Jerry Douglas Interview...

This interview is courtesy of WoodyReviews.com:

Brothers in Arms
Porn, Love, Life and Death with Jerry Douglas

Venerable gentleman of the porn industry, Jerry Douglas, recently had the pleasure of completing his latest XXX masterpiece for COLT's Buckshot division, Brotherhood. It's the story of a frat boy facing blackmail after a brother discovers his secret - he's been making porn! While the film would have got plenty of attention all by itself, it achieved notoriety of a different kind when its star, Danny Roddick, died the very same week the movie was released. As accusations began to fly, we chatted with Jerry himself about making the film, and the joys and sorrows that came with it.

WR: What was it about this story and this setting that appealed to you?
JD: I've known several adult film stars who've paid their way through college by making fuck films, and I thought that was an interesting idea. I was in a fraternity in college, and while I never once saw anything that even came close to being homosexual, I rarely saw anything that wasn't homoerotic. It's a group of young men in their randiest years, living in a hothouse environment. They have pretty much free rein--nudity, communal showers, talking about sex at all times. It's very unlikely that in a real fraternity, these things would have happened quite this easily, but on the other hand you suspend disbelief when you make pornography. The best pornography, I think, is just one step beyond reality, and that's what I tried to do in this.

I believe you had problems getting this movie going?
It was originally supposed to be filmed last November. The big problem was finding a house that served all the script's needs, because the fraternity house itself figures very prominently in the action. We found one in Los Angeles, but it was prohibitive for a lot of reasons, so that fell through. The one we used, while I think it works very well, was not ideal for what I'd had in mind

Brotherhood makes it clearer than ever that plot and character are just as important to you as sex.
Oh, very much so. I think I got some good characterizations out of this one, and the kids responded to it very well. Many of them were not accustomed to thinking of themselves as actors. They were much more accustomed to thinking of themselves as... objects. I often say to an actor, "Do you know why you're having sex in this scene?" And that would often throw them. "I'm having sex because told me to." So that's when I give my long speech--there are a million different reasons why we fuck, so I always wanted them to realize why they were doing it, or why their character is anyway.

If these boys aren't experienced actors, and you're pushing them into areas they're not used to, then they must get a sense of accomplishment out of that.
Oh yes, oh yes. Over and over again the kids would come to me and say, "You made me go places I never went before." I think everybody wants to be an actor. Everybody who's in adult films has obviously the same sort of impulses that an actor does, and suddenly they find it opening doors for them.

There was a fun story you told on the commentary about inviting three of the boys to your room.
We had hoped to do a double penetration, and I had tried before with no success. So I wanted to rehearse the positioning, fully clothed I might add, so that when we got on the set we'd have an easier time. The three of them by this time knew each other very well, and they were very comfortable with each other. But it was weird to be in the middle of these bodies, and I would show them the positions I wanted. I don't fuck around with my models, I never have, and they know that, so it was funny, we all giggled a lot about it. But we got to the set and realized it wasn't going to work the way we planned and had to change it drastically, so ultimately it was all for nothing. But it was very pleasant evening.

How did you go about matching actors with these complex characters you wrote?
Well, I don't know the answer to that. I just do it till it feels right, or until I run out of time. Danny Roddick had originally been planned for a smaller role, but when this lead role became available I wanted him for it.

What was your favorite part of working on the production?
The greatest joys are when the actors and you are in the same car and you're going in the same direction, and all you have to do is just coax them along. I suppose the scene we filmed that pleased me the most was the scene between Jan Fischer and Danny. Particularly when we got into the editing room and turned it into a Revlon commercial, slow motion, double exposures, stuff like that. I thought that was very romantic.

It's nice that it was an oral-only scene, and yet it still had the intensity behind it.
Well, that was for simply financial reasons. It's cheaper to do an oral than a full scene. But also you want to save something for the finale, and that's where the fucking begins.

How was Danny Roddick to work with as your lead character?
Danny was not accustomed to being an actor. He was accustomed to being a sex object. He had no background as an actor, he had never taken an acting class, he had never had to learn lines, he had never had to tap his inner resources to create a character--he had none of those tools. It took him a while to realize that he was not being Danny Roddick and he was not being his real-life self either, he was being "Chandler," and that "Chandler" was someone that he wasn't. I'm very happy with the result, but it was not an instant transformation. We talked a great deal at the beginning, and I told him that there are six different seductions in that film, and a smart seducer knows his prey and has to seduce him in a different way than he would another person. And so I was very pleased at the way he managed to maintain a core character but tuned himself to each situation.

