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 cott Gill's "Porn Star" is a documentary
chronicling the existence of Ron Jeremy, the most un-porn star-like man
on the face of the planet. Born Ron Hyatt, the man that would become the most
recognizable porn actor in the world is too fat, too short, and too hairy to be
mistaken for a porn stud, and yet he is. Blessed with a big penis, Jeremy has
survived 3 decades in the porn industry, and now attempts to make his way into
the mainstream.
"Porn Star", which opens with an interview with
the disheveled Jeremy at 4:00 in the morning, is an oftentimes sad, but always
honest, look at Jeremy's life. Admired and envied by boys and men around the
world for having slept with over 4,000 women and performed in over 1,500 adult
movies, Jeremy is stripped bear of his defenses and what's left is a shell of a
man. What keeps us from completely feeling pity for him is the fact that Jeremy
enjoys his life, to a point. While he is very much aware of his faults and the
things that have the potential to make him a tragic figure, the fact that his
notoriety has allowed him to party every night with beautiful women and meet
big-name celebrities still earn him our envy.
Born to a family of successful professionals, Jeremy's
foray into acting led him to porn. Always craving attention, the 20-something
Jeremy only knew that he wanted to be famous. The documentary informs us that
Jeremy is no moron; he has a college Masters degree, and was actually a teacher
once upon a time! Now a full-fledged porn actor (mostly owing to his substantial
penis), Jeremy found the attention that he craved from porn. For a while,
anyway.
The need to be accepted by the mainstream remains, and it's
this need that continues to haunt Jeremy as he goes from one mainstream job to
another, always telling himself that he'll quit porn as soon as he gets enough
mainstream job to make a living. Of course, as many ex-porn stars have already
learned, the stigma of porn lasts much longer than your actual porn career. This
becomes obvious when considering Jeremy's minor roles, little more than cameos,
in mainstream fare. As one interviewee says wryly, Jeremy has been cut out of
more mainstream cameos than any actor alive. The source of these cuts, we learn,
is Jeremy's reputation catching up to him. Notoriety, it seems, cuts both ways.
Writer/director Scott Gill has chosen a number of familiar
faces in and out of the porn industry to talk about Jeremy. Many of the setups
are standard interview sessions, but some are borne out of candid
fly-on-the-wall moments. One of the most telling moments occur on the set of a
porn film, where Jeremy is mercilessly insulted every which way by a younger and
more handsome porn actor who shows the veteran nothing but disdain. Later, an up
and coming porn actress mentions how much she thinks working with Jeremy will
boost her career, only to show her distaste for having to work with him when
they actually have to shoot their scene.
Most of "Porn Star" works as a serious
documentary. The film is shot with handheld cameras, mostly videos, which give
the movie a somewhat cheap look and feel. Gill also intercuts his own footages
with stock footages from Jeremy's movies, and because Jeremy has had such a
large variety of roles, Gill is able to use a lot of Jeremy's scenes to do a
rather warped "re-enactment" to Jeremy's own real life. It works.
The best part about "Porn Star" is that Scott
Gill could have easily fallen into hero worship, the way many man-on-the-street
interviewees do. It's to Gill's credit that he allows Jeremy's real life, warts
and all, to take over the movie. Jeremy's insecurities, his lack of talent when
it comes to comedy, and even Jeremy's preparations to do a sex scene, comes
through. Gill is relentless, all the better to serve the documentary's serious
side.
The most interesting thing to learn about Jeremy is that
porn has not made him any happier than when he was a starving actor. Despite all
the sex, the beautiful women, and the good money, Jeremy still resorts to
consuming food for real pleasure. As Jeremy himself confesses, food takes
precedence over women any day, and that perhaps says it all. To all the men out
there who thought Jeremy had it made, Jeremy himself will tell you that he
doesn't. Not by a long shot.
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