Vivid's Brian Gross clues us to this story on rouze.com
Are music videos a stepping stone from porn to mainstream movies? By David Simutis
It's difficult for someone who works in the porn industry to make the break and become a serious actress. There's just something about being on the receiving end of money shots that makes it hard for people in the straight world to take you seriously.
Traci Lords has done it, sort of-if you can count "Melrose Place" and Blade as acting. Jenna Jameson had a bit part in the Howard Stern biopic, Private Parts. But no one has really made the transition. Yet. The equivalent of porn in the music industry is, of course, videos. With thin plot lines and varying production values, videos peddle flesh and titillate with little redeeming value.
But videos can be used as stepping stones to a real acting career. Courtney Cox boogying onstage with Bruce Springsteen in the clip for "Dancing in the Dark" got her on "Family Ties." And the greatest butt in the world, the back end of Jennifer Lopez, first made its presence felt in Janet Jackson's "That's the Way Love Goes."
The crossing over of the music and porn industries-Kid Rock dating Midori, Kobe Tai and Dyanna Lauren singing on Marilyn Manson's Mechanical Animals, Orgy's drummer married to Shane, the Tommy and Pamela Lee video-means actresses from the naked business are increasingly showing up in rock videos.
Since they are primarily used as eye candy (see former "Soul Train" dancer/Vivid girl Heather Hunter in Tupac Shakur's "How Do You Want It"), most aren't given a chance to flex their dramatic muscles. Faking orgasms in front of the camera has no doubt given them some acting skills, though. Hell, there are even moments in their porn work that suggest they could at least get jobs on soap operas.
Take the legendary Ginger Lynn's role in Metallica's "Turn the Page." The concept of the video certainly adds a different meaning to the Bob Seger song.
Lynn plays a stripper-big deal. But her pain is evident when she kisses her young daughter backstage just before going to dance for dollars. Sure, Lynn's been in a couple dozen B-movies, but can't you just see her playing the troubled stripper in the background in say, Beverly Hills Cop 5? She still has her looks.
Speaking of looks, the hottest woman in porn, Janine Lindemulder, seems to be everywhere these days. Don't hold it against her that she used to date Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe, or that she even appeared in a clip from his lame solo record and (more importantly) a home sex video with him.
She has said that she doesn't like the straight film industry, and who could blame her after appearing in the generic Spring Break flick Lauderdale? Still, her coy cameo in Blink 182's "What's My Age Again" video-wearing the nurse outfit from that band's Enema of the State album cover-demonstrates her onscreen charisma. She stops the band, who are running down the street naked, dead in their tracks with nothing more than a suggestive look.
Then there is her remarkable acting in the opening vignette of Seven Deadly Sins. In her segment, Janine plays an obsessed fan of (what else) a porn starlet. An attempt to disguise her in an ugly costume is largely unsuccessful, but she shows a good range of anger, outrage and humiliation. She even cries, hyperventilating and all. Very nice. It's not Oscar caliber, but you'd go see a Meryl Streep movie if Janine was in the cast.
Janine also stars with a handful of other Vivid girls in Everclear's "The Boys Are Back in Town." Raylene is one of the imprint's contract girls, who dance while the post-grungers lip-synch to the Thin Lizzy cover.
Because Vivid's films are plot-heavy (and thus, girlfriend-friendly), Raylene is usually given plenty of dialogue in her pics, and she tries to make the most of it as an arty photographer in Peckers. She's given a bastard of a jealous boyfriend, but unfortunately, the most she does is over-emoting and clichéd pouting. Thankfully, she at least looks great.
Gene sez: "A tip of the cap to Brian Gross for clueing us to this site, but it was the next click-on story that particularly got to me - put it this way, for its fantasy value.
