10 Nude Scenes You Might Have Missed
Even the most inept of Hollywood producers could tell you that nudity sells – people somewhat unthinkably went out to see Showgirls, and there was a massive response when it was revealed that Demi Moore would shed her clothes for Striptease (what they didn’t tell us was that she’d be a little over-muscular and oddly-shaped)- so as long as studio marketing departments have any kind of influence on the creative decisions of a project, we’re likely to see bare skin.But sometimes, nudity in movies in used in an entirely different way – subtly added for the purposes of realism, or because the film-maker was way too cool to think of anything as piffling as censorship. Either way, those instances of nudity tend to be so brief that film fans could be forgiven for missing them entirely – and when they come from a superstar actor, nobody really wants to miss out on the opportunity for a little licensed voyeurism. We’re all animals when you scratch the surface after all.There are also several famous instances from film history of films that sneak nudity into their films – whether as a form of artistic protest, or to actively titillate the audience and create that magical moment where audience members look at one another aghast,wondering whether what they just saw was really what they thought it was.
This article will celebrate those moments where nudity pops up just briefly enough to snatch your attention away, before disappearing again, and these are the briefest flashes of nudity that made you reach for the pause and rewind buttons. Blink and you’ll miss them....
1. Bruce Willis – Pulp Fiction
Very, very brief. Willis gets out of the shower, dries himself off with a small orange towel and shows the world a glimpse of what lies beneath. Bruce isn’t exactly known for his naked shots, and is more readily available for vest shots and dirty bulging biceps work, so this came as something of a surprise.
2. Mila Kunis – Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Before she added a massive amount of raunch to the head-bending chills of The Black Swan, film fans had already briefly caught a glimpse of Kunis topless thanks to a blink and you’d miss it shot in break-up comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. A snapshot of her character, drunk and flashing appears on the wall of the men’s toilets of a bar – prompting Jason Segel to rescue it romantically – but not before we get to see the photo on the wall.
The spoilsports among you will no doubt point out the picture was faked – but that doesn’t make it any less worthy of note, thanks to the photo’s initial impact.
3. Robert Downey Jr – Less Than Zero
A fairly terrible film, and a poor adaptation of the excellent Brett Easton Ellis novel, but still notable not only for the glimpse of a frontal from Robert Downey Jr, but also for his tortured portrayal of a drug addict – one of his finest, and least heralded roles to date. A very rare chance to catch him naked, since he is now one of the biggest big stars in Hollywood, and unless someone comes along with a truckload of money – and even then – it’s not exactly likely to happen again any time soon.
Arguably not Downey Jr’s most famous nude moment, but then his nude roadtrip that got him arrested wasn’t filmed, unfortunately.
4. Unknown Friendly Neighbour – The Rescuers
Trawl through enough internet pages dedicated to Walt Disney and sooner or later you’ll come across a number of sordid conspiracy theories borne out of supposedly lurid imagery inserted in children’s movies by over-sexed animators and general Mouse House pranksters. While some are a little tenuous – the penis shaped rocks in The Little Mermaid for instance – others, like this tiny image of a topless lady supposedly inserted during the post-production of The Rescuers, were all but confirmed by the company. Horrified by the inclusion – which wasn’t actually visible at normal speed – Disney recalled 3.4 million The Rescuers VHS copies in 1999 to remove the unwanted boobs.
Still, thanks to the internet, we can see the prank in all its glory.
5. Samuel L Jackson – The Caveman’s Valentine
Not heard of it? Not really surprising, since this Kasi Lemmons directed thriller came out in 2001 between the success of Unbreakable and the lesser success of The 51st State. Like that featuring his Pulp Fiction co-star Bruce Willis, this shot features a very brief, and pretty obviously unintentional (or should I say unmotivated) glimpse of a fully naked Jackson – not gratuitous by any means, but still worthy of note as one of the only chances anyone will ever get to see a frontal from the Avengers star, given his professed lack of comfort with that sort of material.
6. Sharon Stone – Basic Instinct
It’s hardly the least known moment of nudity from cinematic history, but Sharon Stone’s commando leg cross in Basic Instinct could never have been left out of this list, in particular because of the very real frustrations of attempting to pause a VHS at exactly the right moment, and hoping that the image wouldn’t be obliterated by jumping or annoying white lines. Before the arrival of DVDs, there was a distinct chance that you did miss this infamous moment, thanks to the problems of technology, and for that alone it has to qualify here.
