the only photograph she’ll appear in (for this first issue, anyway) will accompany her editor’s letter. Expect to see the magazine filled with other major models, including friend and “25 inspiration girl” Abbey Lee Kershaw.
25‘s vampy revamp is scheduled to debut tomorrow in Cannes at a party in Pierre Cardin’s mansion, and we can’t wait to see who’ll be digging into Ms. Rubik’s version of erotica. We can only hope they’ll be serving it up with some complimentary red wine…and maybe even some pretty prophylactics.
Watch Abbey Lee and a guy making out for a visual taste of what’s to come in Anja’s 25 Magazine (via Models.com).

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'Homeland' exec: 'Season two is remarkable'

Homeland exec Howard Gordon has hinted at events in season two.
The hit drama - which stars Claire Danes and Damian Lewis - will return to Showtime in the US on September 30.
"Season two is going to start about five or six months after season one ended," Gordon told The Hollywood Reporter.
"Carrie (Danes) will not be in the intelligence service, and the world will be at a boiling point. There will be some new antagonists, definitely."
New episodes of Homeland recently began shooting, with filming taking place on-location in Israel.
"It was remarkable," said Gordon. "We doubled it as Beirut. Large portions of next year [will be set there]."
Gordon - a former executive producer on 24 - also admitted that real-life foreign affairs impact "quite a bit" on Homeland's storylines.
"In the second season you'll see [that impact] even more so," he suggested. "We're really looking at where the world is, what's happening in the Middle East right now, and that's going to be a major departure point from the first season."

according to Damian, there is a gratuitous sex scene in Episode 3 (Season 2)


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Fifty Shades of Blue with Selena Gomez

Fifty Shades of Blue with Selena Gomez from Selena Gomez     

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Saucy Confessions in 'Serena', a Short Starring Jennifer Garner and Alfred Molina

What if I told you there was a new short film in which Jennifer Garner uses flamboyant lies and occasionally bawdy innuendo to attract the attentions of Alfred Molina as an increasingly exasperated priest?  You'd want to check that out, right?  After all, it's the erstwhile Elektra Natchios and Doc Ock sharing a confessional.

Garner and Molina star in Serena, a short clocking in at just under twelve minutes, during which Garner plays the title character, a woman who is running out her priest's patience, but for fascinating reasons.  Serena is written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, the man behind last year's Oscar-nominated Albert Nobbs and episodes of the HBO series In Treatment and Six Feet Under.

It's the first short from WIGS, a YouTube channel co-founded by Garcia, John Avnet, and Jake Avnet.  A high-end content provider, WIGS is meant to appeal principally to a female audience, and has so far produced the YouTube series Jan, which stars Caitlin Gerard, Stephen Moyer, and Virgina Madsen.


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stars, sex and nudity buzz : 05/17/2012 [2]

Charles Saatchi: Is it only perverts who download sex filth onto their computers

Charles Saatchi

17 May 2012

Some of my primmer friends are blithe about enjoying porn movies, but I have only ever viewed a few particularly sordid scenes; it put me completely off anything to do with sex for some time, possibly as long as an hour. But do you feel that having pornographic thoughts of a hardcore nature is in itself perversion?

