A retrospective? Well, that usually is reserved in a headline for an obituary, but James Deen is alive and kicking and, faced with the other obvious choices like “Behind James Deen” (which would have made me sound like a Nepalese Sherpa as he prepares to “Mount Everest”), or “Inside James Deen” (which is downright creepy for obvious body part imagery), Ergo, “Retrospective” it is!
As you are reading this blog, you’re probably also familiar with porn star James Deen who has taken the adult industry by storm over the past several years and is currently about as close as the porn industry gets to having its very own Cary Grant. So, as the end of 2013 approaches, I thought this as good a time as any to take a look back at where James Deen came from, how he got to this lofty level of fame, and maybe a glimpse at things to come.
First, some fun facts to get things into context:
James Deen (Bryan Matthew Sevilla – born February 7, 1986), entered the porn industry in 2004 at the age of 18. Much to his favor, he has gained attention due to his lack of resemblance to stereotypical male actors in the pornography industry (i.e. big tattoos. blank expressionless face.,, you know the stereotype by now). Born in Los Angeles County and raised in Pasadena, California, his father is a mechanical engineer and his mother is a computer electronic engineer working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. At 17, Deen moved in with his father and worked at a Starbucks for two years while taking classes at Pasadena City College. Reports of how he chose the name James Deen range from vague to the way he holds his cigarettes.
James says performing in porn films was his ambition since he was in kindergarten. After entering the porn industry in 2004, he initially worked with older female performers. Deen’s appearance has been described as “normal guy” or “slightly skate punk”. Deen, who has appeared in approximately 1,400 films, has made over $20,000 per month from his performances and describes himself as “overpaid”.
In 2009, Deen was named the “Male Performer of the Year” by Adult Video News (AVN) at the age of 22, making him the youngest actor to have won this award.
Deen has a fan-following among teenage girls, a demographic that is typically not associated with the porn industry. In February 2012, ABC Nightline aired the feature “Porn’s Boy Next Door”, which included interviews with both Deen and his fans. One fan described him as the “Ryan Gosling of porn”.
In January 2013, Deen went to crowdfunding site Kickstarter.com to raise funds for the mainstream steampunk Western film “Cowboys And Engines“. Deen is listed as the producer of the Bryn Pryor vehicle. The campaign surpassed its goal of $100,000 in just 58 days. Let’s take a peek at the trailer to see what this is all about:
Read on…
Always one to explore “outside the porn box”, James also was featured in a promotional campaign for the ill-fated Mikandi “Google Glasses” earlier this year. Although Mikandi had complied to the tee with the Google developer guidelines, Google pulled the plug on their use of their tech within 24 hours after this video clip got over one million views on Youtube within 24 hours. The fatal flaw may have been calling it “Tits and Glasses”. One suspects that Google simply wasn’t interested in having it’s new better mousetrap for consumer spending instantly turn into a delivery method for porn. Here’s the clip (NSFWuncensored one is still floating around at Mikandi.com)…
But, now that we’ve covered some of James Deen’s background and forays into mainstream movie producing and Google Glasses promotion, let’s take a peek at some of the naughtier events on and offscreen that have helped shape his public image over the years.
Most recently, James got wrapped around the axle of the “celebrity sex tape” sausage machine at Vivid with what, IMHO at least, he got taken for a ride. US Magazine summed it up nicely, saying,
James Deen got a little more than he bargained for when he signed up to shoot a porno with “Teen Mom 2” alum Farrah Abraham. The adult film star, 27, actually turned down the offer initially but later agreed to do it as long as it didn’t turn into a media circus — which of course it did. Speaking about the experience in a new interview for the October issue of Playboy magazine, Deen set the record straight about what really went down between him and the MTV reality personality.
“I got a call, and they asked if I wanted to do a celebrity sex tape with Farrah. They said, ‘We’ll set it up so it looks like you guys are dating, and then TMZ will find out and it’ll be all over the TV,'” he recalled. “I said, ‘No, I don’t want to do that. Hire somebody else.’ But they promised me the media wouldn’t be involved. I made sure they knew I was going to tell the truth if anybody asked me about it.”
He continued: “So we shoot the movie, and as we’re leaving her hotel room, some paparazzo takes our picture. The next day I get a call from TMZ asking if I was dating Farrah Abraham. I said no. ‘Well, what were you doing at that hotel?’ ‘Shooting a porno.’ And that’s when the f–king drama train hit.”
The “drama train,” as Deen calls it, involved Abraham publicly slamming her partner in the porn flick for talking about what she said was a “personal sex tape.” She claimed the X-rated video was for her own use — though that didn’t stop her from selling it to porn company Vivid Entertainment for an amount in the “high six figures.”
