I Melt With You is exactly the kind of indie movie I was worried about seeing at Sundance. 46 people walked out during the press and industry screening. I figured after about 80 minutes, whoever stayed was in it until the end but no, a mass exodus around 90 minutes in doubled my count into the 40s. Numbers 45 and 46 left only minutes from the end, they just couldn’t bear to stick it out.

It’s not so much that the film is offensive. It’s just repulsive. Richard (Thomas Jane), Ron (Jeremy Piven), Jonathan (Rob Lowe) and Tim (Christian McKay) get together for their annual week-long cocaine and pharmaceutical binge (Jonathan’s a doctor). They only do this once a year, so they go all out. Maybe if they fixed the other 358 days of the year, they wouldn’t need to act out for seven.

The style introduces itself right away with throbbing beats muting out the scenes introducing each character. Text cards make a lot of statements, mostly beginning with “I Am…” By the end of the film, director Mark Pellington is cutting in footage of the Challenger explosion. Forget tasteless. That’s just nonsense.

The foursome’s behavior is repulsive, especially Richard jumping on the furniture. The guys slam dance. Honestly, I outgrew that in sixth grade. Worst is how the film celebrates this. It’s not a stark portrayal of how adults go bad. It’s portrayed as their reward for putting up with life all year. Basic therapy or spirituality would say if you need to drown out your painful thoughts, you need to work on better thoughts.

Of course they’re just numbing the pain. Each character eventually reveals what they’re really hiding from. Tim actually tries to get through to the other three, why Richard sleeps around, why Jonathan lost his family to a new man, why Ron got in trouble with the SEC. The characters, especially Ron and Richard, are all self-righteously confident that they know how bad things get when you grow up. A young bartender (Arielle Kebbel) has their number, but that’s the only brief voice of reason.

While Tim works out his own tragedy, he has a three way with Raven (Sasha Grey) and another man. While Tim’s crying in between them, Raven talks about helping him find nirvana. Come on! This is not a dig against Grey, I believe she could be spiritual and wise, but the movie is not. It all leads up to some vague talk about a promise the guys all made as seniors.

Oh, also Officer Boyde (Carla Gugino) starts noticing they keep getting into trouble. The film cuts away to Boyde randomly discussing relationships with her friend Katie (Melora Walters). Katie is never seen again, but she gives Boyde a chance to unload her theories on men.

It’s not a matter of filmmaking incompetence. This is all on purpose. They meant to make it exactly this way. The one positive I can say is the acting is good. I really believed Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe and Christian McKay were high.

We don’t always agree on the happenings in the entertainment community, and we like to make our beefs public. Is known porn star Sasha Grey destined for genuine Hollywood stardom, or will she never escape the shadow of her own uncanny gag reflexes. Fight!

Legitimate Actress

Just because Sasha Grey stems from seedy entertainment beginnings doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be taken seriously as a respectable actress. Sometimes we can’t believe what goes in her mouth, so it’s not so crazy to assume we can’t accept what comes out of it I am of course referring to dialogue, not fluids, strap-ons, etc. One of the industry’s most respected directors, Steven Soderbergh, took a chance on Grey for his film The Girlfriend Experience. If an Academy Award winning filmmaker has faith in her potential, why shouldn’t we?

Sasha Grey has balls, metaphorically speaking, and ambition, two traits that can get one very far in Tinsel Town. She took on a role in a legitimate film when everyone else screamed his or her doubts from the rooftop of some debaucherous warehouse in the San Fernando Valley. Some might say it wasn’t the biggest stretch playing a high-class escort when you’ve made your career as an adult film actress, but porn doesn’t involve any acting beyond moans of ecstasy.  Hell, our wives and girlfriends can take on that role, and your inability to accept that they have duped you only further proves the ease of the task.  Nothing of what Grey learned in porn would help her on Soderbergh’s set, except maybe a come hither stare and cheating her less bruised side to the camera. She dedicated herself to the challenge of genuine acting, and considering she had no “classical” training, succeeded with flying colors.

