Lovelace | |
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Directed by | |
Written by | Andy Bellin [2] |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Eric Edwards |
Edited by |
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Music by | Stephen Trask |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | |
Release dates |
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Running time | 93 minutes [5] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $7 million |
Box office | $1.6 million [6] |
Lovelace is a 2013 American biographical drama film centered on pornographic actress Linda Lovelace, star of Deep Throat , a landmark 1972 film at the forefront of the Golden Age of Porn. Lovelace covers her life from age 21 to 32. [7]
Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, the film was written by Andy Bellin and stars Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Hank Azaria, Wes Bentley, Adam Brody, Bobby Cannavale, James Franco, Debi Mazar, Chris Noth, Robert Patrick, Eric Roberts, Chloë Sevigny, Sharon Stone, and Juno Temple.
Lovelace had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2013, and was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on August 9, 2013. [8]
In 1970, 21-year-old Linda Susan Boreman is living with her parents in Davie, Florida, having moved from New York City. While out dancing one night with her best friend Patsy, Linda attracts the attention of a man named Chuck Traynor and the two soon develop a relationship after a vulnerable Linda reveals to him that she has a strained relationship with her parents. The strain was caused because Linda had earlier given birth to a son out-of-wedlock and her domineering mother Dorothy had tricked her into putting the baby up for adoption.
Chuck, much older than Linda, begins teaching her how to perform sexual acts, which she is initially thrilled about. After breaking curfew one night, Linda is berated by Dorothy, forcing Linda to move out so she can live with Chuck, later marrying him. During a party, Linda watches one of Chuck's homemade pornographic films for the first time and tells him that "good girls don't do that stuff".
Six months later, Linda bails Chuck out of jail for facilitating prostitution, although he claims to have had little knowledge of what went on in the parking lot behind his bar. Desperate for money, he persuades Linda to become a pornographic actress. By 1972, Linda begins working on a film, Deep Throat , in which she uses her new stage name "Linda Lovelace".
The film becomes a huge success, making over $30,000 at the box office in its first week. After it becomes a worldwide phenomenon, Linda is interviewed by a variety of print and radio reporters and becomes the subject of late-night television humor. Her life is seen as exciting and glamorous, and Linda poses nude, and attends parties, weekly.
During a private screening in Los Angeles, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner convinces Linda that she has the potential to be more than a pornographic actress. However, Chuck's violent and cruel nature is gradually exposed and Linda's life is revealed not to be as perfect as it seems. Chuck seemingly chokes Linda during sex, refusing to stop when she asks, and later forces her into prostitution at gunpoint.
A battered Linda soon visits her parents seeking to move back in. Despite telling them of Chuck's dominating abuse towards her, Dorothy encourages Linda to endure her ordeal as their religion forbids divorce. When learning that Linda has been discussing a new salary with the film's director, Gerard Damiano, without telling him, an enraged Chuck punishes her by making Linda shower in freezing cold water.
Years after Deep Throat's success, Chuck tries to persuade Linda to do another pornographic film. When Linda refuses, a now sadistic Chuck takes her to a party and forces Linda to participate in a gang rape. Her attempts to escape result in Chuck sleeping on top of Linda, almost suffocating her.
The following day, Linda secretly meets with Anthony Romano, telling him she wants out of the pornography industry and also revealing the abuse inflicted on her by Chuck. Disgusted, Romano has her checked into a private hotel while he and his bodyguards attack Chuck for abusing Linda and for the $25,000 he owes.
Six years later, Linda marries Larry Marchiano, moves to Long Island and has a young son. Linda later takes a polygraph test before publishing her autobiography Ordeal , which details years of Chuck's physical and sexual abuse, as well as his stealing all of her earnings. Linda appears on Donahue , and her distraught parents break down in tears while watching her. A few days later, the Marchianos travel to Florida for Linda to reconcile with her parents.
