LOS ANGELES — Wasteland.com’s newest release, “Sex in the Viral Age (A Coronavirus Film)” was the subject of a recent feature in the Mexican edition of Playboy magazine.
Playboy Mexico’s editor Arturo Flores, who is also a noted author and stand-up comedian, wrote the article.
"As Ian Malcolm said in 'Jurassic Park,'" Flores’ article begins, "life always finds a way. And so does eroticism. Only a few weeks after the U.S. quarantined people in an attempt to stop the propagation of coronavirus, the first porn movie adhering to the concept of social distancing has been shot.”
The Playboy article includes new interviews with director Colin Rowntree (“a cult filmmaker who has made over 600 adult films,” according to Flores) and star Sicilia Ricci, whose character, like Ricci, is a working scientist.
Pointing out that Ricci “currently works in the implementation of controls to demonstrate that her lab has the proper technology to test people for coronavirus in case the government would need it,” Flores also notes that Ricci is under “moderate quarantine.”
“For scientists, it has been very frustrating to observe everything from home,” Ricci told Playboy in an interview conducted via Facebook. Ricci wishes they would “eliminate all the red tape” preventing widespread testing.
The Mexican men’s magazine — a franchise of Hugh Hefner’s classic U.S. title which has recently suspended its paper edition for the first time in its history — also features a provocative photo pictorial of Ricci wearing her lab coat and little else.
Ricci told Playboy that after her work shift, during which she avoids being near other scientists, she returns home and diligently posts videos to her OnlyFans account.
“I am very disciplined when it comes to my fans,” Ricci told Playboy.
Rowntree explained to Playboy that he was filled with indignation by the cavalier attitude of some in the adult industry who attempted to hijack the coronavirus conversation without respecting the most elementary public health measures.
“People started uploading generic porno scenes, extremely low-budget stuff, featuring ‘actors’ wearing surgical masks and gloves, and not respecting social distancing,” said Rowntree, who has decades of experience as an adult filmmaker specializing in BDSM. “They hashtagged the content #COVID19 to attract attention, but nobody reflected on how coronavirus could actually affect adult performers and directors.”
Rowntree said that he reached out to Ricci, a regular Wasteland performer, and the two of them crafted the script for “Sex in the Viral Age” remotely, in only a few hours, using a shared Google Doc.
Rowntree also directed the film remotely, via Skype, from his New Hampshire home. Ricci’s OnlyFans videographer, who served as DP, then Dropboxed the files to the director who edited the short and achieved final cut in only five days.
More than a film, Rowntree told Flores, this is his manifesto.
“(Adult) filmmakers have to understand that they can make ‘message movies’ respecting social distancing,” Rowntree said. “Not everything has to be the usual gonzo garbage.”
Ricci, who found the perfect project to mingle her realities as a working scientist and an erotic performer, said she’s heard from fans who told her that “they have bought the film for friends and lovers who tested positive but are asymptomatic, and that it has helped them pass the self-quarantine in a safe and fun way.”
“Sex in the Viral Age (A Coronavirus Film)” can be downloaded at Wasteland.com or viewed at Adult Empire.
