PORN VALLEY—One of the first things we noted when we stepped onto the set of Adam & Eve's new movie Perfect Secretary 3 was a face we hadn't seen in several years: Nick Orleans. The beefy director, his hair a bit more gray, was directing dominatrix Katie St. Ives in pleasuring a barred-and-chained Riley Reid, the "perfect secretary" of the title—except in this reimagining of the franchise, Reid's a journalist who's become intrigued with the B&D lifestyle and wants to experience it for herself.
And that's right up Orleans' alley, he having directed the original Perfect Secretary, which starred the late Haley Paige.
"I think I got frustrated with the executives I was working with, which I'm not going to name, and I was no longer really making anything I was interested in," explained Orleans about why he exited porn roughly four years ago. "So I got into other work; my dad got sick; I took care of my dad; I got into real estate a little bit; I got into writing; I'm getting a short story published, and I just wanted to take care of other things in my life. And I toyed with the idea of getting back in the game but, I understood, also getting back into a game that was sort of shrinking, going through a very tough economic time, plus the piracy and then on top of it the economy, and I just said, 'There's no way, absolutely no way that I can get back into this business. No way.'
"Then, basically, opportunity opened up again at Adam & Eve," he continued. "Bob Christian and I went out to dinner, we had a fantastic three-hour talk; he basically let me know that they wanted me to come back and do these knock-out features that I'm really good at, the first one being this sequel, Perfect Secretary 3, and it [Perfect Secretary] was one of my favorite, favorite adult films ever to make, and I said, 'I can't pass up this opportunity.' But Bob also had to let me know how the business had changed: Budgets are smaller, things are a lot more disciplined, the companies are a lot more involved in the productions now, and it's a good thing, too. Now, the wonderful thing is, when I worked for Adam & Eve in the past, I got along with most of the staff just wonderfully, and after the regime change that happened there, all the old staff members and I embraced each other, and it was like putting on an old shoe; it just was beautiful."
In fact, Orleans made 38 of his 52 features for Adam & Eve, several of which were award-nominated, so it's not surprising they'd want the passionate director back.
"This movie was in development about 120 days, working out stuff, but we're also talking about other projects," Orleans said. "Getting this one off the ground has been a real challenge because of all the casting changes, and then the locations change because they're not available; everybody's shooting up again in the fall; it all starts up again after the August lull and the [syphilis] outbreak and stuff, and so, I think it's going kind of well. Of course, we're two hours behind—nothing new, right?—but the great thing is, not to sound egotistical here, I have a huge catalog of experience and so you can make very good judgments very quickly. It almost is like riding a bicycle, but I'm warmed up, climbing back on, and it was a little—I was nervous two days ago, but when we had to recast yet again, that's when the predator in me came out and I said, 'All right, this date, you're my bitch,' and bam, we're close to taking it down and being real good."
So, with this much history with just one company, does Orleans expect to expand his horizons the second time around?
"I don't know about exclusivity with Adam & Eve," he replied. "It's a lot easier in life to do the bigger projects and series to work with one company. You get to know people and you understand—you have a second language, an unspoken language that happens and everything, and we'll see what happens."
"I don't know if there's a big demand for the bigger movie directors in adult; there are just not that many being made, and we're on half the budget we used to be; and you have to be far more resourceful," he observed. "The technology gives a lot more, which is great; it's fantastic technology, but you've got to watch every dollar. We work with smaller crews, we do a little bit more stuff ourselves, but the great thing is, less people means you've got to get higher quality people, and that really makes a difference in how people put out, in casting and in crew. We're a lot more meticulous about who we work with than ever before, but you know, you just stay with the good, good people, and word gets around who shows up, who does good; that's who you use."
Of course, we had to ask Orleans what he thought of the newest technological development in adult: 3D.
"Oh, I would jump at the opportunity to do one of those," he said. "I think I could do a knockout 3D, because I'm very visually oriented and I just know I could do a knockout thing, if anybody's looking for a 3D director."
Considering that Adam & Eve released the 3D feature This Ain't Jaws XXX earlier this year, maybe this is a marriage made in heaven!
Pictured: A scene from Perfect Secretary 3.