In January 2011, pregnant Kate Hudson was offered the part of Linda Lovelace while James Franco was in talks to portray Lovelace's husband Chuck Traynor. [9] The production of the film was planned to begin after the birth of Hudson's child and as of April 2011, the actress was still involved in the project. [10] However, on November 1, 2011, Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard were reported to be in discussions to play Lovelace and Traynor. [11] Sharon Stone announced on November 16, 2011, that she would play Lovelace's mother. [12] In December 2011, Juno Temple and Wes Bentley were cast as Lovelace's best friend and Larry Marchiano, her second husband. [13]
In December 2011, Franco received the part of Hugh Hefner. [14] Robert Patrick, Hank Azaria, Chris Noth, and Bobby Cannavale landed the respective roles of John Boreman (Lovelace's father), Gerry Damiano, Anthony Romano and Butchie Peraino. [15] On January 2, 2012, Adam Brody and Eric Roberts were cast as Harry Reems and Nat Laurendi, while Demi Moore agreed to a cameo appearance as Gloria Steinem. [16] A few weeks later she dropped out of the film for personal issues [17] and was replaced by Sarah Jessica Parker. [18] However, Parker's cameo was ultimately deleted. Cory Hardrict and Debi Mazar play Frankie Crocker and Dolly Sharp. [19] Chloë Sevigny plays a feminist journalist. [20]
To prepare for the role, Seyfried read Lovelace's books and studied videos of her speaking. [21] She also watched the film Deep Throat and underwent a New York accent training. [21] Seyfried said of Lovelace: "She was such a different person than what we expect. It's a good story to tell, and I'm really, really excited about it." [22] Brody prepared for the role of Reems by watching his interviews. [23] He told that "the arrest and indictment of Reems on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute obscenity across state lines" are not shown in the film. [23] He described as "brotherly" the relationship Reems shares with Deep Throat co-star Lovelace, explaining that "he was the antithesis of her husband [Traynor]". [23]
We were doing a scene where I was supposed to be going down on Peter Sarsgaard. We used a popsicle, and I had my arms covering the popsicle. It was footage that he was going to show the Deep Throat guy, to get her into the movie, to get her cast. I was laughing hysterically throughout. I couldn't stop laughing.
The Hollywood Reporter reported on January 13, 2012 that filming had already begun in Los Angeles. [25] A few days later, photographs of Amanda Seyfried as Linda Lovelace on a film set were published. [26] Scenes were shot in Glendale, California. [27] Filming wrapped in February 2012. [28] [29]
Epstein used "grainy" 16 mm film as a reference to the 70s films depicted in the plot. [30] During the filming, the cooperation between Seyfried and Sarsgaard went so well that she called him with hindsight "the best actor I've ever worked with". [21]
Sarah Jessica Parker's scenes did not make it into the final version due to the time setting for the end of the film being changed from 1984 to 1980. As a result, the role of Gloria Steinem became unnecessary. [31]
Lovelace premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2013. [32] The film was released in the United States on August 9, 2013. [33]
Lovelace was met with mixed reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 54% based on 127 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard do their best with the material, but Lovelace lacks enough depth and conviction to truly do its fascinating subject justice." [34] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 51 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [35]
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote the film was "smartly done". Richard Roeper gave the film a B+, commenting that it "never really feels triumphant or inspirational. It's very well-made and well-acted, but it's a reminder that the most famous porn star of the most famous porn movie ever made was a victim through and through." [36] On the other hand, Variety 's Rob Nelson complained the true story behind the film had been simplified to a "series of cartoonish vignettes". [37] Amanda Mae Meyncke endorsed Seyfried's portrayal as "excellent" but considered the film all in all only "mediocre". [38]
Doubts were also raised as to the historical accuracy of the film's narrative. [39] In particular, Gerard Damiano Jr., son of the director of Deep Throat, and Eric Danville, Linda Lovelace's biographer, spoke to The Rialto Report about how the film conflated spousal abuse with the treatment of actors in the adult film industry. [40]
The soundtrack to Lovelace was released on September 9, 2013.
