LOS ANGELES—Riley Reid admits she felt a tingle thinking about what she was going to do today.
Her sex date with Katrina Jade and Angela White marks a first.
“I have worked with Angela many times—well not many, I wish there were more—a handful of times,” Reid explains. “We’re with the same agency. We spend holidays together—so I feel like I know Angela. I feel like I’ve got a good feel of her.
“Katrina—I have never worked with her. So I was really nervous to work with her and I’m also very attracted to her and so—oh my god—it’s like slightly intimidating…”
“No!” Jade blurts out.
“Yeah…Stop it!” Reid shouts back.
Their playful banter is a sign of things to come on this humid, 80-degree afternoon in Sherman Oaks, where three of the most bankable performers in adult entertainment will tangle for the upcoming star showcase, I Am Riley.
Reid, the 2016 AVN Female Performer of the Year from Miami who has won 18 AVN Awards since making her porn debut in 2011, ponders her answer some more.
“Just a little bit,” Reid clarifies. “Nervousness and excitement I think are like the same emotion.”
She continues, “But then once you actually arrive here on set and you meet them and you’re around them the energy definitely feels a bit more playful and nerves are loosened—and you’re like, ‘Oh OK, she’s a real person who wants to fuck me back.”
Knowing they’re less than 90 minutes away from getting their hands on each other, the trio is taking a break to chat about the occasion in the backyard guesthouse of the contemporary home that’s surrounded by a 6-foot wall on one of the San Fernando Valley’s busiest streets.
I Am Riley is the third and final docu-porn showcase from Evil Angel Films’ brilliant I Am trilogy—executive produced by Evil Angel founder John “Buttman” Stagliano and directed by Evil Chris. It is available now on VOD and will debut on EvilAngel.com and DVD later this month.
In a first for the legendary gonzo company, Evil Angel is promoting I Am Riley with five digital billboards on the Reuters building in Times Square in New York City all day on October 1. Reid’s larger-than-life image marks the first time a porn star has appeared on a Times Square billboard since Jenna Jameson in 2008, when she starred in Jenna Loves Diamonds.
It’s an iconic moment that seems like a natural progression for America’s Porn Sweetheart—whose notoriety now inspires viral internet memes and this year sent her soaring past 1 billion video views on Pornhub—not to mention 1.6 million followers on Twitter. Whether she’s storming Area 51 with a squirt gun, trying to sell her bath water on eBay or breaking the bed in a gangbang, Reid commands attention.
With the documentary style of I Am Riley complementing the ball-draining sex scenes, viewers will get to see Reid like they’ve never quite seen her before as she goes toe to toe with the top performers in the industry, while also reflecting on her eventful career, her upbringing and her unexpected crossover fame.
Reid says this production “means the world to me.”
“I feel like I’ve worked really hard and I’ve put myself through a lot and I feel like it shows that perseverance, a good attitude and dedication I think really can take you where you’re trying to go,” Reid says.
“And I feel like having a solid head on your shoulders. It’s really helpful. I feel like I’m grateful for the choices I’ve made in my life and the mistakes as well.”
Reid continues, “Almost everything that I do in my daily life is trying to live in the present moment and just going with the flow of everything.
“And when I started porn I was never trying—I didn’t have a destination—there was no journey that I was going on. I was just enjoying the dance.
“And the dance has brought me to this fucking flash-dance with a million other people and we’re having a grand old time! Yeah, so I’ve kind of just let life happen and I’ve been really fortunate I feel like.”
Bree Mills, the chief creative officer for Gamma Films and Adult Time who is also the force behind blue-chip brands Girlsway and PureTaboo, is calling the shots for today’s threeway. It’s become a signature of the I Am series for Evil Chris to invite celebrity guest directors to helm the sex scenes, while he lenses the documentary portion of the showcase.
In the movie Reid also performs a boy/girl anal scene with six-time AVN Male Performer of the Year Manuel Ferrara directed by Jonni Darkko; a DP with Markus Dupree and Ramon Nomar directed by Chris Streams; and she gets down with two-time AVN Transsexual Performer of the Year Aubrey Kate under the direction of John Stagliano. Then in another first for the I Am trilogy, she does the directing honors herself for an interracial anal threesome with Isiah Maxwell and Izzy Lush in a scene that first appeared on her official site, ReidMyLips.