7. Brad Pitt? – Fight Club
The very end of Fight Club inspired slightly confused cinema patrons the world over to question one thing: it wasn’t anything to do with the intricacies of the film’s great deception, or why a non-fatal wound for Ed Norton would lead to a fatal one for Brad Pitt – it was more along the lines of “did we just see Brad Pitt’s penis?” Following on playfully from the revelation of Tyler Durden’s naughty penchant for splicing penis shots into children’s movies, David Fincher’s gloriously mad masterpiece included its own spliced penis shot. But whose was the offending appendage?
8. Jennifer Aniston – The Break-Up
She may have supposedly balked last minute at the inclusion of a topless scene in Wanderlust, out of respect for her fella Justin Theroux, but that hasn’t stopped Jennifer Aniston teasing with nudity – most famously in Horrible Bosses, where she played a sexed-up borderline psychopathic dentist, and in The Break Up, in which she teased both Vince Vaughn and the watching world with a full rear shot that probably made an awful lot of Friends fans happy.
Famously, a set shot supposedly leaked of this same sequence titivated the internet thanks to the sight of Jennifer’s bare chest, but we’re not that sort of site.
9. Jason Biggs – American Reunion
How could anyone miss this one right? Well, it had to make the list since it is only the briefest of appearances from Mr Biggs’ naked groin, but the comic effect was huge. Almost enough to forgive some of the lazier points of the film in fact.
Who would have thought in the early days of cinema that one day audiences would be flocking to see the sight of a man’s genitals squashed against the glass lid of a saucepan?
10. Jessica Rabbit – Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Another entry on the list that qualifies as one of the most paused moments in all of film history, thanks to the briefest suggestion that Mrs Rabbit – a long-held focus of many a film-fan’s inexplicable desires – appears not to be wearing any underwear in the particular scene in question. Close inspection seems to confirm the rumour – but there’s only so much attention you should be giving a cartoon woman anyway, so it’s best not to admit as much.
What did you think? Were there any scenes you think should have been included? Share your thoughts below…
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Martyrs’ Director Planning “Sex Movie” That Turns “Twisted”
Martyrs is my personal benchmark for raw-nerve, needle-in-the-brain cinema, painful beyond Salo, beyond A Serbian Film, way beyond A Clockwork Orange, even the gratuitous Guinea Pig movies. But it’s also a very well constructed, intelligent and ultimately very coherent film. One of my favourites, definitely of recent years.And so I snapped up Pascal Laugier‘s The Tall Man as soon as it was available on Blu-ray from the US. This weekend, the film received its UK premiere at Saturday night’s Frightfest All-Nighter, and so I saw it there too, projected on the big screen, with an audience.
Seeing an audience catch on to the many sly twists as the story unraveled was superb fun, in and of itself.
I spoke to Laugier after the premiere, and we’ll get back to what he had to say about The Tall Man at another time. For now, though, here’s what he said about his next project, something he described as a “sex movie.”
Next I’m going even further away from the horror genre, but at the same time it’s still a very genre related story; it’s a love story. I’ve never filmed people fucking because it’s probably the hardest thing to film because it’s been done so many times and so badly. Filming sex is probably the most challenging thing for a director and everything challenging is so exciting so I have decided very recently that for the same company as produced The Tall Man, I will do a movie about sex, about a couple. It’s a love story that turns into something very twisted.I mentioned that Von Trier was in production on The Nymphomaniac, and we could expect him to shake up the cliches of filming sex, also. Laugier went on:
I respect Von Trier a lot as a director but we don’t share the same style and we don’t follow the same line. I hardly follow other directors when I’m writing my own stuff. Filming sex is one of the most heavy handed cliches, so I want to try it myself. I want to try being on set with two North American actors and, from my French perspective, ask them to do things that they’d never dare to do as North Americans. That’s part of my motivation.The film is still in pre-production, and Laugier couldn’t talk about casting, but he did confirm that the script was in place and everything moving forward well.
The initial synopsis by Pascal himself:
"My next project, my 4th feature, is a personal project once again. A thriller, again a crossover, again unpredictable, unexpected, something that I’ve thought about the last three years. It’s something I haven’t done, a love story. Pure suspense, pure enigma. Starts from simple event. We all have fallen in love with someone. In this case, a guy falls in love with someone who is much too gorgeous for him. He’s very average, a real guy, who meets a girl who’s everything you’re not. Gorgeous, sexy, but fell in love with you too. Does she really love you? Is she playing with you? Why? Becomes suspenseful, wilder, more complicated. About feelings but thriller-esque."+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NAKED MARILYN MONROE, BY TOM KELLEY
Tom Kelley (1914-1984) was an American photographer known to take pictures to Hollywood celebrities in the 40s and 50s. Which was his greatest achievement? To shoot a completely naked Marilyn Monroe in 1949.