No. | Title | Artist | Length |
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1. | "I've Got to Use My Imagination" | Gladys Knight & the Pips | 3:30 |
2. | "Gimme Little Sign" | Brenton Wood | 2:20 |
3. | "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" | Elvin Bishop | 4:36 |
4. | "Funky Funky Way of Makin' Love" | John Ellison & The Soul Brothers Six | 3:25 |
5. | "If You Ain't Gettin' Your Thing" | L.J. Waiters & the Electrifiers | 3:21 |
6. | "Shotgun Shuffle" | KC & the Sunshine Band | 2:45 |
7. | "Oh How I Love It" | People's Choice | 3:05 |
8. | "Keep On Truckin'" | Eddie Kendricks | 8:00 |
9. | "Let It Ride" | Bachman–Turner Overdrive | 3:30 |
10. | "Rock Your Baby" | George McCrae | 6:25 |
11. | "'Tain't Nobody's Business if I Do" | Sofia Karstens | 3:42 |
12. | "You Made Me Beautiful" | Stephen Trask | 2:09 |
13. | "Spirit in the Sky" | Norman Greenbaum | 4:01 |
Total length: | 50:49 [41] |
The Devil in Miss Jones is a 1973 pornographic film, written, directed and produced by Gerard Damiano, inspired by the 1944 play No Exit by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Starring Georgina Spelvin and Harry Reems, it is widely regarded as a classic adult film, released during the Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984). After his 1972 success with Deep Throat, Damiano shot the film in a converted apple-packing plant in Milanville, Pennsylvania.
Herbert John Streicher, better known by his professional pseudonym Harry Reems, was an American pornographic actor, later working as a real estate agent. His most famous roles were as Doctor Young in the 1972 pornographic cult classic Deep Throat and The Teacher in the 1973 classic The Devil in Miss Jones. Throughout the 1970s and into the mid-1980s, he was one of the most prolific performers in the adult film industry. He became the first American actor to be prosecuted solely for appearing in a film. He retired from the industry in 1985.
Deep Throat is a 1972 landmark American pornographic film written and directed by Gerard Damiano, listed in the credits as "Jerry Gerard", and starring Linda Lovelace. It is considered the forefront of the Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984).
Amanda Michelle Seyfried is an American actress. She began acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery in the CBS soap opera As the World Turns (1999–2001) and Joni Stafford in the ABC soap opera All My Children (2003). She came to prominence for her feature film debut in the teen comedy Mean Girls (2004), and for her roles as Lilly Kane in the UPN mystery drama series Veronica Mars (2004–2006) and Sarah Henrickson in the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011).
Charles Everett Traynor was an American actor, businessman and talent agent best known for having promoted the careers of pornographic film stars Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers, both of whom were also married to him. Lovelace wrote in her autobiography Ordeal (1980) that Traynor was abusive during their marriage and had threatened and coerced her into her role in the pornographic film Deep Throat (1972).
Inside Deep Throat is a 2005 American documentary film about the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat, at the forefront of the Golden Age of Porn, and its effects on American society.
Eric Edwards is an American pornographic actor, photographer, and director. Everett started in mainstream theater and transitioned into porn, starting in the late 1960s. Everett had a long career in the adult entertainment industry – over 40 years, making him the only actor in the world to appear in porn films in every decade through the 2000s since the porn industry started in the 1960s. Everett starred in and directed many films and photo shoots, including co-starring in the iconic film Debbie Does Dallas. He is a member of both the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. Bill Margold called Everett "one of the legends of the business" and "the Babe Ruth of porn."
Gerardo Rocco "Gerard" Damiano was an American director of adult films. He wrote and directed the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat, which starred Linda Susan Boreman aka Linda Lovelace. He also directed The Devil in Miss Jones, which ranked #7 in Variety's list of the top-grossing pictures of 1973. Damiano is one of the seminal directors of what is known as The Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984).
The Anti-pornography Civil Rights Ordinance is a name for several proposed local ordinances in the United States and that was closely associated with the anti-pornography radical feminists Andrea Dworkin and Catharine A. MacKinnon. It proposed to treat pornography as a violation of women's civil rights and to allow women harmed by pornography to seek damages through lawsuits in civil courts. The approach was distinguished from traditional obscenity law, which attempts to suppress pornography through the use of prior restraint and criminal penalties.
Bryanston Distributing Company was an American film distribution company that was active during the 1970s. The company was founded by Louis Peraino and Philip Parisi in 1972. It went bankrupt in 1976, amid the company's numerous legal troubles.
