erotica
fiction
gallery

lifestyles
fetish
bdsm
queer/bi/trans
swingers

features
news briefs
articles
sexy spreads

eros bits
sound off
trivia
sexfessions
reviews

events
sf archives
london archives
los angeles archives
new york archives
las vegas archives
international calendar

eros photo
classified ads



about eros ezine


daily cartoon


select different zine:

Teagan Presley: Photo spread and interview with one of Digital Playground's hottest starlets. More»
8-26-2003




Candida Royalle, a native New Yorker, comes from a background rich in the arts with training in art, music, voice and dance. Her educational background includes the New York High School of Arts and Design, Parson's School of Design and the City University of New York.

In San Francisco, she became active in the avant-garde theater scene, performing with members the infamous Cockettes, the Angels of Light and the late Divine. She later moved on to sing in jazz clubs and classical choruses. It was in San Francisco, in the more liberal 70's, that Ms. Royalle turned to X-rated movies for additional income.

In 1984 she founded Femme Productions in order to create erotic films from a woman's perspective that promoted positive sexual role-modeling and that could be enjoyed by both men and women. Twelve movies later, the Femme line is now distributed worldwide by PHE Inc., who, in partnership with Royalle, will co-produce three new Femme Features each year.

Royalle is a founding board member of Feminists for Free Expression (FFE), a not-for-profit, anticensorship organization. She is the only adult film maker to have been invited into membership in the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT). She has addressed many conferences both here and abroad including the World Congress of Sexology, The Smithsonian Institute, The American Psychiatric Association (APA), several major universities including Princeton and Columbia and most major talk shows.

Profiles of Royalle have appeared in The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, The London Times, Elle and Mademoiselle, among others. She is currently writing a book on her colorful life and experiences of the last 25 years.

Candida took some time out of her insane schedule last week to talk to Eros Guide about male talent (or the lack thereof), shooting porn in NYC (as opposed to southern California), and why most vibrators are phallic (but hers aren�t).

Eros Guide: Where did you get the inspiration behind Stud Hunters?

Candida Royalle: From an interview I did for Candice Bergen's Oxygen Network TV show. They wanted to show me at work, so they gave me the space at their studios to do a casting call, which I needed to do anyway. I was planning on another script at the time, but when I reviewed the footage of all those people interviewing, I thought, "What a riot this is! Let's do a movie all about a director looking for the next great stud and show people how funny casting can be!" Also, of course, the fact that you see the same guys in the movies all the time, I wanted to find and show some new male talent for my female viewers, and give it a New York edge.

EG: You�ve talked before about the lack of quality/diversity of male performers. Can you elaborate? Why do you think this is?

CR: Because it's such a difficult job to do! Once you find a guy who can perform, looks good, can maybe even handle lines, he has a long career ahead of him!

EG: Is it different or difficult to be one of the few producers/directors of adult films who are not working in Porn Valley?

CR: I love being different, giving my movies a different look and feel, but the one problem is that I have to fly most of my talent in, particularly the women. It�s hard to find women willing to do this work who also have the qualifications outside of California. They all go there to work.

EG: Do you think shooting in New York makes the films distinct from those of the other coast?

CR: Yes, different look, feel, crew, sometimes talent, like the guys in Stud Hunters. At least in my movies, anyway.

EG: AVN recently did a feature on women adult film directors. As a pioneer in this field, how do you view the current state of female-driven porn?

CR: I don't think they're all doing it much differently than the guys. They have heavy-handed distributors standing over them telling them what to do, enforcing the "formula," demanding cum in your face shots. Some like it. My friend Veronica Hart, a wonderful director, does more female-friendly movies, but admittedly does them much harder than me, because she likes it that way!

EG: In your work you�ve integrated humor with erotic entertainment do you think porn sometimes takes itself too seriously?

CR: No, I just think it's not easy to do humor with eroticism effectively.

EG: Your Natural Contours line of personal massagers avoids the whole phallic design. Is it men who are designing all the cock-shaped vibrators, or do women just default to this shape?

CR: I think women also like phallic-looking dildos, but I wanted to appeal to the women who don�t want something so blatant and potentially embarrassing. I also wanted to do something different for a change, like my movies! You can find a million vibrators and dildos shaped like big penises, but how many do you find that are more creative and different? I also like to believe mine are better quality and more stylish and attractive for today's woman who wants more.

For more on Candida Royalle, visit her website. Stud Hunters is available on DVD and VHS through www.adameve.com.
Click the images to enlarge.













Candida Royalle Top of the Guide

Privacy | Terms & Conditions | Disclaimer | 2257 Notice | Contact | © 1997-2025 Darkside Productions, Inc.