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INTERVIEW | Yam Concepcion on the fine art of baring skin
By Emmaruth Gabriel, InterAksyon.com
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| Yam Concepcion in the teaser trailer for 'Rigodon'. |
Yam Concepcion is bringing sexy back in her launching film, “Rigodon”, directed by Erik Matti. The 23-year-old Multimedia Arts graduate of Saint Benilde College gives InterAksyon the skinny on how she was ably mentored to get into character and shares some of her illustrations that show her artistic side.
Tell us about ‘Rigodon’.
It’s an adult erotic thriller. I categorize it as a thriller because it is psychological – you wonder what’s gonna happen next. It’s a mind game also. You create the story in your head rather than the characters telling you what they are all about. It’s more of the audience point of view on how they want the character to be in their heads.
And the title is such because?
Rigodon is a dance between three characters. It has different points of view. My point of view, the guy’s point of view, and then the wife’s point of view.
What’s your character all about?
My character is a clingy woman and daddy spoiled.
How did you prepare for your character?We had a series of workshops to prepare for the film. Emman de la Cruz taught us two acting techniques – it’s the Judith Weston technique and the second is the Meissner technique.
He taught this to us because Sir Emman was able to experience the technique himself. He was a theater actor also and in his many experiences in picking the right technique for acting, this technique is where he is comfortable. The technique is the most practical and humane way of reaching out to the ones you are teaching acting to.
It’s the easiest way for actors to collaborate. We use action verbs and when I say action verbs, it can be related to sensuality also. Like for example, the goal is to seduce – there are other ways of being sensual – in a not too vocal or emotional way when you are trying to seduce somebody. It can be in the form of being smart, the indirect ways of seducing somebody.
The action verbs are used to form a strategic way of getting or connecting with the person you are acting with at that moment. The most important thing is the connection that you have with your co-actor. Without that connection, it won’t work. So, its more real, like if you are angry, you need to feel the anger towards your fellow actor but with the audience as well for a scene to work out.
The second technique is the Meissner technique. Through repetition you are able to get other emotions. So it’s more raw. It means you are not acting, you are responding to the situation or environment you are in. It stimulates your senses and how you are able to react to certain stimuli.
A learning I will not forget from the workshop is you cannot act by yourself. Your acting will only work if you are able to connect with a person. If you are just gonna think of yourself and if you are self-centered, you will only be concerned if you did well, if you acted well, if you said the right words properly.
If you just think of yourself, the essence of the character you are playing is lost. Its more of transcending your emotions and feelings to a deeper level by connecting with your co-actor at the same time connecting to the audience watching.
For the sexier aspects of your role in the film, how did you prepare yourself?
When you are acting, you play a certain character. So, no judgement about yourself. You are just playing another character. And if the character needs to be sensual, its part of that character.
I watched movies pegged for “Rigodon” like “Closer” with Natalie Portman, “Unfaithful Wife”… I made the movies my basis… I actually interviewed other people. For example, at a bar, I just observe how girls flirt with guys. I like to observe people, I like people-watching. I am intrigued by the mystery f how they move and how their actions tell you the person that they are.
In real life are you anywhere near or opposite your character?
I’m completely opposite of my character. The role I play is clingy and she’s kinda confused. She doesn’t know what she really wants. She has a lot of issues and lacks guidance. Me, I have very good guidance with my mommy. I listen to my parents.My mom raised me. Borderline strict. But I was given freedom.
What other helpful rules from mom helped you become who you are right now?
Wala! (laughs hard) She lets me learn by myself. Lets me experience things. Honesty is very important in all you do, when you are not true to your self or the world - it will backfire. You won’t be happy. You won’t have peace of mind. So I think honesty is the number one thing I learned from my mom.
What other arts are you into?
When I am bored, I paint. I listen to music before I can paint. I relate my painting to a certain song or situation or feeling that I have. Music helps. Number one! That’s my real passion. I play in a band called Ursa Minor.
How did your love for the drums start?
In high school in Assumption, I had an all-girl group. The reason we had an all-girl group is we wanted to be cool. We decided to form a band and wanted to play in our prom or ball. That time, my brother had a different band. After graduation, the girls and I didn’t see much of each other anymore and my brother asked me to jam with them on the drums. I agreed. Eventually, I don’t know what got into his head, I became the drummer. Sometimes there would be no one watching in a bar. It was a long journey for us to have a distinct sound. We’d like to think we have this grunge 90s sound but I feel its something else. I don’t know how to classify it. I guess it is just honest rock. It sounds raw and straight to the point, something not perfect but gives you this kick.
You like straightforward things. Are you like that as a person?
