MONTREAL — Wicked’s new head of production, Jessica Jasmin, recently spoke with XBIZ about her directorial debut, the retro comedy “Blast From the Past,” scenes from which are now streaming on the studio site.
Shot last year, before Jasmin succeeded Axel Braun as studio runner, “Blast From the Past” is a lighthearted romp written by prolific Adult Time scribe Taylor Saracen. In the feature, protagonist Michael Adkins (industry veteran Evan Stone) reminisces about the sexy shenanigans of his past, depicted through flashbacks in which Seth Gamble plays Adkins’ younger self.
“I was inspired by the older days of Wicked movies where you had Brad Armstrong making those kind of fast-paced, fun comedies,” Jasmin told XBIZ during an exclusive interview about the project. “What Axel did with his parodies, which were hilarious comedies, was also an inspiration for ‘Blast From the Past.’”
Although Jasmin acknowledged that choosing comedy — a notoriously difficult genre to pull off successfully — was a tricky choice for her maiden voyage as a director, she was also enamored of “the idea of nostalgia, of going back to the past, and also getting to step into the ’80s world. It all really came together in the movie.”
Jasmin stressed that having twice-crowned and reigning XBIZ Male Performer of the Year and rising director Gamble on set was another key element that contributed to the project’s success.
“I absolutely wanted to have Seth be part of it,” she affirmed. “I developed a great working relationship with him early last year, when we worked on some projects for Adult Time and Bree Mills. He was also my biggest support for stepping into the directorial role. He was like, ‘Go for it, you should do a movie.’ Then Axel, before he left, suggested, ‘You should have some of the legends of porn, like Stormy Daniels and Evan Stone.’ They were all extremely excited to get to act on a feature.”
For the rest of the cast, Jasmin chose performers she knew could act and also be funny, starting with Nathan Bronson.
“I knew he is very good at just playing dramatic characters, like he did for James Avalon’s ‘Dark is the Night,’” she recalled. “But also you look at his social media, and his ‘Cooking With Nathan’ shows are so hilarious. I had him in mind right way. And then I had my choice of really popular girls like Slimthick Vic, Charlotte Sins, Lily Larimar, Kylie Rocket and Blake Blossom.”
Jasmin noted that “Blast From the Past” — which co-stars Tyler Cruise and Jaslyn Ray — is exactly what she set out to make: “a fun movie.”
“I really want people to enjoy watching it,” she added. “Of course, we also want people jacking off — hopefully they do both at the same time!”
Hailing from Montreal, Jasmin has a background in film, having majored in cinema during her university years before notching up production experience in the art department on mainstream projects, while also learning how to edit.
Jasmin came into the adult industry as a video editor, before climbing up the production ladder and developing a burgeoning collaboration with Adult Time’s Chief Creative Officer Bree Mills. After overseeing several gay and trans projects for Adult Time, Jasmin’s persistence and skills eventually led to her taking over Wicked after Braun left the industry earlier this year.
“Directing was an old dream of mine,” she explained, “and people — especially Seth — kept telling me that I should just try. I definitely went for it, and honestly, it was a pretty easy transition from producing and art directing. When I went on set, I knew how cameras work, I knew how angles work, I knew the cinema language of it all. I have that background, so I just went with it. And really, I loved it.”
“Blast From the Past” also represented a change of pace for Jasmin.
“I really wanted my Wicked debut to be something funny. Sometimes, when I worked on the gay side, it was a lot of taboo stuff and really going to dark places. But for this one, I really wanted something very light, very colorful, very funny. Just good entertainment.”
Comedy, however, is only one flavor of Jasmin’s plan for the Wicked brand under her supervision.
“Wicked’s already a legendary brand,” she stated. “We don’t want to go too far away from it. I just want to take it to the next level, and have it be something like a cinema studio, like a Warner Brothers, where you can have comedies, you can have drama and any high-end type of movies you can think of.”
Jasmin reveals, for instance, that multi-hyphenate talent Gamble is working on more ambitious series this year, including one where he “goes through different time periods, like the ’30s and ’40s.” Besides doubling down on Gamble’s directorial prowess, however, the new head of production promised that Wicked is going to have “more comedies, more romantic comedies, some dramas and thrillers, and more.”
“The goal here is to have high-end movies that could be compared to what you watch in movie theaters,” Jasmin concluded. “But also with the best sex!”
To watch the released scenes from “Blast From the Past,” visit Wicked.com.
