LOS ANGELES—Wicked Pictures today unveils the first scene of AVN Hall of Fame director James Avalon's sophomore effort under the new Wicked Noir banner, Dark Is the Night.
Produced by Wicked head of production Axel Braun, Dark Is the Night was also written by Avalon, and stars reigning AVN Best Leading Actress Kenna James and three-time AVN Best Actor Seth Gamble. The opening scene, now available at Wicked.com, finds James facing off with supporting player Nathan Bronson.
According to promotional materials, "Avalon’s moody, tightly-plotted psychodrama follows a bored housewife (James) as she uses her arcane skills and feral sexuality to explore the troubled mind of a mysterious man to whom she's rented a room (Gamble). On the surface, this enigmatic stranger appears to be the ideal new tenant. He’s soft-spoken and charming—everything her loutish, insensitive husband (Bronson) isn’t. The tension in their marriage is made palpable through the couples’ sex scene—James ravishes Bronson in a torrid encounter that is by turns sensual, unquenchable, and emotionally raw."
“The script for Dark Is the Night is the culmination of a story I developed over the course of 10 years,” says Avalon. “I pitched it to virtually every studio that produces features, and they all turned it down saying it was too dark, too twisted, or that they were uninterested in the film noir angle or in releasing a four-character film.”
Braun, however, didn't hesitate to green-light the movie.
"Part of Axel’s genius is he recognizes that your enthusiasm for a project is the most important thing you bring to the table," Avalon continued. "He is so talented and so passionate about filmmaking, yet as a producer, he doesn’t micromanage you or the talent. If you and your cast are genuinely excited about a project, he gives you full creative control without interference. He saw Dark Is the Night as the perfect Wicked Noir movie, as it has all the elements of a classic film noir melodrama—betrayal, revenge, shifting alliances—everything the classics of the genre, or new updates like Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, are known for. Yet I was careful to set it in a time seemingly ‘outside of time.’ There were references to cell phones and tablets in early drafts of the screenplay that I eliminated prior to locking in the shooting script. And when modern devices do appear, like a high-end still camera, I added a 70 year-old lens to it to give it an off-kilter, retro look.”
Of his cast, Avalon offered, “This was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to work with Kenna James as a director. It’s easy to see why she’s become the superstar she is today. She brings incredible focus and professionalism to every aspect of her performance; you can count on her coming to set impeccably prepared. While I’ve worked with Seth Gamble before, the same qualities apply—he brings a massive amount of focus and research to any part you give him. This part is one of the more unusual roles he’s played. To paraphrase True Detective, ‘The world is a veil and the face you wear is not your own.’ Seth took that conceit and made it wholly his own.”
The movie also features AVN Award-nominated fan favorite Kiara Cole, of whom Avalon effuses, “Even Kiara’s most ardent fans are going to be blown away by what she brings to Dark Is the Night. It was a given that she’d deliver a sexually explosive performance, but the nuances to her acting are nothing short of revelatory. And I can say the same thing about Nathan; many of the roles he’s performed for other studios have been purely sexual, or comedic and ‘goofy’ in tone. He’s been undervalued and underused in this industry, but frankly, I couldn’t have picked a better actor to bring Kenna’s boorish asshole of a husband to life. He was clearly excited to be cast against type and given a real character he could flesh out and build from the ground up. He’s a great performer in every sense of the word.”
Avalon also gives praise to his crew members as major contributors to the movie's success. “Kylie Ireland’s art direction for this project was flawless; she understood instinctively what we were going for in terms of a timeless, neo-noir look," he said. "We play with negative space a lot in this movie, and she and Shaun Rivera, who lit her sets under my direction, were key reasons we pulled it off so successfully.”
For his part, producer Braun commented, "James has truly crafted a masterful psychological thriller that sets a new bar for what an adult feature can accomplish in terms of style, intelligence and sexiness. Kenna and Seth delivered intensely powerful, award-worthy performances, as fully expected, and Nathan and Kiara, who are mostly known for their all-sex work, are so incredibly good that I wouldn't be surprised if they'll get cast in every feature ever shot by anybody who watched this movie. As a producer, I am immensely proud of Dark Is the Night, and as a fellow director I am livid with envy for how talented James is! All jokes aside, the Wicked Noir imprint was a very personal project that I am thrilled to have been able to launch, and I am just grateful to have an artist of the caliber of James Avalon at the helm of another high-quality Wicked film."
The remaining three scenes of Dark Is the Night are set to roll out on Wicked.com over the next three Fridays.
