This year's Best Film competition pitted director Paul "P.T." Thomas against himself three times — an AVN Awards record in itself — as well as films from three other major companies. But Thomas had little doubt that he'd win.
"It's great to be acknowledged in that way," Thomas told AVN.com. "But having seen my competition, as déclassé as it sounds, I did expect to win. I thought the film was better than anything else out last year."
But Thomas was surprised by the reactions of his peers.
"Never have I had so many people come up to me, not only during the year but at the show — other filmmakers, other directors — and compliment me on a movie. Usually, not that many people have seen the film other than the people that voted on it, but obviously a lot of people saw Heart of Darkness," he said.
The resonance of the film with the adult community may have had something to do with its topic. Veteran porn actor Randy Spears portrays a sex addict who just can't get enough of the bump 'n' grind, even though it screws up his relationships with just about everyone in his life, particularly wife Ava Vincent, who's just gotten pregnant. About the only one who understands him is his dominatrix, Dru Berrymore — but that doesn't stop her from taking advantage, even facilitating his habit, though even she eventually cuts him off. Spears finds some solace with fellow addict Crystal Carter, but even that doesn't last. This is not a film with a happy ending.
After the film was released, there was rampant speculation that Heart of Darkness might have been autobiographical of Thomas, or possibly been inspired by its lead actor, but scripter Raven Touchstone denied that it was based on any one person.
"No, it's really not," Touchstone said. "It's a combination of a number of different people; people I know, people he knows and stuff like that. It is not specifically 'the P.T. story,' no."
"P.T. and I have been talking for quite a few years about sex addiction," she continued. "I used to be in 12-step groups years and years ago, and I used to sit in on the sex addicts group because there were so many interesting stories. P.T. of course has his own interesting stories, and we were swapping stories and talking about just how far any addiction can take the addict, and particularly sex addiction is certainly as strong an addiction as alcohol or drugs or anything else and can certainly destroy lives. And in talking about it, we decided, Why not? Let's make a movie about it. And that's basically how it happened."
Still, Touchstone was relieved that Thomas cast Spears in the role.
"I was absolutely thrilled when it happened," she glowed, "because he's about the best around and P.T. and I both love him, and we knew if anybody could play the role, it was Randy."
A full review of Heart of Darkness, an Editor's Choice which garnered 14 nominations, can be found in the August, 2003 issue of AVN, and on AVN.com.