Do you feel that the willing contemplation of vice is vice? And would you welcome the installation of a robust new branch of the security services, the Thought Police?
Pornography, even the most grotesque kind, has become a pandemic that crosses all age, class and geographical barriers, at all levels of intelligence.
Nobody seems to quite know how to fathom the reality of so much slimy stuff being available on everybody’s home screens.
Our new Porn World has taboos of its own, the main taboo being an open understanding of the needs it fulfils, and the consequences. To many people, porn merely represents harmless fun; not to everyone’s taste but neither the sole province of strange and seedy men.
China is the world leader in revenues spent on pornography, at over $30 billion. South Korea is only the 26th most populous nation, but with exceptionally high internet use, came in second at $27 billion, followed by Japan and the US.
The pornography business has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo and Apple combined. 25 per cent of all search engine requests are for pornography, and 80 per cent of 15-17 year olds have had multiple hardcore internet exposure.
The US still proudly leads the way in porn production, offering the world over 250 million web pages to browse, and a new porn video produced every 30 minutes.
For all I know, this pornographic ebullience is wholly positive and liberated, clearly meeting the needs of modern society, and doing so effectively with a giddying choice. Even if you, like me, are a bit of a dud at investigating advanced sexual enhancement, wouldn’t you like to know more about why we are out of step?
I never did see Deep Throat, the first porn movie that entered the mainstream, and was regarded in the public consciousness in a largely positive light.
Deep Throat, reputedly funded with organised crime backing, starred Linda Lovelace and was viewed by 250,000 people in a cinema in Times Square, New York, before censors succeeded in banning the screening in 1973. But by then it was considered chic to view pornography and celebrities at the time, including Charlton Heston, Jack Nicholson and Sammy Davis Jr, were open in their admiration for the film. Its premise is that Linda cannot achieve orgasm because her clitoris is to be found low in her throat. I won’t add a spoiler here, in case you want to see the outcome, but I am told there are many examples of what would be considered hardcore sex scenes, with various methods of penetration, and numerous “money shots”.
The most famous pornstar of the 1970s was an all-American young lady, Marilyn Chambers, who starred in a wildly popular escapade, Behind the Green Door, after she was discovered as the wholesome face of Proctor and Gamble’s leading detergent brand, Ivory Snow.
Both Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers fared better than the founder of modern pornography Marcantonio Raimondi; during the Renaissance he published a series of engravings in 16th-century Rome, depicting Greco-Roman figures enjoying the pleasures of copulation. Pope Clement VIII had him imprisoned.
Fanny Hill, first published in 1748, was the first widely read pornographic novel, though banned from public sale in Britain until 1970. Not so long after that, Playboy magazine, which had never shown photos of pubic hair or genitals in its early years, would be rivalled by a more graphic newcomer, Hustler, with a much more open-door policy. Of course, they have long been overtaken by the swamp of top-shelf material widely available, and a multitude of sex channels on TVs across the globe.
Hurtfully, I have never been asked to star in a porno film, so I find it easy to take a superior air about the whole issue.
But I was asked if it is true that when men die, they get an erection. I don’t know yet, but if you wish, I will contact you after my passing, and let you know if it is indeed the case, by flushing your lavatory three times at midnight.
I consulted a doctor friend who told me this spectacle was observed only in the corpses of males who were executed by hanging. The phenomenon is attributed, apparently, to pressure on the cerebellum created by the noose. Ladies who were executed were also found to have engorged labia.
Is this why S-and-M adherents go in for asphyxiation to heighten their sexual peak?
Sorry, I’m simply too squeamish to try it and see.
In general the S-and-M and bondage aspects of sex make me go Eek! They sound a bit arduous so I’m not really a suitable candidate for treatment, I’m afraid.
I did once ask room service at the hotel I was living in after a divorce to send out for two large bags of cat litter. My girlfriend who had come round needed them for the cat back at her flat. But the young concierge who delivered them up to the hotel room couldn’t hide his blushes, and I can’t think what he assumed we might need the cat litter for. His imagination was clearly more colourful than mine, so I must be a bit of a dullard in that department.
Have you ever written crude words or images on a toilet stall? I really don’t recall, though it is fairly likely as I was a disappointing child in a multitude of ways.
I have enjoyed much lavatory graffiti over the years.
“Please do not throw cigarettes in the urinal, it makes them difficult to light.”
“Express lane: Five beers or less.”
“Since writing on toilet walls is done neither for critical acclaim, nor financial rewards, it is the purest form of art — discuss.”
“No wonder you always go home alone.” [Sign above washroom mirror] “Members only.” [Sign above entrance to gentlemen’s lavatory]
Welcome to my world of cultured, urbane humour.
Note: The world centre for the Mormon Church is in Utah, and by coincidence of course, a Harvard study found that the state has the most online porn subscriptions per thousand broadband users in the US.
Be the Worst You Can Be by Charles Saatchi is published by Booth-Clibborn Editions, price £9.99.

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ashes to ashes dust to dust

by Jane Elis 

Richmond park / London / 2012

performance

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Hit and Miss bares some interesting questions about nudity on television

* 'full frontal' by Chloe Sevigny

Nudity on screen can often seem unnecessary or gratuitous – but Sky Atlantic's new drama suggests this isn't always the case

Dressed to kill … Chloe Sevigny as Mia in Sky Atlantic's new drama series Hit and Miss.

