VENICE, Calif. — Emerging as one of the industry’s most original and influential directors, Dana Vespoli is also proving to be one of the most articulate and interesting people in adult entertainment.
Fellow director Nica Noelle conducted an in-depth interview of Dana Vespoli for Psychology Tomorrow, where Noelle introduces Dana as someone who “is steadily redefining what it means to be a 21st century pornographer.”
In the interview, Dana reveals herself as the antithesis of the porn stereotype. Deep, thoughtful and inspired, Dana is also refreshingly direct and, thanks to her immense talent, she is able to do what she wants and can do it on her own terms.
When Noelle points out that Dana threw out the “standard 4-5 sex scene porn format out the window” for her movie “She’s Come Undone,” Dana is quick to acknowledge that she is uninterested in following the industry’s rules or giving into viewer expectations.
“I’m kind of an asshole,” Dana says. “I don’t think about what the viewer wants. I am devoted to the story and follow the story through; in effect letting the characters tell me where they want to have sex. Perhaps it will be my undoing in the industry, but I’m terrible at doing what others expect, or demand, that I do.”
As it turns out, there is a huge audience ready to see something different come out of Porn Valley and her product is connecting with a growing legion of fans. She has largely won over the critics, too, garnering enthusiastic reviews and a long list of award nominations as well as some impressive wins.
Dana Vespoli is the reigning 2014 XBIZ Award winner for Director of the Year — Non-Feature Release for Girl/Boy and won Best Director — Non-Parody, at the 2013 NightMoves Awards.
For someone truly doing things her way — and that way being significantly different from the standard fare — she is garnering a lot of mainstream success. While Dana says she identifies as a feminist, she does not consciously set out with a political agenda when she makes her movies.
“I can’t approach my work with a political agenda: I shoot what I know and I shoot what I like,” Dana explains. “If it becomes political for me, I can’t do it.”
She says it gets dangerous when people set out with a singular agenda to “make feminist porn” or try to define porn as either feminist or not — that it erases everything.
“I come from a place where porn, to me, growing up, represented so much more than just an orgasm,” Dana adds. “It represented a kind of freedom.”
Dana is exercising this freedom with new releases she directed and/or starred in, including this week’s “Lesbian Babysitters 11” from Sweetheart Video, which she claims is the best of the volumes she’s directed of the popular series. Two other new movies this week star Dana as performer: “Spread Her Gaping Ass 2” by Depraved Creations and “There’s a Diesel in My Ass” from Digital Sin. On June 16, she will release “Lesbian Anal P.O.V. 5” in association with Evil Angel, continuing her productive streak.
