Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' documentary Thinking XXX premiered Thursday night on HBO with more than two dozen adult film stars featured.
Greenfield-Sanders shared the behind-the-scenes footage of the making of his new book "XXX: 30 Porn Star Portraits" during the 45-minute program.The acclaimed portrait photographer selected a cross-section of straight and gay, current and former actors for the project that he began in 2002.
Greenfield-Sanders' recent mainstream work includes photographing President Bush and his wife Laura and Sen. John Kerry and wife Theresa for Good Housekeeping. He also contributes to magazines such as Vanity Fair and Index and won a Grammy Award for his first film, Lou Reed: Rock & Roll Heart in 1998.
"For me it's all about the expression," Greenfield-Sanders, who has 25-plus years of experience photographing musicians, artists, writers, actors and politicians, said.
He shot several Vivid Girls from the past and present including Jenna Jameson, Tera Patrick, Savanna Samson, Briana Banks, Kira Kener, Sunrise Adams, Tawny Roberts, Heather Hunter, Christy Canyon and Ginger Lynn.
Club Video exclusive Gina Lynn, Digital Playground's Jesse Jane, Chloe and Nina Hartley were also prominently featured.
Aside from being able to watch Greenfield-Sanders actually style and shoot the portraits — one clothed and one nude — the documentary provided some candid insights into the motivations and views of the performers. Several highly regarded writers – from author/historian Gore Vidal to N.Y. Post "Page Six" editor Richard Johnson – offered their opinions on pornography and its place in pop culture which added another layer to the program.
"We seem never to tire looking at naked bodies. This is true," Vidal said.
Karen Finley broke the occupation down to its very root.
"A porn star is someone who is famous for public sex," she said.
Several of the performers made it clear they were completely comfortably with their alternative career choice.
"I found my confidence in the nude," Vivid's Samson said.
Gina Lynn remarked, "some girls are addicted to sex."
"I'm not one of them. I can turn it on and off," she said.
Thinking XXX included footage of Lynn dancing at the Gold Club in Ohio and also discussing her career with her husband and manager, Travis Knight, also an established performer and director. With Knight sitting next to her, Lynn said being on stage dancing is "like a high."
"I probably get more wet on stage than when I'm doing a sex scene. I know that sounds bad," she joked. "… My parents are very proud of me. I have two nice cars. I've never asked for help. They saved money on college."
"My dad's a Baptist preacher and missionary," Knight later revealed.
He said that being in Hustler was a dream of his that was fulfilled in 2003 when he did a hardcore layout with Lynn, who eventually landed the cover.
Meanwhile, Patrick revealed that, "I was a real nerd in school."
Once a girl decides to do porn, "you give up your soul in a way," Patrick said. "Once you do porn, there's no going back."
She and her husband Evan Seinfeld have teamed up on several new ventures, including a new production company called Tera Vision that will release its first title, Tera Patrick's Asian Love Palace, through Vivid Entertainment Group next year.
Jesse Jane discussed her current path while lounging in a swimming pool.
"I was sexually aware at a very young age," said the former regional training coordinator for Hooters and Hawaiian Tropics model. "I know every girl defines herself differently as a porn star."
They even followed Jane to Barry's Boot Camp, where they filmed her working up a sweat in an aerobics class and doing biceps curls.
Belladonna, photographed with her short hair, explained that she tries to give the guys in her scenes reason to be turned on by her because "it's not every time you're super attracted to the person."
"I want a guy to be aggressive with me," she said.
The guys were also represented well. Sean Michaels did his photo shoot in a Yankees baseball jacket, and expressed passionate views on adult.
"You don't degrade something you love," Michaels said, adding a girl who loves sex and wants to be in movies can become a "sex goddess."
He also stressed that male performers are more than so-called "props" and ought to be paid as such.
"It's like society taking school teachers and not paying them what they're worth," Michaels said.
The documentary also provided a window into the lives of some of the top gay stars, namely Chad Hunt and Michael Lucas. Lucas is a former law student who tried modeling before moving into adult.
Meanwhile, former Vivid Girl Heather Hunter, who retired from performing 12 years ago, called herself "the Halle Berry of porn." She said she grew up as "Daddy's girl" and her family was comparable to "the Cosbys." Now she spends her time working on her hip-hop music career, painting and a book about her experiences in porn.
Briana Banks, photographed with her hair pulled back in a red, Skin Industries hoodie, said she was in and out of foster care four times.
Filmmaker John Waters said porn stars were generally narcissistic and observed that, "Everybody in LA kind of looks like a porn star to me and nobody in New York does."
Greenfield-Sanders also photographed Peter North and Seymore Butts, Mari Possa and Reina Leone, Nina Hartley and Dr. Sharon Mitchell.
Thinking XXX featured several of the girls talking about Jenna Jameson's impact on adult.
Hartley, who appeared with her husband Ernest Greene, called Jameson a "sexy girl with vision who never wavered and used her tools."
Chloe, meanwhile, talked about her eventful anal orgasms that cause her eyes to roll back in her head.
Banks said that she aspired to be a mainstream model, but now that she has done porn, that dream is all but gone.
"I made it," she said, "just halfway."
Greenfield-Sanders will host a reception at the Mary Boone Gallery, one of the premier art galleries in the world, on Saturday with Tera Patrick, Savanna Samson and Gina Lynn, among others involved with the project.
For more information, visit www.thinkingxxx.com orhttp://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/thinking_xxx/index.html.
