NEW YORK CITY — Stormy Daniels, the XBIZ Award-winning writer/director/performer, was the subject of a New York Magazine piece titled "The Female Porn Director Winning All the Awards," by Lissa Townsend Rodgers.
“For years everyone was like, ‘Stormy Daniels, she’s the best female director,'" Daniels said. "That’s always bugged me. What does my vagina have to do with directing? Why do I have to be the best female director? Why can’t I just be one of the best directors?”
Since 2004, Daniels has directed 70 films for Wicked Pictures according to IAFD.com.
She was named 2016 XBIZ Director of the Year — Feature Release for her movie "Wanted" (Wicked Pictures/Adam & Eve), which was also awarded Feature Movie of the Year, Best Art Direction, Best Music and Best Actor — Feature Release for Steven St. Croix's performance.
The Western epic presented numerous challenges for Daniels, who described it as "the hardest thing I've ever done by far." She lamented the lack of running water and electricity, as well as various misfortunes that befell the production. “There was fire, a flash flood, grip truck broke down, prop truck broke down, camera truck got stuck in the sand, the cameras went down, I was robbed, 16 people cried.” Yet those hardships merely served to strengthen the grittiness and authenticity of "Wanted."
Daniels developed mainstream directorial instincts during her roles in films like "Pinneaple Express," where she paid close attention to behind-the-scenes processes. “I learned how to make furniture break on camera. I was interested in how they shot the fight because they’re not actually punching each other, it’s all about placement of the camera. I think a direct result of that is how awesome the fight scene is in 'Wanted.'”
The importance she places on believable world-building, costuming and high quality scripts in her films has attracted a growing fanbase that extends well beyond typical porn consumers. "I’ve had a lot of male fans come up to me and be like, ‘Thank you — your movies are the only ones my wife will watch.’"
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