So fuckers here it is, the roundtable interview with Sasha Grey. Before I get started, I'd like to give it up for the lovely Emily at HeyUguys.co.uk who was in the interview with me and to which some of the answers were directed. Check out their site you monkey-bitches because it kicks ass.

FOF: So, Sasha, thanks for answering a couple of questions - start off by telling me how you got the role in The Girlfriend Experience?

Sasha: I did an article for – and I should get paid for this, man [laughs] – I did an article for Los Angeles Magazine and it led to some daytime American television and also led to Brian Koppelman, the co-writer of The Girlfriend Experience, contacting me about the article. Brian called me to set up a meeting with Steven Soderbergh. At first I thought it was a sick joke, so he had Steven leave me a voicemail. So we set up a meeting at Warner Bros. I was excited and nervous but it was good, it felt really natural. 

FOF: The character you play in The Girlfriend Experience, Chelsea, was adamant that she didn’t need reviews yet, ultimately, it was an unsolicited review of her that caused her the most anguish. Are reviews something that you try to avoid as a pornstar?

Sasha: Actually, it’s something that Steven and I have in common – we’re not a fan of reviews – so that went into the film. Alot of the escorts that Steven and the writers interviewed said they had disdain for these types of reviewers. Still, it’s very different from film reviews or even adult-film reviews, because these are just men paying for a service, judging these women, and fabricating lies about them, based solely on a refusal to give these men freebies. It was a very common theme with the women they met with.

FOF: As the only trained actress on-set, how was it dealing with the improvisational style of the film?

Sasha: It was very stressful at times because although I knew how to keep improvisation going, some other people around me didn’t, so sometimes there were these weird awkward moments where you’re like, “I just fed you something, go with it!” But sometimes that was great because we don’t always have the perfect thing to say, and that added a sense of realism to the scene. Plus, some of the guys were playing versions of themselves so Steven would say, “just talk about what you’ve seen in the paper today” and for most, that was easy because it was the financial crisis, which quickly became a reoccurring theme. Unfortunately for most, but great for us, we started shooting the week that the economy crashed. That was something none of us expected, however it worked well for us in terms of improvisation in that the conversations we had in the film were actually going on in real life.

FOF: There was definitely the reoccurring theme of people being affected by the financial crisis. How do you feel that the men who paid for Chelsea’s services were able to reconcile paying what would presumably be thousands of dollars, with what was going on in the economic world?

Sasha: Well, that’s just capitalism [laughs].

FOF: Chelsea seemed to have constructed a different wall against every other character in the film – there didn't seem to be a single person, even her boyfriend, that really knew who she was. Did you find that too?

Sasha: It's quite an undercover world. During research, I sat down with these two women for three hours trying to ask as many questions as I possibly could and they were both very nice and friendly but it just felt like there was so much more I could've pulled out of them than they were willing to give. Neither of them had out-right told their families, only their spouses. And this is the thing – when I spoke with these women they were saying, "It's not about us. These men are paying me to share their problems with; talk about what they're interested in." So you're not there to talk about your interests, you're there for them – going as far as reading books they're interested in just so you'd have something to talk about. So it was like camoflage for them. They were always having to adapt to each client.

FOF: Now, I don’t know what it’s like in the States but here in Britain there still seems to be quite a division between the adult film industry and “mainstream” film-making. Do you feel there is more of a cross-over of the two industries in America?

Sasha: As far as the public identity of both, yeah. Everybody watches porn. It’s mainstream even though the public don’t necessarily want to talk about it openly, otherwise it wouldn’t sell, y’know. I think, even before I was in the business, people started talking a huge interest in it because it’s not a secret, everybody watches porn. It’s a fun, taboo thing for people to talk about.

FOF: So, Sasha, what have you got going forward from here?

Sasha: Right now with the production company, I'm focussing on adult films at the moment but I’m taking more of a cinematic approach which in the porn industry
really isn’t easy. The challenge of it is incredibly fun, but I’m trying to start off slowly, deal more with visuals and play around with imagery before moving onto people delivering dialogue. Plus, I’ve just Executive Produced a television show that I hosted as well, which will be on in the States in December.

FOF: Okay, one last question from me: Horror Legend David Hess in Smash Cut – I met him and saw the film at Frightfest back in August, really cool guy, what was he like to work with?

Sasha: He’s so funny, oh my god! [laughs] He’s hilarious and he was always “on”, always “David Hess”.  It was fun because Lee’s [Lee Demarbre, Smash Cut’s director] objective in casting all of us was he wanted to put David Hess [Last House On The Left] in a film where he doesn’t play a rapist; he wanted to put Sasha Grey in a film where she doesn’t get naked and he wanted to put Michael Berryman [Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes 1 & 2] in a film where he has hair [laughs], so he was so much fun to work with. So insane! David has so much energy – we were doing a scene where’s he’s trying to kill me and he’s dragging me out but being so nice and gentle and I was like, “seriously, I don’t want this to look weak. I’ll have a safe word so if I need to break character we can but just grab me so it looks real!” But David was great, he’s very much a people person and he has alot of great stories too.

FOF: Excellent, Sasha, thank you very much and all the best with the film.

Sasha: Thanks guys.

The Girlfriend Experience is released in the UK on December 4th. Check out our review HERE.