LOS ANGELES—Eva Lovia says it all started with a brunch.
Not long after she became a free agent last fall, she sat down with the reigning AVN Director of the Year Greg Lansky to discuss her next moves.
“We talked about what I wanted in my career and branding myself and all my goals,” Lovia recalls.
Those goals included shooting for all three of Lansky’s AVN award-winning studio imprints—Blacked, Vixen and Tushy—as well as collaborating with him on her first star showcase.
“We felt we were a match made in heaven,” Lovia says. “Everything was so well planned, from my Vixen Angel shoot, to my first IR and now my showcase. There was a calculated theme for everything.”
Even though Lovia has starred in more than 130 movies since her 2013 debut and won the inaugural season of Digital Playground’s "DP Star" competition, leading to an exclusive contract, she says what she just wrapped for Tushy is in a class by itself.
“It doesn’t compare,” Lovia says. “Greg very much puts the girl first and he really puts emphasis on beauty and having that cinematic quality. There is no rushing.”
The North Carolina resident recently completed two full weeks of filming in L.A. for the anticipated showcase that has the working title of Eva. The movie includes Lovia's first double-penetration scene, first girl/girl anal, first IR anal, first three-way anal and a boy/girl anal.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Lovia says. “During the time I was with Digital Playground they were supposed to do my showcase and it didn’t ever end up happening.
“We just did two weeks straight of filming, which is crazy. Nobody does that.”
Lovia says Lansky took special care in scheduling the sex and the dialogue in an effort to optimize her performances.
“I think that’s kind of brilliant that he separated the days so distinctly between dialogue and sex and the benefit of that is you’re not fighting the daylight if anyone is struggling with any part,” Lovia says. “Whether it’s the crew with lights or the sound, or if it’s the talent with lines, or an issue with the sex scenes, you have all the time in the world. No one’s stressed out. A lot of the pressure is taken off. Everything was my first, so he really took that into account.
“He covered all the bases that way. I had the script months in advance and that way I could really learn it and feel it.”
AVN Award-winning screenwriter and director, Jacky St. James, wrote the screenplay for Eva, which sees Lovia playing an erotic novelist on a journey of sexual enlightenment.
Lovia’s character has won several awards for her novels, but is facing criticism for not being the real deal.
“She has a lot of pressure from her publicist to write the next big best-seller and she wanted to do it more organically, so she finds herself in these sexual situations where she’s letting go of her pretenses and she’s enjoying the ride,” Lovia says. “She was super timid and ended up being in these super fiery sexual situations.”
Given how the Japanese-Spanish beauty eased into porn by only doing girl/girl at first and has paced herself as she has grown as a performer, St. James’ script has “a lot of deep meaning behind it for me,” Lovia adds.
“I’ve heard of her reputation and Greg says she’s the best of the best,” Lovia says. “We did a lot of back and forth with the script. It was a very long process, about six months of just working on the script. It was just perfect. It has such a real, authentic vibe. It really feels like you’re growing with this character. So much that’s filmed today in the adult world doesn’t put an emphasis on the story. The way it’s executed is a great balance.”
Lovia chose Jean Val Jean to do the honors in her boy/girl anal scene. He plays her lover in the movie and their scene was the first sex captured for Eva, allowing her to “dip my toe in.”
She had previously worked with the French heart-throb in her Vixen debut—now on DVD in Natural Beauties Vol. 3—earlier this year.
“Jean reminds me a lot of my husband physically so we have a great physical connection,” Lovia says.
Then she took on five-time AVN Male Performer of the Year Manuel Ferrara and 2016 AVN Female Performer of the Year Riley Reid in a three-way anal.
“I felt like it was the perfect cast. I feel like she made Greg’s Tushy brand what it is. She’s a very sexual person. I didn’t have to worry about messing up. Both of them were just so into it that it kind of just flowed,” Lovia says.
“I’ve never been in a scene where we were switching anal but Manuel and Riley were great. I absolutely adore her. She’s one of the most down to earth girls in the business and she really helped bring out my best performance as well. And Manuel is just a legend in his own right. It was really cool to be with him in a scene like that and see him show his talents.”
Lovia performed her IR anal scene with none other than 2017 AVN Best Male Newcomer Ricky Johnson.
“He’s super sweet and it was one of his first scenes too as far as anal goes,” she says.
Then she hooked up with AVN Award-winning performer/director Kayden Kross.
“What I liked about that was we didn’t use any toys so it was more authentic and passionate,” Lovia says. “It was more like real girl/girl sex behind closed doors than putting on this show.
“And that was the theme—to make this really authentic and for me to really experience these things the way I wanted to rather than making it this crazy thing.”
Kross agrees.
“I was already a huge fan of Eva after working with her for our Sun-Lit series, so when I was asked to do this scene I was all in,” Kross tells AVN. “We were definitely on the same page regarding the lack of anal toys. It absolutely feels more authentic when you're using your own body parts during sex.”
Lovia reveals the most memorable scene from the epic film was her DP—with Christian Clay, who flew in from Italy just for the scene, and Val Jean.
“It’s one of those things you can’t really prep for,” she says. “You can kind of try it in your personal life with a toy, but it’s such a different animal with two people on camera. I cant even explain it. It took my breath away.
“At one point Greg was like, ‘Make sure you’re breathing.’ There’s so much going on. There’s an overwhelming amount of sensations. It was really, really cool. I had two really strong performers so I got to experience it. I didn’t have to worry about opening up or positions. The guys took charge. I was just there to experience something pretty awesome. I’m definitely going to remember it for a very long time.”
She says she had never met Clay until the day of the shoot.
“My heart was racing. It was our first time meeting and we’re doing a DP, so I’m not like, 'I got this,'” she says. “When we got done shooting Greg said it was one of the best first DP scenes he’s ever seen. He said, ‘That was your first DP? I don’t believe you.’ I think for me it was just mental. I kind of psyched myself out thinking this is going to be so hard, but my body was more advanced than my mindset.”
Plans call for releasing the Eva trailer this summer and unveiling a scene at a time until the DVD release in early September.
Lovia, who last month co-hosted the 2017 XRCO Awards on the heels of being named a Vixen Angel in March, says the year couldn’t have gone much better at this point.
“It’s been absolutely incredible. I’ve never been treated better in my life and I’ve never been happier with the end product,” she says. “It’s a more refined channel of adult. It has this editorial feel to it and doesn’t feel like any other brand. And being a Vixen Angel put me on the map with a lot of other companies. I just did a feature with Adam & Eve and they found me as a Vixen Angel. So it’s really opened a lot of doors for me.”
She says she’ll continue to live in North Carolina and come to LA for shoots.
“I love it. It’s kind of like my sanity. I’m a country girl at heart,” Lovia says.
“It gets me to have that break and calm down from everything. It’s so not superficial, it’s home.”
