The woman who was billed at the Summer 1998 VSDA show by Extreme Associates as "the legend" has apparently left the building along with another legend, Elvis.
Rob Black, however, claims that "everything's fine" at Extreme Associates, that the company hasn't fired Ashlyn Gere. However, Gere claims Extreme Associates is going around and proclaiming just that and informing folk that she's been 86'd by the company. Gere says it's quite the opposite, that she walked out on Extreme at the CES Convention.
Gere: "On Saturday, January 8th, I went into the CES Convention and quit Extreme because certain parts of mine and Lane Parker's contracts were not fulfilled. I felt that waiting two years for them [Extreme Associates] to fulfill it was quite enough time. The biggest thing on the platter was Rubber [a feature film that was to star Gere]. They kept asking me to do all the smaller things. They wanted me to do all the cable-stuff. Rubber was the big incentive for me to go to such a small company [at the time] to be completely honest with you, although I love Tommy Byron.
"But at the time, I didn't know who Rob was, other than what he threw at me as his credits for Miscreants. He did a great job and it was unusual. Lane and I thought he had a great gimmick and it was a wonderful idea. But the first incentive for me to comeback and do something was the money amount that he was going to throw into Rubber. It was Extreme's first film.
"After being there for awhile, I was fulfilling all the things that came AFTER Rubber. Rubber was supposed to come first. Everything else was second but they were coming first. So I had one scene in Tommy's movie. I had one scene in Lizzy's [Borden] movie. But the big thing that was going to do this Extreme publicity-thing never got fulfilled. Needless to say, after two years of it I was tired of waiting. I know that a lot of the money's going into wrestling, so I couldn't understand why Rubber never got made.
"I wish them the best. I'll always respect Tommy Byron. But two years I think was long enough. Through the grapevine I heard that he [Rob Black] fired me. That's now how it happened. I wanted to set the record straight."
Gere said she informed Rob Black of her decision to quit Saturday afternoon prior to the AVN Award show.
Gere: "By the end of the 15-minute meeting Rob and Jon Blatt were yelling at me. Tommy was pretty cool. He just sat there. He mentioned one or two things. Other than that, they couldn't answer any of my questions. They couldn't tell me that it was going to be shot. They couldn't tell Lane what his shooting schedule was even though in his secondary contract he had a five-picture deal with them. But only one had been shot. One had been cancelled. The rest of the year had been cancelled for him. Supposedly at the CES show they were going to tell him dates when the fulfillment of the rest of the FIRST year of his five-year contract were. None of that got taken care of. I was just tired of waiting. I went to the booth to talk about it, and it escalated a little bit. Actually Lane and I stood up and walked out. It got to the point where they were yelling a little. I'm like this should be a conversation just like we had when you approached me to come to your company.
"I just wanted people to know I wasn't fired. I have not been fired in all the ten years I've been in the business of which I'm very proud. I gave him [Black] two years. I know it's a growing business. I thought he had some great ideas, but when they don't come to fruition, how long can somebody wait?
Short of saying that Gere was no longer with the company, all Rob Black would say was that Gere has "issues" and Extreme has "issues". "There's been no firing," he says. "No official firing."
G. Ross: "Wait, wait. No official firing? Did I ask the question wrong? Did you unofficially fire her?"
Black: "No, man. But when I know something, you'll know something."