A drama producer who has worked in both television and radio once told me that the great benefit of working on the wireless was that there was never any hassle from actors or audiences over nude scenes. Apart from strong language, nakedness is the most frequent complaint in TV feedback forums and, in both cases, the objection is that these elements are unnecessary or gratuitous. The difference is that whereas opinions on language are largely generational – the more recent the viewer's birth-date, the less likely they are to be offended by swearing – objections to nudity are more widely shared because of changing attitudes to women on screen, often influenced by feminism.

In this context, one of the striking aspects of new Sky Atlantic drama Hit and Miss, Paul Abbott and Sean Conway's compelling drama about a transgender assassin played by Chloe Sevigny, is that it contains a moment that attempts to make the case for a full-frontal nude scene that is dramatically crucial and completely non-gratuitous.

Sevigny's character Mia, who is undergoing hormone treatment prior to the final transformative operation, stands naked in front of a mirror. The unusual complexity of this image is that the viewer is seeing male and female nakedness simultaneously, being shown genuine breasts and a prosthetic penis.

It might possibly be objected that this scene is prurient – offering up a transgender patient as a sort of freak-show – but Mia is explicitly a character tracking the transformations of her body and it is relevant to the narrative for the audience to know what she has under her clothes at this stage: the information pays off in later scenes when her long-lost son surprises her in the bath and a local lothario tries to grope her between the legs. Abbott and Conway are surely right – and Sevigny seems to have agreed – that the reveal was necessary.

Most dramas, though, can't claim such an easy absolution. In British cop shows of the 1970s and '80s, it sometimes seemed almost obligatory for the central detective to be interrupted during love-making by a call-out to a crime-scene. As he heaved discreetly out of bed – often conveniently wearing boxers or even trousers – his big-busted girfriend would walk, in the foreground of the shot, naked past him to the bathroom. Memory suggests that The Sweeney was a particular offender.

Greater sensitivity to the exploitation of women has reduced the popularity of such shots, although one contributor to the Guardian's letters page reported that he had stopped watching Homeland after episode four because of the frequent female nudity. The correspondent found these shots of women's bodies "misogynistic" and accused reviewers who admired the series (including me and Sam Wollaston of the Guardian) of either ignoring or privately revelling in this woman-hating parade of flesh.

My view was that the other qualities of the series (acting, shooting, writing, plotting) were enough to overlook the inequalities of its costume policy. And the far greater quantity of female than male full-frontal scenes in screen drama results from something more complicated than just male chauvinism in the production process.
The standard compositions of TV sex scenes – the woman, with her breasts showing, on top of the man; or the man on top of the woman, whose breasts are showing – follow from the widely acknowledged theory that sexual arousal in men has a more dramatic visual indication than for women, and the regulatory and legal convention that erect penises are seen only in pornography or, more recently, 18 certificate movies. So, on television, if an actor is shown walking fully-naked towards a bed before a passionate love scene, application of the editorial guidelines raises distracting issues about his enthusiasm for the relationship.
But, while this excuse is true, it does also encourage lazy direction. The fact that an actor can't be shown fully naked during sex but that an actress can doesn't mean that the latter has to be. It is possible to film bedroom scenes while protecting the modesty of both participants – and certainly Homeland would not have suffered from a lower nipple count. Hit and Miss, however, fascinatingly fleshes out the debate over how naked bodies should be shown.

• Hit and Miss begins on Sky Atlantic on Tuesday 22 May at 10pm

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Hot Trailer: ‘Hit And Run’

Parenthood‘s Dax Shepard wrote, co-directed (with David Palmer) and stars in Hit And Run, and the trailer for the action romantic comedy begins playing ahead of The Dictator this week. The movie, formerly titled Outrun, is about a nice guy (Shepard) with a questionable past who risks everything when he busts out of the witness protection program to deliver his fiancé (Shepard’s real-life wife-to-be Kristen Bell) to Los Angeles for her dream job. They are chased by feds and gangsters. Bradley Cooper, Tom Arnold and Kristin Chenoweth co-star. Comes out on August 24.

* R-rated comedy so it's possible (but unlikely) we get a tit flash from Kristen. Maybe a test run before actual nude scenes in House of Lies (again unlikely). Poor Dax. Working with your girlfriend is bad mojo, dude. Even worse : casting Tom Arnold. Nothing against Tom - nice guy and all but the guy is box-office poison.

