Sal Genoa loves good cinema about as much as he hates bad porno. Genoa, a director for the sister gonzo production companies Anabolic and Diabolic, is set, once again, to combine his love of good movies with his love of good smut, when Anabolic releases the fourth installment of Genoa’s arty gonzo series, Artcore.
“I started in features and I’m a lover of cinema, but I always fall asleep when it comes to the sex,” Genoa told AVN.com. “I’m trying to create something that has an elaborate production with the kind of sex that people expect from Anabolic/Diabolic.”
Artcore 4 is divided into six vignettes, chronologically linked, starting with the time of the monks and progressing into the present. Genoa not only worked with the music and the set for each different time piece, he even went as far as to work with the footage in post production, to make it look time-specific. “It’s not just throwing an afro wig and some bell bottoms on somebody and calling it the ‘70’s…I wanted people to think I actually found some old footage, from that specific time.”
“There’s also a story that runs underneath throughout the whole movie,” continued Genoa. “And in the end, I always try to do something that has people leaving it saying, ‘What the fuck was that?’”
Genoa went on to explain that he approached the latest Artcore with the same effort and attention to detail as the previous ones. In terms of personal challenge, Genoa said he always loses sleep before starting another installment. “I’m always try and push myself. If number three was freaky, I try to make number four even freakier.
“It seems like people think that just because it’s porno, you can have bad lighting and stuff like that…and I’m always thinking, why can’t I do all that cool stuff with porno too.
“When we were at the Berlin Awards they confused me for a Euro director, and accidentally listed me with them. It was pretty funny and sort of [complimentary] because they love that arty stuff.”
The series, started in 2003, is also a pinnacle for the production company in terms of the packaging. “I think this upcoming one is even cooler [than the previous installments]. It’s a cool foil packaging with a hologram feature on it….like the packaging for a good horror movie.”
In terms of casting Artcore 4, Genoa said he was looking to assemble a “kick ass all-star cast. I didn’t want to go for any specific ethnicities or anything like that, I was just thinking, who kicked ass this year.”
The cast of Artcore 4 includes Kat, Hillary Scott, Sammie Rhodes, Tia Tanaka, Jamie Huxley, Kelly Wells, Jasmine Byrne, Buster Good, Steven French Talon, Mike Horner, Brian Pumper, Brian Surewood, Jay Ashley and Sascha.
“I did a pretty hardcore d.p. scene for the movie,” said Scott. “But I also wore a cape and had some pretty elaborate, gothic make-up on, with an elaborate Medieval set…so it differed from some of the other stuff that Anabolic and Diabolic do.”
Genoa said he’s already working on a fifth installment of the series, and currently losing sleep over some of the possible ideas.
“I’m just trying to tell an actual story and make better gonzo…not just go through the same routines.”
Artcore 4 ships on Thursday with a Sept. 27 street date.