The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American pornography, in which sexually explicit films experienced positive attention from mainstream cinemas, movie critics, and the general public. This American period, which subsequently spread internationally, and that began before the legalization of pornography in Denmark on July 1, 1969, started on June 12, 1969, with the theatrical release of the film Blue Movie directed by Andy Warhol, and, somewhat later, with the release of the 1970 film Mona produced by Bill Osco. These films were the first adult erotic films depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States. Both influenced the making of films such as 1972's Deep Throat starring Linda Lovelace and directed by Gerard Damiano, Behind the Green Door starring Marilyn Chambers and directed by the Mitchell brothers, 1973's The Devil in Miss Jones also by Damiano, and 1976's The Opening of Misty Beethoven by Radley Metzger, the "crown jewel" of the Golden Age, according to award-winning author Toni Bentley. According to Andy Warhol, his Blue Movie film was a major influence in the making of Last Tango in Paris, an internationally controversial erotic drama film, starring Marlon Brando, and released in 1972, three years after Blue Movie was shown in theaters.
A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts on video that is usually characterized as a pornographic film. Such videos tend to be made in a number of distinct pornographic subgenres and attempt to present a sexual fantasy; the actors selected for a particular role are primarily selected on their ability to create or fit that fantasy. Pornographic videos are characterized as either softcore, which does not contain depictions of sexual penetration or extreme fetishism, and hardcore, which can contain depictions of penetration or extreme fetishism, or both. The genres and sexual intensity of videos is mainly determined by demand. Depending on the genre of the film, the on-screen appearance, age, and physical features of the actors and their ability to create the sexual mood of the video is of critical importance. Most actors specialize in certain genres, such as straight, bisexual, gay, lesbian, bondage, strap-on, anal, double penetration, semen swallowing, teenage, orgy, age roleplay, fauxcest, interracial or MILFs and more.
Linda Lovelace for President is a 1975 American pornographic comedy film directed by Claudio Guzmán and starring Linda Lovelace, who achieved notoriety as the central character in the most profitable X-rated film of all time, Deep Throat (1972).
Linda Lovelace was an American pornographic actress who became famous for her performance in the 1972 hardcore film Deep Throat, which was an enormous success. She later alleged that her abusive husband, Chuck Traynor, had threatened and coerced her into participation. In her autobiography Ordeal, she described what took place behind the scenes. She later became a born-again Christian and a spokeswoman for the anti-pornography movement.
The Pornographer is a 2001 erotic drama film written and directed by Bertrand Bonello, who co-wrote the music score with Laurie Markovitch. The film features an explicit sex scene with two pornographic actors, Ovidie and Titof. It won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Bronze Horse at the Stockholm Film Festival.
Feminist views on pornography range from total condemnation of the medium as an inherent form of violence against women to an embracing of some forms as a medium of feminist expression. This debate reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist views on sexuality, and is closely related to those on prostitution, BDSM, and other issues. Pornography has been one of the most divisive issues in feminism, particularly in Anglophone (English-speaking) countries. This division was exemplified in the feminist sex wars of the 1980s, which pitted anti-pornography activists against pro-pornography ones.
Lovelace: A Rock Musical is a rock musical about the life of adult film star and women's liberation advocate, Linda Lovelace. The book, music, and lyrics are by Anna Waronker and Charlotte Caffey, with original concept and lyrics by Jeffery Leonard Bowman. The show debuted with a six-month run at the Hayworth Theatre in 2008. A new production of Lovelace: A Rock Musical made its United Kingdom debut at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2010.
Ordeal is a 1980 autobiography by the former pornographic actress Linda Lovelace, with Mike McGrady.
The Critics Adult Film Association (CAFA) was a New York–based group of East Coast adult sex film critics, which bestowed awards upon those working in pornographic film during the 1980s. The awards were first presented in 1981, honoring the movies of the previous year. Talk Dirty to Me, a sex comedy starring John Leslie, who won Best Actor, was voted best film of 1980. Samantha Fox was the first Best Actress, winning for her role in This Lady Is A Tramp, another sex comedy.
The Deep Throat Sex Scandal is an American play by David Bertolino. It follows the life and career of Harry Reems as he enters the pornography industry, eventually filming Deep Throat opposite Linda Lovelace, and its resultant infamy and obscenity trial in Memphis, Tennessee.