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Little women of Korean cinema

Isabelle Huppert, left, and Jeon Yoo-mi in “In Another Country,” a film by Hong Sang-soo. It is one of 22 entires for the competion category at the Cannes Film Festival. It opens in theaters nationawide on May 31. Cannes publicity ignores chronic lack of interesting roles for actresses by Kwaak Je-yup No one can dispute that the Korean film industry is flourishing. Investment and return are both on the upside. The sheer number of productions is rising, spawning hits and, of course, misses. This year, the local press is abuzz about two homegrown works vying for awards at the world’s most prestigious cinema showcase, the Cannes Film Festival, namely “In Another Country” by Hong Sang-soo and “The Taste of Money” by Im Sang-soo. But one prize people should bet against from the get go is the Prix d’interpretation feminine, the best actress award, unless the jury bases its decision on appearance. The women in these works are of decorative value; they may have onscreen presence and beauty yet strikingly little depth in character. Their lines are cringe-worthy (conveniently lost on most Cannes audience and jury members who will watch with subtitles). Most of all, they are weak, accessories to male co-stars. One of the oldest stories — beaten to death, really — in Korea’s epicenter of motion pictures Chungmuro, is the supposed lack of leading ladies who are both bankable stars and gifted thespians. The apparent phenomenon has maintained itself for so long, people have come to moderate their expectations to an astounding low. At promotional events, a good performance by an actress is pushed like a gigantic news item, a delightful exception to the norm. But the sad little women should blame their screenwriters and directors instead. Often the same person, neither the writer nor the director are unable to depict a real female character and her infinitely complex interior. At the respective national premieres of the Cannes entries, both Hong and Im, who cannot be more dissimilar in mise-en-scene, said one thing in common; that they were happy about how “nice” or “pretty” the actors, male and female, looked on the silver screen. And that is all they could really say about the artists — who probably had a barebones script in their hands. Take “The Taste of Money,” for which promotion revolved just around the abundance of female nudity and sex in it. Im’s extremely unrealistic portrayal of high-class society makes both the 60-year-old control freak matriarch Geum-ok (Youn Yuh-jung) and her “I-need-no-job-to-be-fabulous” daughter Na-mi (Kim Hyo-jin) look completely unbelievable. Their grip on power is flimsy and so they must depend on their respective fathers and more so the ubiquitous hero assistant Young-jak (Kim Gang-woo) for dirty corporate affairs and lady business. Meanwhile, men hire prostitutes/masseuses on a whim. Even Geum-ok’s unhappy husband (Baek Yun-shick), who married her for money and now wants to start anew with the Filipina maid Eva (Maui Taylor), treats his supposed lover like a sex doll and shows no psychological connection to her on screen. Do women yield so much to men in real life? The audience must decide. “In Another Country” from Cannes regular Hong is even more troubling with its unrealistically subservient female characters. It is unsettling to witness the director’s disemboweling of Isabelle Huppert, the symbol of strong-voiced French women. He only leaves a sweet, delicate shell of a woman who awaits her five-hours-late lover watching the sea and exclaiming “Oh, it’s beautiful!” on repeat, like a robot. Her husband having cheated on her, Anne (Huppert) appears as brittle emotionally as physically. She has to cling to the strapping young men who come her way in this provincial seaside town. She is a docile kitten. Other women are just as hollow but decidedly more simple. Geum-hee (Moon So-ri) is a knocked up girl married to a film director (Gwon Hae-hyo) with a knack for adultery (he inevitably seduces Anne who falls right into the trap). The wife catches them and throws one of the mildest tantrums seen on a movie screen. Is it an ode to Anne Sinclair, the wife of fallen political figure Dominique Strauss-Kahn? Won-ju (Jeong Yu-mi), the caretaker of Anne’s lodging, prances around in colorful dresses, religiously records her guests’ trysts and provides them various household items and food. Do any of these people have lives? These two films are only one of many signs of the gloomy state of the movie industy, as uninteresting female characters continue to bedevil audiences. Park Si-yeon recently scored a hit by baring one of her breasts in “The Scent.” Jo Yeo-jung is creating hoopla with her exposed thin elbows on the poster for “King’s Concubine,” slated for a summer release. Gong Hyo-jin, known for candor on set and in public, openly admits that she had problems with her character in “Love Fiction” and took her complaints to its director Jeon Kye-soo. Recent box office hits like “As One,” “Eungyo,” “Architecture 101,” and even “Helpless,” which was directed by a woman (Byun Young-joo) somehow all conform to this unfortunate trend. Should Korea call Spanish director and female-role specialist Pedro Almodovar for rescue?

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