I have two personalities. I’m so weird. I’m a Gemini. Its either I’m too happy or sad. In life you experience different things. Sometimes you wake up not feeling good about yourself, or you feel like there’s something wrong. Sometimes, out of nowhere, oh, Im so happy. But you know what makes me truly happy is food. I love to eat. (attacks her bacon, eggs) …
Are you a geek?
It’s more computer generated things. I make posters for events. I helped in the Green Light project of Embassy before. Multimedia introduced me to a lot of ways to do art. May digital, may illustration, it’s complete. I want to specialize on one certain thing. I want to start with Fine Arts. If you have a good foundation, you have the basics and you can easily apply it to digital.
You wanted to be a newscaster when you were younger?
It started with my Lola in the car. She would always listen to the AM radio band for the morning news. It was Christmas and I got a recordable cassette tape as a gift. I heard the voiceovers they were doing and it made me laugh. So, since then I would make up stories and tele-series and invite the maid and reenact acting scenes (laughs). I still have the tape to this day.
Like I remember I used to mimic hoof noises and sound effects. I leveled up from radio and used the video cam in my mom’s room. I watched “The Blair Witch Project” and I was copying scenes from that movie. Weird stuff. I used to interview people in the cemetery, at Manila Memorial Park and just randomly ask them questions while the driver held the video camera. (laughs).
What is your preferred medium of telling your story, shooting it or editing it?
I like shooting. Nix Buhay is the director of photography in the movie. He has a certain standard and style of shooting. He has a very creative vision. It’s very new and raw. You can feel what is really happening with the way he shot things. He used the handheld shots, sometimes he used the tripod. There was a scene he was running after me up the stairs and I had to act that my character was pissed at her dad, be mindful of Nix running after me, pace my steps so Nix can get his shots all at the same time!
What are your plans after ‘Rigodon’?
I want to do more movies. My dream is to make something like the film “Wicker Park”. I like making psychological romance thriller. I find it very interesting and mind boggling- the way how people think and the way people think differently, how we have different perspectives stimulate my interest.
How was it being directed by Erik Matti?
He gave me the freedom to not do a scene if I felt what I will be doing would not appear real. He let me add emotions to make things real. His focus is on the intensity of the acting. He doesn’t spoon-feed you.
How did the collaboration with him affect you?
There was a bond already. We had something in common. I’m from Iloilo , he’s from Bacolod. I believe in his works. I watched “Scorpio Nights 2″ and analyzed it. I liked the story.
Was it a hard decision for you to go sexy?
It took us a year of talks with Viva. I deferred to my mom and for her to talk with the director. We met with Direk Erik and he explained the storyline, how it’s gonna be, that he’s gonna take care of me on the set, so OK.
What convinced you to go sexy?
I believe in the director. I believe in his credibility as a director. I trust him. The third is we would be having a workshop. In terms of nakedness, it’s very challenging — to be naked and act. Its a huge step for me to actually learn, to act and test vulnerabilities…It challenged me and I was pretty curious on the approach on how it will work. I’m glad we had a workshop with Direk Emman.
How were you protected on the set?
Direk Erik is like a father. He’s like my daddy. He would ask if I were OK, ask what I need to bring a particular emotion out, he guides me in everything.
How is it being a contract star of Viva?
I’m blessed and lucky to have a good management who’s been in the business for so long. I’m in my third year of my five-year contract. I’m thankful for all that is happening.
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28-years old stage actor Gloria E. Stewart performing her first love scene (no real nudity) in mumblecore Marco Polo Boys (2011) Marco Polo Boys is a feature film that was shot in 9 days in chronological order and the dialog is 100% improv.
Marco Polo Boys is the story of 4 best friends that reunite after several years of Nick Barnes (Danny LeGare) returning after being away and not telling anyone where he was going. His best friends Tommy (Brad Brinkley), Parker (Andy Rogala) and Dave (Arion Bakrina) are very excited to have him back and pick up right where they left off. His one and only love Ashley (Gloria Stewart) However doesn't feel the same way and wants to know and understand the man that has returned to their small little town in rural Connecticut.
Play from 1:11:47 to see Gloria in 'action'
* Gloria E. Stewart was born in Springdale, Arkansas where she trained in classical piano and dance. She is a graduate of the University of the Arts with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre in Philadelphia. She was recently seen in the world-premiere musical of Bellevue Sketches with director Thomas G. Waites. Some of her favorite roles include: Stepmother in Into the Woods, Baker in Phillip Glass Buys A Loaf Of Bread, and Evie in Vaudeville At the Gin Mill. Currently, she lives in New York City, where she performs as an actor.
