CHATSWORTH, Calif. - With the rocky Santa Susannas standing in for the hills of ancient Sparta, Ninn Worx_SR last week wrapped production on their summer blockbuster The Four with two outdoor sex scenes.
Inspired by the mainstream film 300, The Four is a dream project for AVN award-winning director Michael Ninn. The mega-budgeted adult movie takes the story of the Greeks' defeat by the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae several steps further, showing how the widows of the fallen soldiers exact their revenge. It's loaded with fight sequences and FX, but hard sex is still the core.
Which is what has brought Ninn's crew (including ace cameramen Chris Hall and Barry Wood) to the hills above Chatsworth.
Perched on a rock in a brush clearing, Renee Perez and Jared (no surname), her off-screen partner, are in the midst of what will be her first boy-girl scene as a NWSR contract exclusive.
How do you say "Fuck that pussy!" in classical Greek? Those are the words Renee's using to urge on her boyfriend, the only male she'll have sex with on screen.
Jared, in his first professional sex scene, was a victim of performance anxiety when the cameras rolled, but now his sword's in thrusting order. (His helmet and shield are resting picturesquely on the rock.) Looking less like a Greek than a junior barbarian, he's letting the beautiful Renee ride him cowgirl.
Director Ninn, sequestered in a small black tent, hovers over a monitor with video tech Jace Rocker. After a few minutes of sex he sticks out his head and barks, "That's a cut. Change positions."
Jared adjusts his Conan wig and segues into doggy with Renee on the red canopy-covered rock. Neither one can be very comfortable on this chilly, cloudy day.
In the second scene Cassidey, another of the title quartet, will be fucking Reno, who is cast as a Spartan warrior. Still in t-shirt and jeans, she nervously quizzes the publicist about her partner's size and seems reassured on learning he's not as big as, say, Julian.
Back on the rock, Jared's lack of public fucking experience causes more anxiety and production manager Lorraine Sisco orders the clearing cleared. Non-essential personnel (mostly media members) are dispatched to lunch at the nearby house.
About half an hour later the appearance of Renee smiling contentedly and mopping her sticky face indicates that Jared wound up performing like a champ. Wigless and grinning, he follows her to the showers.
There has been a four-month gap between completion of principle photography (eight days) and now, mostly because Ninn decided Renee really ought to have a boy-girl scene in addition to her girl-girl action. She and Jared have done four scenes together as Internet content—as well as a scene for the 2006 Penthouse vignette release Filthy under the names Renee Diaz and Jarad. But the one in The Four will be their first in an actual storyline feature.
Perez has bright, sparkling eyes and an eager, welcoming smile that says she's up for just about anything. She's 23 and has been working in adult since she was 19, mostly as a print (Penthouse Pet, Hustler cover girl) and Internet model.
She recalls meeting Ninn at the AVN Adult Expo in 2006, where she was signing for Suze Randall. He actually stood in line with her fans and told her she had to work for him. Last year he chose her as one of his new contract girls.
"I loved shooting this movie," Renee enthuses about The Four. She does all her own stunts in the action-packed epic-the only girl in the cast who does-working with the stunt crew for two days to prepare. She picked up the tricks so fast, she says, that her trainers told her she could work in the mainstream.
"I got to walk two black panthers. Michael was worried but I really wanted to walk them," she says, adding with some pride, "All three of my fight scenes were without a helmet." The other girls had to keep their faces covered since they were doubled by stuntwomen.
In the movie she plays the Archer and wields a mean bow and arrow, but her fights are with swords. Her early training as a gymnast in her hometown, Las Vegas, helped her into good fighting shape.
Aside from the scenes with her boyfriend, she's only done girl-girl—before her contract in movies for Hustler and Digital Playground, and then in the Ninn Worx_SR titles Fem Staccato, Innocence: Brat, House of Perez and the recently released Dark Flame.
She started dancing in January for Spearmint Rhino and has so far worked in clubs in California and Kentucky. "I love the pole," she says, adding that a lot of girls don't.
An aspiring director, she's been avidly watching The Four come together on Ninn's editing bays, learning techniques she'll be able to use when producing content for her website, www.reneeperezonline.com. She's pleased that the director "doesn't just limit me to being a model."
The movie's extensive CGI work has left her awestruck. She singles out a shot in which "a body disintegrates and turns into birds flying away. It's so cool."
Joining Perez and Cassidey as The Four are Brea Bennett and Nikki Kane; also featured are former NWSR contract girl Jana Jordan and Czech import Jennifer Dark. Charles Dera plays the Greek Leonidas and Marco Banderas his exotic antagonist Xerxes. Reno, who is now stalking the rocks for insert shots in full battle drag - red cloak, shield and spear - has the role of a Spartan lieutenant.
Plans are to release the film in September.
To see a trailer for The Four, click here.