And then there was that “Lindsay Lohan” and “The Canyons” media circus that James managed to get sucked into this past year. Although James has been pretty adamant about not feeding the gossip machine about “what actually happened” with the sometimes troubled, but always adorable gal that got her start in “The Parent Trap”, James did offer up a little in a recent interview, saying,
“During the Lindsay drama, I got a firsthand lesson in how tabloids spin a story. They got shots of us coming out of a bar together, holding hands and getting into her car. TMZ was like, ‘What’s going on? Are they an item?'” he told Playboy. “We were playing a couple in a movie! We were hanging out before the movie and getting to know each other. When we left the bar together, she was drunk, so I drove her home because I was sober and she has a bad history with that. End of story.”
Deen said if he had his choice of A-listers, he’d pick Halle Berry or Charlize Theron — based on looks, at least. “They’re undeniably gorgeous,” he explained. “But I don’t know them. For all I know, they’re complete bitches. Personality goes a long way.”
On a happier current events and relationships note, James and his gorgeous girlfriend, Stoya (also an adult performer) are also kicking up some attention in the mainstream media. The porn ‘It’ couple were shot by renowned celebrity photographer Steven Klein for the cover of a supplement to the 20th anniversary issue of men’s fashion magazine Arena Homme+, arriving on stands next month.
The UK-based biannual mag has featured such celebs as Ewan McGregor, Matt Dillon and John Malkovich, and describes its contents as showcasing “the world’s foremost photographers, stylists and art directors working alongside the best of emerging talent from the new generation.” This is Deen’s second appearance in the magazine.
“It is kind of a big deal,” Deen told AVN. “I am pretty proud. I think it is kind of awesome.”
Well, now that we’ve got the various gossip covered, on to some of James Deen’s thoughts about life, porn and other things (as Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”), let’s move on to the “idea” department in the wonderful brain of this talented young actor.
Quotable Quotes By James Deen:
On Sasha Grey, former porn star, who did a “hit and run” on the porn industry to open her door to mainstream (managing to diss the entire porn industry, much the way Jenna Jameson did on her departure to get some “distance”:
Actually, my ex-girlfriend and her have the same manager, and her manager dropped her because in the “Entourage” meeting, apparently she had this whole freakout about how porn ruined her life. The second they left the meeting, in the elevator, she was like, “I think I’ll get the part now.” And the manager was like, “Are you serious? You just said that porn ruined your life and you’re just laughing about it now? What was that, fake?” You know, when she was 18, she wanted to be Belladonna, and she pushed the envelope and got dirty and nasty and all of this stuff, and then she wanted to be like Jenna Jameson and be glamorous, and then she wanted to do acting.
On Michael Bay pandering -vs- Ellis and Schrader (producers of “The Canyons”) artistic integrity, with James telling us how he REALLY feels about the Hollywoood move machine:
You make that mass-produced, Hollywood blockbuster crap, you end up with Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers 11.’ He’s garbage, but his movies make lots of money,” says Deen, who was interested in “making a good movie and not bowing to the capitalist theory of Hollywood.
On his porn viewing habits these days, Simonini at interviewmagazine.com inquired : Do you watch much porn these days?
DEEN: [eating french fries] I do, but I stick to amateur stuff so I don’t recognize people. It’s a little difficult to stay aroused when it’s like, “I know that guy. I had lunch with him the other day.”
On his personal goal as a porn star in sexual performance:
What I’m doing as a performer is — this is going to sound weird — trying to incorporate artistic integrity to adult filmmaking. What I’m doing as a performer is trying to create the best erotic film content for the viewer.
On what he likes to eat (James Deen has an almost charming obsession with burritos):
As far as fast food goes, I like Carl’s Jr. and Jack in the Box. If someone’s rude at a fast food place, I will never go there again. Like at Taco Bell. I used to love it, but then I had a negative customer service experience and it was like “f**k you, I’m going to Del Taco!” And now I’m Del Taco through and through.
I used to eat burritos every day. There’s this place called Hugo’s Tacos on Coldwater and Riverside in the valley, and it’s just so good. They have this honey chipotle hot sauce, and it is the best thing that I have ever eaten in my life. They’re trying to do organic burrito stuff, with vegan options and all that hipster crap, but it’s really just a great burrito.
I got obsessed, and whenever I was nearby would go to Hugo’s and stockpile burritos. I would get three of them and put them in the fridge, so they would always be there,
for a midnight snack. But that got old, and now I have a normal amount of burritos.
And, saving the best for last…..
One other stipulation No clowns:
I won’t have sex with anyone dressed like a clown,” he said. “They are creepy. I’ve done it only once, and it was terrifying.
But what if a Clown offered you a Burrito, James? Talk about internal conflicts! Keep up the great work and honest approach, James! If TMZ or Steve Hirsch at Vivid call, RUN AWAY! You have a strong enough brand to rise above all that exploitive crap and enjoy what you have achieved without that sort of tacky, tasteless and tawdry sensationalist coverage.
Hope you enjoyed this little trip into James Deen’s noggin for what makes him tick!
Coleen
Erotic Cinema For Discerning Adults
Anonymous Adult Search
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