Gloria is primarily a musical theatre artist (has dabbled in improv occasionally) and like Heléne Yorke quickly found out that musicals are in a mini-slump, far too many actors vying for limited productions and the pay was crap. Unlike Ms.Yorke and other growing number of fellow peers, Gloria haven't resorted to drastic measure of getting truly naked on-cam. Yet.
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Shooting Begins in January for "Masters of Sex", Showtime Prez Announces. Series to Debut in 2013
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Clips, Music and a New Teaser Poster from Stoker
The jury is still out as to whether or not Stoker is Shock-worthy, but we're being told it is definitely up our alley. Today, Empire has premiered a lovely new teaser poster and a 3-minute video featuring music and clips from the Park Chan-wook film starring Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver and Lucas Till.
Wentworth Miller scripted the thriller. Wasikowska plays India who, after her father dies in an auto accident, is visited by her Uncle Charlie, who she never knew existed.
He comes to live with her and her emotionally unstable mother (Kidman). Soon after his arrival, she comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives, but instead of feeling outrage or horror, this friendless girl becomes increasingly infatuated with him.
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It's time to make the bare essentials count, Rosanna
Ex-Miss World needs to be sure nudity results in more than just titillation, writes Aisling O'Connor
OF COURSE Hugh Hefner wants to host a former Miss World at his mansion and in his flagship magazine. And of course Rosanna Davison said 'yes'. It was a logical progression from her recent topless cover and editorial for German 'Playboy'. There has been many a 'fair play' going her way, but when you go all the way is there any turning back?
It is odd that Rosanna didn't seem eager to communicate her career trajectory when she spoke of the tipping point in her glamour career last month. For a gal who protested how comfortable she was with her decision and the 'tastefully done' shots, she seemed terribly rattled, like she was hiding either some misgivings or a cunning strategy.
Confronted with an uncensored copy of her issue of 'Playboy' on 'The Late Late Show' back in mid-September, the beauty queen appeared visibly shaken by Ryan Tubridy flicking through the pages and even displaying the magazine to the studio audience.
In her press interviews surrounding the German cover, there was no sense from her that she was doing this as a career move, though being catapulted to US Playboy, and into the American media, was the likely next step.
Rosanna's decision to go topless was backed up by a flurry of nervously chirpy reasons including: good money and a great opportunity, involvement in the choice of images for publication, an experienced team of tasteful nude shooters, the backing of her fella and family, and having something to remind her of how hot she was when she's "old and wrinkly". If her efforts in glamour are for nostalgia, she'll have plenty of herself to remember if 'Playboy' has its way.
Just as the storm of controversy died down, it was announced this weekend that she will grace the pages of the leading international edition. Go nude once, we'll put it down to experience -- go nude twice, that's a career choice. The outstanding question is if she will bare all for her April 2013 pictorial.
Hugh Hefner is a smart old codger. Based on the success of the German edition, and the dangling carrot that is a naked Miss World between the covers -- there was no way he wasn't going to capitalise on Davison's beauty, achievement, and enthusiasm for fame.
There's no going back from full-frontal. Rosanna commented on the Kate Middleton nude photo scandal just days after the German 'Playboy' cover circulated the internet, rightly saying that it was an invasion of privacy but it was "just boobs, no big deal". One wonders if she has a matching attitude to being photographed bottomless.
It is odd that Rosanna didn't seem eager to communicate her career trajectory when she spoke of the tipping point in her glamour career last month. For a gal who protested how comfortable she was with her decision and the 'tastefully done' shots, she seemed terribly rattled, like she was hiding either some misgivings or a cunning strategy.
Confronted with an uncensored copy of her issue of 'Playboy' on 'The Late Late Show' back in mid-September, the beauty queen appeared visibly shaken by Ryan Tubridy flicking through the pages and even displaying the magazine to the studio audience.
In her press interviews surrounding the German cover, there was no sense from her that she was doing this as a career move, though being catapulted to US Playboy, and into the American media, was the likely next step.
Rosanna's decision to go topless was backed up by a flurry of nervously chirpy reasons including: good money and a great opportunity, involvement in the choice of images for publication, an experienced team of tasteful nude shooters, the backing of her fella and family, and having something to remind her of how hot she was when she's "old and wrinkly". If her efforts in glamour are for nostalgia, she'll have plenty of herself to remember if 'Playboy' has its way.
Just as the storm of controversy died down, it was announced this weekend that she will grace the pages of the leading international edition. Go nude once, we'll put it down to experience -- go nude twice, that's a career choice. The outstanding question is if she will bare all for her April 2013 pictorial.
