MARINA DEL REY, Calif. – Erotic filmmaker Andrew Blake launched his promotional campaign for Night Trips: A Dark Odyssey with a sit-down at his Westside headquarters for a delegation of AVN editors, photographer Gia Jordan and Michelle Maylene from AVN Live. With him were the movie’s stars, Paola Rey and Charlotte Stokely. (photo gallery)
The new feature shipped last week from Studio A Entertainment.
It’s been 20 years since the original Night Trips made Blake adult’s hottest director and put him on the map commercially, and Dark Odyssey is not a sequel but a re-imagining in 21st century terms.
"The original had to do with a woman who was kind of going sexually crazy," Blake told AVN. "I just did another flavor of that craziness. I don’t have any dialogue in this, there’s no voice-over, it’s all told through the pictures. So you can come to your own conclusions."
The director had high praise for his leading ladies. "Paola and Charlotte are really beautiful and they know how to project sexuality on camera. They’re not posing; they’re not like some of the 19-year-olds in the business now where there's no one home upstairs. These two have something upstairs."
Blake compared Rey’s smoldering sexual energy with that of Tori Welles in her star-making turn in Night Trips. The Brazilian brunette returned his praise.
"Andrew has such an elevated style," Rey said. "Working with someone who is so different from the rest of the industry, it’s just breathtaking. He glorifies women, he puts us on a pedestal. For me, that’s what erotica is about."
The movie features several boy-girl sex scenes, unusual for Blake in recent years; he called it a marketing decision.
"I’m much more interested in shooting girls, but if I’m going to continue doing this in this market I think I’m going to have to broaden my appeal to as many people as possible," he said.
Blake has nothing against boy-girl scenes, but added, "I like to be the dominant guy on the set, I like to have women I can be the puppet-master of."
Blake still shoots everything on Super 16mm film, a medium to which he is completely committed. “I don’t want to do this if I can’t shoot on film," he said. "Video is too sterile for me. Film is just simple. I’ve got a camera, it’s a wind-up Bolex, simplicity personified, no batteries involved. I put a really nice lens on it, which is probably more expensive than the camera itself. Film is just wonderful."
Over the years, Blake has developed a minimalist approach to moviemaking, shooting in often fabulous locations but not bringing along much crew. Lately, he said, "I’ve been having a nude assistant on the set with me. She holds the Bolex when I’m not shooting."
Blake is planning extended promotion for this release, including in-store signings with Rey after she returns from a vacation in Rio, her hometown. His wife Carol, who's in charge of sales, said that initial response has been strong. "It’s been doing very well," she said. "Once it’s in people’s hands they’ll be very happy with what they see. We think this will have longevity to it."
But then, so do most of Blake’s movies. Some of Studio A’s best sellers are features from the early 1990s.
In the future Blake hopes to get involved in art projects that combine DVDs with limited edition collector’s item books, but in the meantime he will continue to shoot his unique erotic fantasies for release on DVD and online at his official site www.andrewblake.com.
Night Trips: A Dark Odyssey also features Kelly Summer, Sophia Santi, Kira Kane, Essi-X and Natasha Nice, with Aaron Wilcox, Eric Swiss and Otto Bauer.
For more on the movie’s stars, visit www.paolareyxxx.com and www.charlottestokely.com .
For sales, contact Studio A Entertainment, (310) 450-2669.
For Gia Jordan's photo gallery, click here.