The first two editions of I Am featured none other than Reid’s co-stars today—Katrina Jade and Angela White, who is the two-time and reigning AVN Female Performer of the Year. Evil Chris tells me there will be a collector’s edition box set of all three I Am movies available in early 2020.
“We're definitely doing the box set,” Evil Chris says. “Originally, we were going to do one for I Am Angela, but it seemed like a better idea to do one covering all three movies. The plan is to put it out by January so we can have it available at our booth [at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo] in Vegas.”
The Cleveland native Evil Chris guided I Am Angela—which featured scenes directed by Joey Silvera, Jonni Darkko, Dana Vespoli and Stagliano, to the 2019 AVN Award for Best Star Showcase—one of the industry’s most competitive and high-profile categories—while picking up his first AVN trophy for Best Director-Non-Feature in the process.
Now the chief creative officer for Evil Angel, Chris started his career there in 2013. The 32-year-old studied film at The Art Institute of Chicago and once toured with Linkin Park as the band's merchandise manager.
He continues, “I decided to make this the final I Am showcase for several reasons. When we started developing the original concept, Angela, Katrina, and Riley were the three performers I knew we had to do this with.
“Angela visited our office while we were working on I Am Katrina, and her immediate interest sealed the deal that we would move forward with a second installment. It’s really tough to produce these movies. I would go as far as saying these movies can be a bit intrusive to our stars. So a massive commitment is needed to execute them. Riley, Angela, and Katrina all brought that to the table. For that I will always be grateful.
“Each of them also triggered a strong sense of curiosity in me. I wanted to learn more about their stories and I knew that if we pulled out all the stops, a documentary-style approach would be the ultimate form of a showcase.
“Now that we've produced all three of these documentaries, it’s time to move on to new concepts. Next year we're going to take some of the docu-porn DNA and apply it to a larger scale project featuring an ensemble cast. … There’s also plans to work on a few narrative-based fiction projects.
"So the style of I Am will live on, just not necessarily in showcase form. And that could always change. We will see.”
Evil Chris tells me he’s already shot lots of footage of Reid at home.
“It’s very different from the Angela movie,” Chris reveals. “Because Angela and Riley are so different. … I’m trying to get on set with Blink 182 because she’s the new cover girl for them. They shot the cover—and they’re going to do some video stuff. So we’re trying to piggy-back onto that and see what happens.”
Jade, the five-year porn veteran from Southern California, starred in the first I Am docu-porn in 2017 as Evil Angel’s first anal contract girl; her performance led to her first AVN Award for Best Girl/Girl Sex Scene for her scintillating tryst with Kissa Sins.
“I very rarely get booked with girls,” Jade says. “But I really love women, so I woke up this morning very nostalgic and very curious at the same time.
“Each movie has its own vibe… So I was really curious, like I wonder what it’s going to be like. And then it’s also very nostalgic; and then it’s like, oh my god I’ve never worked with either one of these girls before.”
The casual flirting continues as Reid expresses gratitude for what’s about to take place.
“The fact alone that Evil Angel is considering doing a movie with me blows my mind because I never really considered myself hardcore enough,” Reid confesses.
“So I would’ve never anticipated it. I would’ve thought I needed to like push more things out of my butt by now. … I don’t feel like I got the proper initiation that I need…. But at the same time yeah I was honored and flattered and I’m really excited because part of it feels like for me it makes me wanna push my boundaries more.
“And I love John [Stagliano], so being able to spend more time with him as well also is really interesting and special.”
Jade says doing I Am Katrina—which featured scenes helmed by the duo of Francesca Le and Mark Wood, Aiden Starr, Darkko and Stagliano and also launched the Evil Angel Films imprint—helped her career.
“It did a lot—more than I anticipated,” Jade says. “It wasn’t my first showcase, but it was my first I felt like for me to be free. Evil always treated me as an individual, not a character. And not like a porn girl. But as myself… For me that meant a lot. And it really skyrocketed me to find myself even more sexually and evolve as a woman.”