Just last season on “Entourage,” Sasha played herself. Again, not a huge stretch, but not as easy as you might think. It’s not like that show is busting at the seams with Julliard graduates either. If you can believe the wigger talk of Turtle, then swallowing Sasha’s often stilted delivery shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s also not forget her fearlessness in showcasing her shaggy private parts. If she only accepted 70s based projects from now on it might not hurt her career. That was a bold move, and one I applauded her for. Sure, she’s probably more comfortable nude than with clothes on, but at least she isn’t some self-important actress only willing to show her goods if the characterization or plot development truly call for it, or if the paycheck’s big enough. Let’s not kid ourselves. Just because an actress doesn’t get penetrated on screen doesn’t mean she’s not taking a whore’s approach. At least Sasha takes full responsibility for her actions.

Finally, there’s Sylvester Stallone. He got the name “The Italian Stallion” for a reason. His first acting gig was on a low budget porn that exploited his involvement after he hit it big. Stallone couldn’t be more successful now. He’ll never be considered a consummate actor, but he’s one hell of a movie star. With more time and opportunities, the same could happen for Sasha. She mastered one niche of entertainment, and I’m sure that didn’t happen over night. She worked like a champ until she could take on or in almost anything without a quiver of hesitation. If she applies the same tenacity to a legitimate acting career, we could see her nominated for a Golden Globe in a few short years. The Hollywood Foreign Press loves a good cum rags to riches story.

Lucky Porn Star

A lot of people seem to think that Sasha Grey has crossed over to the mainstream and attained the status of legitimate actress. A lot of people think Barack Obama is a Muslim (switch out the word “Muslim” with “good president,” if it makes you feel better). In short, a lot of people are stupid, and it doesn‘t matter what they think. Despite the fact that Grey has appeared in a few high-profile mainstream projects, she is, and always will be, nothing more than a lucky porn star.

Granted, there’s nothing wrong with being a lucky porn star. After all, we make our own luck. The fact that Grey has attained this level of notoriety is impressive, and she deserves credit for her determination. But at the end of the day, if this girl hadn’t drank milk out of another girl‘s asshole (literally, I‘ve seen it), we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Grey’s only real mainstream achievements have been her role in The Girlfriend Experience, which isn’t exactly your run-of-the-mill mainstream film, and a reoccurring part on “Entourage,” a show geared toward young men with Downs Syndrome. For The Girlfriend Experience, she played the part of a prostitute (a rose by any other name), and for “Entourage,” she played a fictionalized version of herself. How challenging could those roles have been for a porn star? Basically, they were extended cameos. It’s not as if she landed a role playing Eleanor Roosevelt (although her hardcore scene with Bree Olsen is eerily reminiscent of the former First Lady). And despite her relative familiarity with the parts, critical reception of her performances was mixed, which doesn’t bode well for her landing non-sex related roles in the future.

Granted, many mainstream actresses (and actors, for that matter) have far less talent than Grey. And like Grey, I suspect that many people in the film industry have gotten where they are by sticking weird things in their asses. But unlike Grey, video of Brett Ratner and McG getting tag teamed by a group of coked-up studio executives is not available On Demand…yet. Maybe it’s unfair that Grey is being punished for her blatantly honest whoring while others do it behind the scenes without retribution. But out of all the injustices in this world, the double standard faced by pornographers has to be on the bottom of the list.

Let’s put it another way. Michael Jordon starred in Space Jam. Do people remember him as an actor? No. They remember him as a great athlete who did a few movies. O.J. Simpson appeared in several films, most notably, The Naked Gun trilogy. But O.J. Simpson is not remembered as an actor or an athlete. He’s remembered as a homicidal maniac. Why? Because there are some things that people will never forget, no matter what you go on to achieve. Hardcore pornography is one of those things. Sasha Grey could go on to win five Oscars in a row, but she’ll always be remembered as the girl who sucked five dicks in a row. End of story.