Hugh Hefner is a smart old codger. Based on the success of the German edition, and the dangling carrot that is a naked Miss World between the covers -- there was no way he wasn't going to capitalise on Davison's beauty, achievement, and enthusiasm for fame.
There's no going back from full-frontal. Rosanna commented on the Kate Middleton nude photo scandal just days after the German 'Playboy' cover circulated the internet, rightly saying that it was an invasion of privacy but it was "just boobs, no big deal". One wonders if she has a matching attitude to being photographed bottomless.
Famously, the stateside issue generally calls for more than topless. If she goes the whole hog in terms of nudity, is there anything left to sell? It will be tough going from the UK and Ireland's small pond to America's sea of glamour girls. If she bares all, with little or no remaining mystique about what lies beneath, will she be just another notch on Playboy's marketing plan?
It is clear that the Enniskerry native has a plan of her own. In a whirlwind of opportunity she will head over to America. What talk show won't want to talk to the first Miss World to do US 'Playboy'? There is even talk of her filming a documentary on her adventures in America.
Until she makes the jump, the perceived sliding scale of class from being the most beautiful and engaging woman of 2003, to pulling at a skimpy thong in a magazine just under a decade later, isn't an easy pill for the Irish public to swallow.
She certainly has successes ahead of her, but is Rosanna playing her cards close to her chest in fear of her risk not paying off, is she playing coy for the Irish public, or is she not completely on side with her own choices?
It is a smart move to capitalise on the crown, and the looks and the body while she's got them, but revealing all is a high price to pay for fame if she's not as comfortable with it as she protests. Is posing nude going to offer Rosanna Davison a substantial career in America, or will she be looking at 15 glorious minutes at the top?
It is clear that the Enniskerry native has a plan of her own. In a whirlwind of opportunity she will head over to America. What talk show won't want to talk to the first Miss World to do US 'Playboy'? There is even talk of her filming a documentary on her adventures in America.
Until she makes the jump, the perceived sliding scale of class from being the most beautiful and engaging woman of 2003, to pulling at a skimpy thong in a magazine just under a decade later, isn't an easy pill for the Irish public to swallow.
She certainly has successes ahead of her, but is Rosanna playing her cards close to her chest in fear of her risk not paying off, is she playing coy for the Irish public, or is she not completely on side with her own choices?
It is a smart move to capitalise on the crown, and the looks and the body while she's got them, but revealing all is a high price to pay for fame if she's not as comfortable with it as she protests. Is posing nude going to offer Rosanna Davison a substantial career in America, or will she be looking at 15 glorious minutes at the top?
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'The Sessions': a big boost for actress with Bellevue connections
An interview with Annika Marks, a graduate of Bellevue High School, who is hitting her stride with the Sundance hit "The Sessions."
By Moira Macdonald (Seattle Times movie critic)
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| Annika Marks, a graduate of Bellevue High School, plays a caregiver named Amanda in the movie "The Sessions." |
"I had no sense in signing on to do ['The Sessions'] that it would turn into what it's become," said Annika Marks, on the phone from her Los Angeles home last month. In the film, she plays Amanda, a hired caregiver for Berkeley writer Mark O'Brien (Hawkes, playing a real-life character), who after childhood polio must spend most of his hours confined to an iron lung. At 38, he longs to lose his virginity, and after his crush on Amanda goes nowhere, he turns to a sex surrogate (Hunt). It's a gentle, funny, unexpectedly touching film — O'Brien never succumbs to self-pity, and Hunt's character finds herself deeply moved by him — and a genuine crowd pleaser.
Marks, born in Sweden while her father was attending graduate school there, "moved around a bit" with her family as a child before settling in Bellevue (where her parents still live) when she was 13. She attended Bellevue High and studied dance at Cornish College of the Arts and acting at Seattle Children's Theater — "a fantastic place to be young and in the performing arts." Teachers Rita Giomi and Amy Harris, in particular, helped her prepare for an audition for New York's Circle in the Square Theatre School, where she was accepted after high school.
After time in New York trying to jump-start a theater career, Marks moved to Los Angeles ("there's more theater here than anyone thinks there is") six years ago, and has divided her time between the stage and screen. Her credits include roles in the movie "Mona Lisa Smile," the TV series "Southland," and numerous stage productions.
The audition for "The Sessions," in front of writer/director Ben Lewin (himself a polio survivor), was one of many for this working actor — but she landed the part, and quickly dove into research. She studied writings by O'Brien (who died in 1999), particularly the autobiographical essay on which the film is based, and watched a short documentary about O'Brien, "Breathing Lessons."