White, who is the pride of Sydney, Australia, agrees, calling I Am Angela “one of the highlights of my career.”
“It was one of the most ambitious projects I’ve ever been a part of and I feel like it was a really important project,” White says. “And I feel the same way about all the I Am’s in the series. It’s important because there is so much demonizing and mythologizing about sex workers. And this is a platform where we can really show that we’re just your normal human beings. And the humanizing aspect of the I Am project is so important.”
They set the tone earlier today during the box cover shoot with photographer Stef Onzo as each girl donned sheer all-black lingerie from Agent Provocateur.
“Well [Bree] told us to be fierce,” Reid says. “I felt there was just kind of a sexy energy that we were just all trying to capture the perfect moment.”
White adds, “I think that it was good to have that sort of fierce, powerful pose and emotions coming through us—because we are powerful.”
“Oh yeah. We’re the strongest performers in this industry,” Reid says, as all three bust out in laughter.
“But I think it is important to showcase female performers as empowered because a lot of what the world expects us to be is victimized and submissive.”
The A-List crew works closely with Mills throughout the year on Adult Time projects—on the set are ace videographers Craven Moorehead and Matt Holder, Manny Bucks and Evil Robby on sound.
“I feel very comfortable,” Jade says. “I’ve worked with everybody here, aside from the girls. … Everybody’s really serious and making sure that [Riley’s] princess.”
White expresses her gratitude for the moment, remembering the beginning of her career in 2003.
“If I had been told when I started that I would end up being here with Katrina Jade and Riley Reid I don’t think I would’ve believed it,” White says.
“For me it has been an incredible journey and I’m very grateful to be in the position that I am and to be here with these incredible women. And it’s very exciting to see three very unique performers. You know we have three very unique brands as well—we’re very different.
“But yet we’re all popular in our own right—for sometimes different reasons; for sometimes the same reasons. But something about us has resonated with fans in a way.”
While the crew makes final preparations, Mills tells me Gamma and Evil Angel have done business together for a long time.
“And we recently renewed our partnership agreement so I think when that renewal kind of came into effect we all knew we were going to keep working together,” Mills says. “Chris hit me up and asked if I was interested in participating in this one. And I’m under an exclusive with Gamma but Evil and Gamma are very close so… What I said to him was that I would do it for free.
“… I’m a huge fan of what they did in the first two movies. I saw the fact that they were taking the concept of the star showcase and rather than doing it like everyone else has done it over time—I love the fact that they took that concept and then they revolutionized it into let’s make a real portrait of this person. Let’s treat it like an actual documentary. Let’s take a showcase and film it in an entirely different way.”
Mills says she never over-directs the sex and won’t start today.
“If we go in and over-script the sex then it’s going to break the whole purpose of the project,” Mills reasons. “Plus, Katrina, Riley and Angela have never worked together in a threesome. Angela and Riley have been in scenes together but neither of them have ever been with Katrina. So there’s kind of new territory and I really want to see organically what they’re going to do.
“So I’ll be working more with the camera crew back on the monitors as a conductor, making sure we’re capturing stuff as it’s happening but try to minimize the amount of cuts, minimize the amount of times we break their flow and kind of just see what happens. That’s my goal.”
After the consent talk—a staple of all Gamma productions in 2019—they go over how the sex scene will unfold.
“So we’re going to start off with Riley kind of snake-like, writhing on here,” Mill says, pointing to the day bed near the sliding glass patio doors. “I’m going to stage both of you guys [Angela and Katrina] outside by the pool. On ‘action’ I’ll give you a cue to come in from the background to the foreground and have you both kind of end up on this side of Riley.
“We’re going to really follow you guys so don’t worry about the cameras. I just want you guys to be yourselves and experience being together for the first time. That’s really what we want to show.”
Moments after calling “action,” Mills asks Matt Holder for one of her favorite camera angles.
“Matty, can you give me the lesbian POV?” she says. “Alright, thank you.”
Photography courtesy of Evil Angel Films
