LOS ANGELES — Kayden Kross told XBIZ she and directing partner Manuel Ferrara have wrapped a showcase called “Carter Cruise Wide Open” featuring the 2015 Best New Starlet.
“It was an awesome shoot, I think we outdid ourselves,” Kross said.
The movie marked Kross and Ferrara’s third effort as co-directors. The real-life couple shared the honor of Best Director – Non-Feature Release at the 2015 XBIZ Awards for their first collaboration on last year’s on “Misha Cross Wide Open.”
Then last month they released “Screwing Wall Street: The Arrangement Finders IPO” through Ferrara’s namesake production label which is distributed by Evil Angel.
Kross said they were waiting for a certain kind of girl to captivate them before undertaking another “Wide Open” showcase. Then Cruise emerged.
“She’s an extremely strong performer,” Kross said. “She gives the sort of performance that sucks you into the scene. Some girls are strong performers but you’re aware they’re performing the whole time. But with Carter you’re totally into it because she’s totally into it.
“It’s not very often that Manuel says, ‘this girl is worth doing a showcase on.’”
Cruise had proven herself on a couple previous Ferrara sets, but to be cast in a project like this was something she was not expecting.
“I was so excited when they told me they wanted to do a movie with me,” Cruise told XBIZ Friday. “Of course I saw Misha’s movie last year and how amazing that was. And I thought, ‘Man I really wish I could do one of those.’ I figured it was too late, that I’ve been in [the business] too long and they wouldn’t pick me.”
Kross said she went after “the same sort of style and aesthetic” she created for “Misha Cross Wide Open,” but this time “even more extreme.” Drawing inspiration from the calendar girl pinups of the 1940s and ’50s, Kross was careful to exclude anything modern from the shots.
“The thing I really tried to go for with this one was kind of a timeless glamour. She was a bit of a pinup for everything she did and she’s perfect for it,” said Kross, noting Cruise’s natural hair color and facial features make her ideal for the makeup and styling she envisioned.
Cruise loved the wardrobe, adding Kross even asked her what kind of character she’d want to play in advance.
“So she kind of wrote the character with that in mind,” Cruise revealed. “The sex was amazing and the character was awesome. It was a type of character I don’t usually get to play. It’s a really great story but there’s not like a ton of dialogue.”
The narrative is inspired by a short story from Anais Nin, “one of the first women to really ever write erotica,” according to Cruise.
“She’s been hugely influential,” Cruise said. “So I played this very cold and calculating sexual predator and at the same time there was a little bit of mischief to me as well.”
“All the scenes push the story forward,” Kross noted.
The movie features Cruise in all four sexual encounters: a boy/girl anal with Ferrara; a girl/girl anal with Kross; a blowbang with Eric John, Chad Alva, Chad Diamond and Filthy Rich; and a D.P. with Mick Blue and Ramon Nomar.
“Kayden blew me outta the water. She is amazing,” Cruise said. “I actually hadn’t seen any of her scenes before this and usually I make it a point to watch a girl’s scenes before we work together because it helps me get an idea of her energy and what she brings.”
Cruise said she was supposed to be the dominant one in the scene, but she had to play catch up from the get-go because “Kayden came at me with so much energy and passion.” Still, Cruise did “violate” Kross’s rear-end before the scene was over.
“I feel like I’m growing up,” Kross joked. “Now I do anal like the real girls. We used a really cool glass dildo. It was just a solid, solid scene.”
When Cruise hooked up with Ferrara, she was blown away again, but for a different reason.
“He’s just a great performer in every way and I was blown away by his acting,” Cruise admitted. “Manuel always says he’s not a good actor. He even apologized before our dialogue. I didn’t think he would be bad, but I didn’t necessarily think he’d be good either because he’s just known for being this great performer.
“I was really impressed by him. It was the most natural I've felt doing dialogue in porn besides my scene in ‘Our Father’ with Steven St. Croix [for Digital Sin]. I was able to totally lose myself in the scene because it was so natural and we were both in character. That’s not common.”
Cruise said her blowbang was “a little different” than a previous blowbang she did where “it was more just me getting destroyed.”
“For this blowbang I was very much in control.”
The D.P. with Blue and Nomar made for a fitting finale, Cruise added.
“D.P.’s are my favorite, so I always enjoy them,” she said.
Kross said “Carter Cruise Wide Open” would be released by Evil Angel in July on DVD as well as online at her site, TrenchcoatX.com, the pay-per-scene platform she launched in March with Stoya.
Photo of Kayden Kross and Manuel Ferrara by Jeff Koga; photo of Carter Cruise by Bryant Nix.