_{Look mom, I’m a thespian!}

Sasha Grey is slated to porn-up another mainstream movie with her role in Skinny Dip, Movie Line is reporting. Grey will star alongside Michelle Rodriguez, Danny Trejo and Eric Roberts in the film, which is billed as a revenge thriller.

As you know, Grey used to be a porn star, but has crossed over to become a “porn star who directors exploit to create buzz for non-porn films.” Her success is an inspiration to young girls (with "daddy issues") everywhere (as am I).

Talk about an authority on the subject.

We haven’t really been covering Mark Pellington‘s indie drama I Melt With You because it didn’t have any porn stars attached. Suddenly, the project sounds a lot more interesting with the addition of Sasha Grey. The porn star has enjoyed a career reinvention recently and is building up an impressive resume by picking up roles that don’t require her to spit on her hand.

I Melt With You stars non-porn actors Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, and Rob Lowe as friends who feel empty inside and decide to resurrect a pact from their college days. Grey will play "a free spirit who helps one of the men realize that nirvana can only be achieved by death." And deep-throating. Tons and tons of deep-throating. (THR)

Professional sex-haver/indie film darling Sasha Gray has landed the role of Vince’s girlfriend on the seventh season of "Entourage." From TV Guide:

This is by no means a small cameo, but a major role as the new long-term girlfriend of Adrian Grenier’s Vince Chase.

“I think Sasha’s going to have a very successful transition,” says Entourage creator Doug Ellin, who was impressed by the performer’s leading role in Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh’s 2009 film, “The Girlfriend Experience.”

He won’t admit it to TV Guide but Ellin was also impressed by the AVN Adult Movie Award winner’s roles in Butt Sex Bonanza, Seinfeld: A XXX Parody, Butt Man’s Stretch Class 3, Fox Holes, and I Wanna Bang Your Sister.

It’s said that Vince’s new relationship is based off the past relationships of Charlie Sheen, which is a spoiler alert in and of itself. Her character is definitely going to end up dead in a ditch. I imagine that the plotline will require Turtle to dump her in the ocean, but opts for the ravine when he gets worried he’ll scuff up his kicks if he drags her that far.

Sasha Grey is starring in a movie that won’t bring oxygen deprivation induced tears to her eyes. At least not by her usual means. The porn actress with the gift of no gag plays a Jesus freak in Richard O’Sullivan’s horror flick Hallows. O’Sullivan says:

"Hallows basically takes the standard kids-in-the-woods-running-from-a-killer genre and flips it on its ear. The deaths aren’t random. They’re not cookie cutter. Each character dies in a fashion relating to the way they live their life. I’m less interested in gore-for-the-sake-of-gore (although there is gore in this film and plenty of it) than the psychology behind the characters and how they react to what happens. That’s why we’re happy to be working with Sasha. She’s more interested in the psychology behind the action than just the action itself. That’s what she conveys in her work in the adult genre, and that’s what we’re going for in this film."

I totally see what he means. When I Googled Sasha’s name I came across a picture of her trying to shove a cocktail napkin up her coochie and I thought to myself, "That girl gets the human condition." (DreadCentral)

Sasha Grey is a renaissance woman.  Not only does she pay the rent doing what most people do for fun (or babies), she also happens to be an intelligent and ambitious 21 year-old creative.  And with her starring performance in Steven Soderbergh’s newest film, The Girlfriend Experience, she’s now officially under the mainstream microscope. 

Screen Junkies had the good fortune to be invited to the film’s press junket, where Grey discussed such subjects as juggling porn and indie film, the odds of starring alongside teenybopper celebs, and her soon-to-be produced adult script, The F&%k Junkie.  If we ever start a porn column on this site, we now have a name.   

SASHA GREY, on her first meeting with Steven Soderbergh:

I knew I was big fan.  I’m not 14 anymore, so I don’t know every little detail about the people I admire necessarily anymore…  My first meeting [with Soderbergh] was really exciting, and I felt like a bumbling little kid.”
 