But nothing quite prepared her for the impact of working with Hawkes. The actor, an Oscar nominee for "Winter's Bone," faced enormous physical challenges: acting with almost no movement, lying on a ball to contort his body as O'Brien's was, learning to use a mouth-stick to type and dial a phone, losing himself within a character.
"It was so extraordinary to be witnessing that type of work. It doesn't seem like it's humanly possible, what he's doing," Marks said. "I came home from the first day of shooting and said to my fiancé, 'I swear to God, he's going to win an Oscar.' "
Marks shared in the film's Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting at Sundance, and has since traveled with the film to other festivals. She's happily noticing that, thanks to "The Sessions," more opportunities are already coming her way — "the tides are definitely shifting, which is incredibly cool and I'm really, really grateful for it."
Marks recently tested for her first TV pilot, and has several film and stage projects in the works, but "The Sessions" will remain a treasured experience.
"I struggle with feeling like I really deserve any kind of award for acting, as John and Helen stand alone, but I'm really honored to be included in any of it," she said of the Sundance recognition. "I'm the luckiest actor in the world that I got to do this."
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A lifetime of burlesque
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| Judith Stein travelled the world as a burlesque dancer before settling in Nelson. She now teaches burlesque classes and still finds herself on stage from time to time. |
The first time Judith Stein stripped in front of a crowd, she was a student at University of Oregon in need of a little extra cash.
It was the early 1970s and she was a long way from the Ontario farming town where she'd grown up. She saw a help wanted ad for topless go-go dancers, noted the words "no experience necessary," and days later she was on the stage, her clothes on the floor — and she felt great.
"I was like a duck to water. I loved the stage," Stein recalled, standing the dining room of her Nelson home, a cigarillo in hand.
Between conversation, the 64-year-old ducks into the kitchen to puff on her flavoured smoke.
"Old habits are hard to break," she said, referring to her small cigar, though she could have just as easily been talking about her career.
What started as a way to make money between classes, quickly became her whole life. She went from being a go-go dancer to working in the club's executive showroom, where she met glamorous strippers who told her she could take her show on the road, travelling city to city and earning $500 per week. She leaped at the opportunity.
"All I wanted was to travel and see the world, and this was a way I could do it," Stein said.
Back then you didn't need fake breasts and a spray on tan to work the stage. Stein wasn't busty and she wasn't sweet. She knew sexy wasn't going to be her thing.
"I went with funny instead," she smirked. "Simply put, I'd take my clothes off and people would laugh."
She got gigs in burlesque shows. Between the comedians and contortionists, Stein came out in costumes designed to come off.
"I'd be up there in nothing but my heels and my eyelashes," she said. "It never bothered me. I liked all the attention."
Over the course of 17 years, she toured the United States and Canada, and also had the occasional show at military bases overseas.
Near the end of her stripping career, she had a stop in Nelson. She danced at the Lord Nelson Hotel (now the New Grand), back when it was owned by Gus Adams.
She was instantly drawn to the city.
"I thought, what a neat place. It looked like a theme park for aging hippies, which is what I was," Stein said.
She was in her 40s when she finally hung up her heels and moved to Nelson. She started a home business, sewing Victorian-style flannel nightgowns that she sold at craft fairs under the brand Kootenay Kate.
Later she got a job as a home support worker for elderly people. A couple of her male clients remembered seeing her dance.
"They'd say, 'now I can die a happy man,'" she laughed.
Stein never denied her previous way of life. She loved to talk about her more adventurous days.
When burlesque started making a comeback in past decade, Stein found a new audience to her stories.
"All the neo-burlesque dancers love to hear what it used to be like," she said.
One day in 2010 Stein was talking with the ladies from Victoria's Cheesecake Burlesque Revenue. They were coming to the Capitol Theatre and asked her to dance with them, something she hadn't done in more than 20 years. "It took me about two seconds to say yes," Stein said.
After the show at the Capitol, she danced at the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival, and then at the Burlesque Renion Showcase in Las Vegas. And she's been dancing a few times per year ever since.
She also started offering local dance lessons through her company, The Art of Burlesque.
"A lot of dancers these days get into burlesque for the sense of empowerment," Stein said. "It makes you feel confident and beautiful, no matter your shape or size, and no matter you age."
Now that she's back at it, Stein has no intention to quit dancing again. She knows a few women who are still dancing in their 80s.
"As long as I can walk in my heels and there's people who want to watch me, I'll keep doing it," she said.
Old habits are hard to break.
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Trouble in Porn Paradise: The Demise of Adult Entertainment
Josh Roberts
Online Editor
If prostitution, as the cliché goes, is the oldest profession then pornography and its closest cousin, masturbation, must surely be the oldest pass times. Indeed, for thousands of years all sorts of human beings have been getting-off on all sorts of erotica – cavemen had their wall paintings, Greeks had their phallic statues of Priapus, Roman children even had pornographic pictures on the bottom of their dinner plates to encourage them to finish meals.
