The article’s primary focus is on this year’s indie release “Quinceanera,” co-directed by Nicholas Boyias, who owns Marina Pacific Distributors, and fellow adult film producer Wash Westmoreland. However, staff writer John Horn, who penned the piece for the Los Angeles Times, uses the film as a point of entry into a world of independent film financing, which he sees as breaking down the barrier between adult and mainstream.
“Those doors are no longer shut tight as the film business becomes increasingly reliant on outside financiers — people freed from corporate worries about whether a filmmaker's background might hurt box-office business,” Horn said. “What's more, porn — though still widely reviled — is no longer as socially condemned as it once was.”
As evidence of his thesis, Horn presents two models: the mainstream productions which have raised eyebrows with actors engaging in real sex scenes such as this year’s “Shortbus,” compared with those like Boyias and Westmoreland, who made their money in porn, and are now parlaying that success into mainstream Hollywood.
While Horn concedes that many Hollywood directors who opt for real sex scenes keep the moniker of porn at a distance, he makes the point that those wishing to crossover now have an opportunity that didn’t exist in the past.
“Not that long ago, it was nearly impossible for filmmakers, producers and actors to move from adult cinema into ‘legitimate’ Hollywood,” Horn said. “For every Barry Sonnenfeld [a former adult film cinematographer turned ‘Men in Black’ blockbuster director], countless others failed to make the transition.”
Although Horn doesn’t say that the doors have swung wide open, he concludes that more and more porn talent — whether behind the camera or onscreen, such as Zak Spears, who appeared the indie title “Forgiving the Franklins” — are making mainstream moves.
"It's sort of a glass ceiling — you push hard enough and you will smash through," Westmoreland is quoted as saying in Horn’s article.
While crossover moves by individuals are one thing, Horn further supports his argument by citing the release of an R-rated version of “Pirates” as evidence that the two mediums might eventually find a common ground.
The Digital Playground title is the first adult movie to receive an R rating from the MPAA.
