No one can say that Sasha Grey has not been productive over the last three years. Working hard to establish her brand, the 21-year-old Californian has been a model for American Apparel, been photographed for the cover of Vice by Richard Kern, appeared in videos by Smashing Pumpkins and The Roots, and recorded experimental dub soundscapes as part of a duo named ATelecine. What’s more, her remarkably nuanced lead performance in The Girlfriend Experience is one of the best things about Steven Soderbergh’s chilly but daring new study of sex, money and market crashes in late-capitalist era New York. Next up is a role in Smash Cut, a horror comedy by Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter director Lee Demarbre.
If none of that rings a bell, you may also recognize her from one of her performances in over 150 films, a large proportion of which either have the word “swallow” or “squirt” in the title. Known for her enthusiasm for practices that remain outré even in the porn world, she was named Female Performer of the Year at Adult Video News’ 2008 awards show.
Grey’s hardly the first adult-film star to develop a profile in more legit areas of showbiz. But rather than cultivate it via Howard Stern Show appearances and cameos in gross-out comedies, she prefers a more artistically adventurous approach. For one thing, she namedrops auteurs the way that other starlets show off tattoos. (See sidebar below for her all-time Top 5.) Grey’s collaboration with Soderbergh — who was intrigued after reading a profile of her in Los Angeles Magazine — is not so surprising given that she’s enough of a film freak to have considered using Anna Karina as her nom de porn.
“I’m actually really glad I didn’t use that name,” says Grey in a phone interview last week. “It would’ve been exciting for a month and then I would’ve been over it.”
Instead, she chose “Sasha” in tribute to KMFDM frontman Sascha Konietzko and “Grey” for how she placed on Alfred Kinsey’s scale for sexual orientation. Nevertheless, Jean-Luc Godard’s early muse remains an inspiration. “There was something that really struck a chord with me when I read about her and saw her in Godard’s films,” says Grey. “There are certain people who do that to you in life. For some girls, it’s actors in Teen Beat and for others, it’s the women they can look up to and say, ‘Wow, she’s beautiful and she’s also incredibly talented.’ Certain people just have a charisma about them.”
The same is true of Grey in The Girlfriend Experience. Shot during the final days of the US election and the early stages of the global economic meltdown, the movie captures the temper of our time with unusual vitality and intelligence. Grey plays Chelsea, an escort who, as the title conveys, offers not just sex but a temporary form of emotional intimacy. Her transactions and interactions with clients, her physical-trainer boyfriend and other figures add up to a lacerating portrait of contemporary mores among the wealthy and the legions of us who depend on their largesse.
Grey’s notoriety inevitably gives her presence in the film the whiff of stunt-casting. Others have presumed that Grey shares Chelsea’s affectless manner. One has to wonder if she’s annoyed by people who presume that she’s playing herself in The Girlfriend Experience. “I don’t read the reviews,” she says, “but I do occasionally read interviews that I do and people always print that after the fact. It’s like, ‘Why don’t you just say that to my face if you really feel that way?’” She laughs. “I’m a big kid and you’re entitled to your own opinion, but I know what I put into the film — I did my work.”
She wonders whether the movie’s pseudo-vérité style has led some punters to take it for a documentary. It’s also hard to tell the difference between professional and first-time actors due to the use of improvised dialogue. “I think that’s what’s so special about the film,” says Grey. “There are certain subtleties that you wouldn’t be able to achieve with a heavily scripted film. Because, as in real life, everything is not perfect.”
The character of Chelsea and her scenes with clients were based on details provided by real escorts interviewed by Soderbergh, Grey and casting director Carmen Cuba. Grey also paid close attention to their mannerisms in order to develop Chelsea’s body language. She describes Chelsea as a “very fear-based person” and that’s all too true. By the end of the film, she has shifted from being a free agent with a considerable degree of autonomy (both in sexual and financial terms) to someone who seems wrenchingly vulnerable.
Grey’s performance is clearly the product of a great deal of trust between her and Soderbergh. “I don’t really think that there’s anything he could’ve asked me to do that I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with,” she says.
Grey also says that the experience of making the film had a great impact on her career beyond the stamp of legitimacy it gives her with viewers beyond the porn world. She’s applying the lessons she learned to her latest creative endeavour: directing.
“Shooting this film really validated a lot of things for me,” says Grey, who recently founded a production company and has several scripts ready, only one of which is called Fuck Junkie. “I’d been wanting to direct adult films for quite some time now and I think it validated for me that anything is really possible. You can have a little but still create a lot with the resources you do have. People often overlook that — they think they need so much to create something interesting.”
SASHA'S ESSENTIAL CINEMASasha Grey recently provided
The Rotten Tomatoes Show with a list of her five favourite films, and even the snobbiest cinephile would have trouble quibbling with her choices. Here they are in ascending order:
STROSZEK (dir. Werner Herzog, 1977): “It’s a beautiful film… it’s the story of a struggling musician who cares about the people around him and doesn’t judge the people around him.”
FAT GIRL (dir. Catherine Breillat, 2001): “You’re dealing with these characters in such a raw way and you have this really young girl who wants to lose her virginity… it’s just such an intense film and even more powerful because a woman directed it.”
PIERROT LE FOU (dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 1965): “To me this is an amazing, romantic film — I’m not sure everyone would look at it in that way.”
A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (dir. John Cassavetes, 1974): “Like most of the films I mention, it captures a raw true emotion between a couple and in between all of these characters who are very strong.”
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (dir. John Carpenter, 1981): “I think Kurt Russell is one of my first crushes — as Snake Plissken, though.”
SASHA'S OTHER TOP 5
If the Criterion Collection consulted Adult Video News about what to release, their Sasha Grey section might look something like this (all ratings by AVN):
Throat: A Cautionary Tale AAAAA
This Aint Star Trek XXX AAAA 1/2
Fashionistas: Safado AAAA 1/2
Total Interactive Control of Sasha Grey AAAA
Sporty Girls 2 AAAA