But since these early incarnations pornography has changed drastically. Primarily viewership of pornography has inexorably grown. It is staggering to think, for example, that adult men spend 77% of their time online watching erotica and that over half of all transactions online relate to spending on pornography. The demographics of porn consumption, too, have shifted greatly. Where in the past it may have been the preserve of unfulfilled, middle-aged men; porn is now greedily ingested by all ages and genders – a recent study showed 42% of teenagers had been exposed to porn by the age of 15.
The reasons for porn’s meteoric rise are well known. Firstly, thanks to the internet, getting hold of erotic material has never been easier. In the past people had to shadily shuffle around the newsagent waiting for the old woman to leave before making a covert magazine purchase; now streaming hardcore pornography takes just three innocuous clicks of the mouse.
Secondly, the consumption of porn is self reinforcing –the more porn you watch, the more normal it becomes, the more you watch. Thanks to this positive feedback pornography has become society’s sexual white bread offering bland (but quick) erotic nutrition for the time and socially starved masses. On average it takes just fifteen minutes from logging-on to getting-off leaving people free to get on with their busy lives.
Given this status it is perhaps unsurprising that many of those flogging filth have become filthy rich. Indeed, in an industry worth an estimate $12.55 billion, top porn stars can earn upwards of $5 million a year not including the further millions from syndication and royalty revenues. But all this, according to some fairly big fish in the porn pond, could be about to change. It’s not that consumers are falling out of love with porn; but rather that the industry which produces it is on the brink of collapse.
Broadly speaking the adult entertainment industry is fighting on three fronts. In the first instance, like all media, porn is battling against online piracy and so called ‘tube sites’. These sites, of which there are thousands, offer pirated or independently made adult content free of charge and survive on the vast advertising revenues that their vast viewership commands. When faced with the choice of paying for higher quality porn or accepting adverts in order to have it free, many, especially since the recession has started to bite, have opted for the latter. The result has been that adult studios, which in the late nineties enjoyed greater profits than ABC, CBS and NBC combined, have been dropping like pornstars’ flies: quickly.
“This is the perfect storm”, says Steve Javors of Adult Video News, “for decades we just assumed porn was recession proof…but taking the economic climate and online piracy into account…this could be an industry on the edge”.
Piracy and the economy aside, the porn industry is also under fire as a result of recent revelations regarding HIV transmission. In particular the news last year that on performer, known only as ‘Patient X’, may have contracted and transmitted HIV to twenty others has shocked and shaken the industry. In the short term the fallout from Patient X caused two leading studios, Wicked Pictures and Vivid Entertainment, to suspend production indefinitely. In the longer term it ushered in new legislation, known colloquially as Measure B, which calls for mandatory use of condoms in adult films.
Measure B is due to be voted on by the people of California (the hub of the industry) on November 6th and unsurprising has stirred-up a great deal of debate. Those in favour of the bill, including HIV and health groups, have sought to paint the issue as one of public safety. “No one else has to work without safety equipment”, says one of their snappy TV ads, “Why should performers in adult films?”.
In the opposing camp, as you may expect, lines-up the combined might of the porn industry who argue that mandatory condom use would be catastrophic for sales. “People don’t buy porn that features condoms”, says their spokesmen James Lee. As a result of lower sales, they argue publically, many non-performing jobs in the industry (make-up artists, camera men etc) will face unemployment. In private, though, another argument is being sounded namely that Measure B will unfairly target the large studios on regulators’ radars – it would be nearly impossible to regulate the small-scale, independent adult content produced outside the big studios for the aforementioned ‘tube sites’. Whilst the introduction of Measure B would undoubtedly be a victory for health groups and the safety of performers; it could be highly worrying for the traditional industry. As one ex-pornstar said recently, “We are in a state of panic…there’s plenty of alarm around”.
For many people the decline of the traditional porn industry is undoubtedly a good thing. In the first instance, the collapse in studios’ profits represents a triumph in moral terms. No longer, the argument goes, will unfortunate men and women be forced to sell their bodies to line the pockets of studio executives. Moreover, the implosion of the pay-per-view porn could be seen as a coup for the consumer who can now get porn for free.
However, as long as human beings continue to demand quick and easy sexual gratification, both such views are misguided. Unless some huge shift in societal attitudes and approaches to sexuality can be engineered, unregulated and free porn will simply fill the vacuum left by the big studios’ implosion. The traditional industry may collapse; but pornography itself is here to stay.
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