On switching into mainstream film and how that will affect her adult career: 

Right now, I think I want to do both.  I think it’s unprecedented that a woman from the adult industry has been able to juggle both at the same time and play the non-eponymous character in more than just one film.  So I think the climate is right, and if people enjoy what I do outside of the adult films that there is room for growth and there is room for opportunity.” 

I’m locked to shoot a film in August; I have the lead role, and I don’t play a sex worker.  I also have two other scripts I was just offered… There have been very few women to do both at the same time; usually women quit and go “I’m a redeemed sinner, it’s ok that I hate porn now and you can all accept me!”  I think that’s bullshit.

On her production company, Grey Art:

Well again I’d like to do both [mainstream and adult film], I don’t think it’s been done to its fullest potential.  I enjoy the challenge of people saying no to me, and me proving them wrong.  That’s just kind of my natural personality.

On studio heads accepting an adult film actress as legitimate:

I’ve been taking it in baby steps right now.  People have been very accepting of it, mostly because of the pairing of her name with Soderbergh’s.

On mainstream films she thinks she might do:

I don’t think I’ll be cast as Zac Efron’s girlfriend in his next movie.  I’m not going to do a teen movie, and I’m okay with that.

On her training in acting, and being a huge film geek:

I studied acting from the ages of 12-18.  One of my most influential theater teachers, one of his things was you should be watching one film per week, minimum.  And I was like “well, what film am I supposed to watch?”  F*ckin’ Street Fighter?  No!   That’s not going to build your character or hone your craft as an actor.

Which directors does she admire/want to work with?

Godard, Cassavettes, Catherine Brouillex.  I don’t know if I’d like to work with Godard; sometimes the mystery is better than the truth.  With the case of Steven, it was both good, so I was lucky to get that opportunity.  Out of all people I know, this is out of left field, but John Carpenter.  I have a weird obsession with him, and I think it’d be really fun to work with him.  And um, David Gordon Green.

Was sex planned in The Girlfriend Experience?

Uh, he never really said whether there would be a sex scene or not, but in the outline it did say for three different scenes, sex scene with Chris, sex scene with Client B, sex scene with the hobbyist.  So you never really knew, but I think on the fifth day of shooting I really didn’t think there was going to be sex in this because it would have happened by now.  If there was to be one, it kind of goes back to what [co-star] Chris [Santos] said; I trusted Steven.  I knew he would do it so the sex scene itself would be in context to the story, it wouldn’t just be sex for the sake of sex.  Was I relieved that there wasn’t one?  Yes and no, I mean, again I think because it was Steven it would have been done well, so if somebody would have approached me who didn’t have his resume and was like “you’re going to play an escort in this movie and have five sex scenes I probably would have said no.

On her controversial appearance on the Tyra Banks show:

It’s funny how people still don’t get how the media works…  They wanted to use me, and I wanted to use them.  I was okay with that; I was still pissed off, but I got what I wanted out of it… Did Tyra run up to her producers and ask them what to say, because she was stumped by an 18 year-old?  Yeah.

Yeah, [it] pretty much [felt good].  That’s all I really needed.

On whether her performance in the Girlfriend Experience is going to open up adult entertainment into the mainstream:

I don’t think it’s just this role, but I think the mainstream, or the media, is very fascinated by the adult industry.  So whether it’s because I got a legitimate role, or putting a porn star on a talk show gets ratings, people want to see it.  We don’t want to talk about it, but we want to see it, and listen, and spy on it, and vilify it.  So I think it’s not just this, it’s the plain and simple fact that people are fascinated by the adult industry.

Between her looks, smarts, and willingness to admit she’s seen the Street Fighter movie, Sasha Grey has completely won us over here at Screen Junkies.  We’d like to thank Ms. Grey, Mr. Soderbergh, and everyone at MPRM for having us at the press day.

The Girlfriend Experience is now available on HDNet Ultra VOD and opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, May 22, 2009.

To see the film through Video On Demand online ahead of time, head on over to Amazon.com by clicking HERE.