Obviously with recent events, this film takes on a particular poignancy now.
It does indeed. That shot of Danny looking up at the Greek letters on the front of the house, I just got chills when I saw it again. He looks so innocent and vulnerable and fragile, and he was all those things or this wouldn't have happened.

Can you give us any insight into what happened to Danny?
Danny was a young man from a small town who was suddenly thrust into the fast lane, and like so many people he was bedazzled by it, and sometimes it clouded his sense of self. I do not wish to be and never have been a judge of my actors' personal lives. I'm not terribly interested in what they do before or after they come to my set, as long as they are there to work and help me create my vision. And Danny was a joy to work with in many ways. He was eager, he was enthusiastic, he tried his damnedest. He was not prepared for the acting demands of the role, but he got them. It was just that it took him longer, because he had some territory to cover to get there.

Do you think the porn industry has to take responsibility for the health and welfare of its stars?
I certainly don't, any more than I think that the motion picture industry is responsible for all the thousands of people who come to California to become movie stars, or the thousands of high-schoolers who buy guitars to become rock stars. This is what the person has chosen to do with his life. And it's not as if Danny were a child, he was 31 years old. For me, this industry is both a business and an art, and I expect to work with people who are artistically responsible and business-wise feasible. That's what growing up is all about.

This is my problem with this whole damn controversy, which I think is being fueled for all the wrong reasons by all the wrong people. With very very few exceptions, and those are extremely peripheral, nobody forces anyone into this industry. The kids come to it eagerly and willingly, in almost all cases. A kid goes out on tour with a rock band and is introduced to a lot of things in the fast lane that he didn't get in Podunk. This is the same in all areas of the entertainment industry, and porn is only one small division of the entertainment industry. You don't have to be a porn star or a rock star to brush shoulders with cocaine, or X, K or any of those other things. It happens on Wall Street, it happens in seminaries, in all aspects of life these days. So to single out the porn industry to blame for kids yielding to the temptations that are all around them is bullshit.

My connection with a performer is from the moment he walks onto my set to the moment he leaves it. I am not his babysitter, I am not his keeper. I am not working with children, and if they are 31-year-old children, that is not my problem. That sounds awfully cold-hearted, because I do care about these kids, and I do spend time with them off the set, and I try to serve as a mentor and a role model and a shoulder to cry on. But ultimately it's their own responsibility to look after their own lives.

Why do you think 2007 has been such a bad year for gay porn--deaths, gruesome murders, people in and out of jail?
Listen, there has not been a year as long as I've been in this industry, and I've been in it since 1972, that there wasn't this sort of thing happening. Are we forgetting the stir that Joey Stefano's death made? These things happen. Look at the music industry and how many people died in the fast lane. Kurt Cobain, Janice Joplin, River Phoenix. It's nonsense to say it doesn't happen.

What will be your next project after this?
Well, Ryan Idol and I are working on a one-man show for off-Broadway right now. He has a small role in the revival of The Ritz, and when that's done we'll settle down and do this show. We made a film together called Trade Off in 1992, and we've stayed in touch with each other over the years.

What about the next porn film?
I sometimes wonder at this stage of the game if I'll ever make another adult film. My kind of film is becoming less and less interesting to audiences because of all the free stuff that's on the web. My films cost money, and it doesn't cost anything to put a kid in front of a roll of paper and have him jack off. Why spend so much money on a movie when they can sit in front of their computer and be done in 15 minutes? It also has a lot to do with the MTV generation, the short attention spans.

You reach a certain age and people think that you are outmoded and old-hat. Every time I make a movie I think, "This will probably be my last," because I'm becoming a dinosaur. But you never know! The old firehorse hears the bell and he goes running. Billy Wilder didn't make a film the last 15 years of his life. He said, "You live long enough, and they'll give you every award in the book, but they won't let you make a movie." And you know, sometimes I feel like that.

Brotherhood (Buckshot Studio) is available now from COLTstudiostore.com. Read our review here. Proceeds from all Danny Roddick films will go to LGBT counseling provider NewLeafServices.org.