This article originally ran in the September 2015 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the digital edition.
The location for Holly Randall’s debut movie for AE Films, True Erotica, is a rural house, a comfortable place that seems to have been expanded and remodeled by whim: A small front door enters to an expansive tiled foyer with arches leading to a living room with exposed beams, a stone fireplace and massive wood bar with glasses hanging above. You get the feeling that some past resident said, “Let’s enclose the entryway” and the whole house was modified to suit. A kitchen is up several steps to the left and a small powder room is conveniently located next to the bar.
“I was at the point where I wanted to pitch myself as a director,” Randall tells me. “Most people know me as a photographer, but they don’t know that I can shoot video as well. I was thinking of different companies: I didn’t want to go with a small no-name company, because I wanted to make a big thing about it, but I didn’t want to go with a big company that already has its style, and has its own in-house directors. I wanted somebody I could grow with.”
Randall continued, “Around this time, Adult Empire hired me to shoot box covers and they were telling me they were new to production. They’re established and they’re a big name in distribution, and I thought ‘This is a perfect opportunity.’ They’re a big name, they’re well established in distribution, but they’re new to production. They don’t have a style yet. They loved the idea. I loved the vibe, and they don’t have that L.A.-showbiz attitude.”
Randall put together a budget for the four-scene shoot. “I have a lot of people here, I have a lot of things going on. I don’t want to do a cheap movie, because there’s no reason to hire me to do that. It costs money to make stuff look the way I make it look. I can’t just wave a magic wand and make everything look amazing. It’s a collaborative effort from this amazing team I’ve been able to put together, and that costs money. I wrote down everything that I wanted, and I was sure they were going to say no and try to talk me down from that ... and they didn’t.
“I was like. ‘Oh, shit. I better make the best movie ever,” she adds with a laugh.
Today’s scene features Dani Daniels and Ramon Nomar, and Randall gets things started by pulling a camera out of a case, a 35mm-looking camera body with a lens like a bazooka, to take the stills before shooting video. Daniels, dressed in a tuxedo, sits on an easy chair, pulls out a cigar, puts it in her mouth. Music gets turned on. Ella Fitzgerald. “That looks fucking rad,” Randall says, loudly, encouraging Daniels. “You want me to light it?” Daniels asks. “Oh yeah. It’s backlit. So good,” Randall says.
Daniels takes a puff. “Oh my gawd,” Randall croons as Daniels smokes, theatrically: her cheeks sink in, then she playfully pulls the cigar out of her mouth and kisses it. “It is kinda phallic,” Randall observes. Louis Armstrong sings that “the breeze caressed the trees tenderly.”
Randall is definitely in charge: One comment and two assistants scurry in and move lights and take light meter readings as Randall looks at the computer monitor. “Looks really great,” she says to no one in particular. Daniels pulls open the shirt, revealing a black-and-white bra. Good choice. She doffs the trousers, revealing matching bikini pants. “Pull the butt out a little,” Randall says. “Like this?” Daniels asks, cocking a hip. “No, the panties,” Randall says, as an assistant runs in to adjust the uncooperative undergarment.
Daniels retires to the powder room for a break and Nomar ambles in. He sits in the easy chair, picks up the cigar, inspects the band, takes a puff as Daniels comes back. “Hi baby,” he says, casually, grabbing her ass and pulling her close as she giggles. They’re starting already. Daniels stands next to the chair, posing, butt turned to camera, as he kisses her hip. Can’t see what his hands are doing but her low giggles are a good sign.
Randall’s intense focus on the subject at hand is keeping everybody on their toes as she moves around, camera at her eye. They start to undress, pulling up her bra, his shirt. She still has the bow tie on. He puts one hand down her pants while still clutching her breast. She smiles, her tongue sticking out a little. She pulls off Nomar’s belt, poses with it. Somehow his pants got open and she’s squatting down, sucking him. “So pretty,” Randall says. Daniels licks his balls, wiggles her butt, he sits, she stands, pulling her pants down. “Straddle his leg,” Randall says. She climbs on and he starts pumping up into her as the assistants adjust lights. “Fucking beautiful,” Randall says, eye on her viewfinder.
A dog walks through the room, thankfully out of frame, as Ella Fitzgerald sings “It’s almost like being in love.” They move to reverse cowgirl, and Daniels goes from prim to lustfully grinning in a few thrusts. She lies back on the chair, he tongues her ass as she moans and giggles, trying to keep a straight face for the stills. They go to standing doggy as Randall says, “Make eye contact.” He starts to thrust into her and she moans, lips pursed. “Isn’t this so civilized?” Randall asks. Yes. Randall climbs a ladder for the high shot, murmuring “I want to be a part of this” as Daniels gives her a lookit-what-I-got grin. Nomar pulls her legs up and she shudders at the internal tension. For a conclusion, Daniels lights the cigar again to complete the visual pun with smoke substituting for the pop as Bing Crosby sings about how “They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round.”
“Okay, got it.” Randall says. “That is so rad.” She walks over to Nomar and Daniels, showing them the shots in her camera while the assistants lay down a track for the video camera and adjust the lights so they can do it again on video.
True Erotica will be released by AE Films this month, with distribution handled by Pure Play Media.
