La Vie BohemA peep into the not-so-wide world of Czech porn.
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It’s too early for this. Eleven o’clock in the morning and the girls in the water are naked, gorgeous and moaning. In the shallow end of an immaculate atrium-enclosed pool, Sharon Babe’s tongue is driving Sophia Gently towards a well-documented climax. As a film crew of eight does its work, the beefy Italian about to screw the duo into the fifth dimension, one Claudio Meloni, waits on a bench near the water, yawning. Welcome to the opening shoot for Dívèí sen (Girl Dreams), the latest porno from Prague-based Bohem Productions. After a morning of preparation at the ?itka convention center 20 kilometers south of Prague, the recording light is on. The cords are laid, the monitors checked, the lighting adjusted and the make-up applied. The warm and sparkling chlorine-smelling complex is silent but for the splash of a small fountain and Sharon Babe’s echoing gasps. Because the film will be marketed around Europe, no words are spoken – not one “jeàtì.” As his entrance nears, Meloni lazily begins stroking himself to attention. In Los Angeles there are people known as “fluffers” paid to prepare male porn actors for their scenes. But this is Prague, not L.A. No, this is definitely not L.A. Every year the City of Angels and its manicured suburbs pump out more than 10,000 hard-core movies worth an estimated eight billion dollars. Southern California presides over the global porn industry like OPEC dominates the world oil market. Next to this Pacific Ocean of smut, the Czech adult film world isn’t even a freshwater rivulet: it’s a polluted porn puddle. Producing a mere six original titles a year, Bohem Productions is the leading Czech maker of professional porn films. Europe’s total share of the global adult film industry is itself tiny, but given the Czech Republic’s reputation as a smoldering sex hub, this country’s contribution is shockingly negligible. “We’re basically a distribution company for foreign movies,” says Ivana Mattei, Bohem’s thirty-something president. In her smoky Nusle office (located one block away from, yes, Horní street), Mattei points to the stacks of foreign video boxes as evidence of the Czech Republic’s passive role in the world of porn. “We want to increase the number of movies we make to twelve a year,” she says, “but right now we’re mostly dubbing and distributing.” If the Czechs don’t produce many adult films, they consume them like dumplings and beer. Bohem is currently in the process of dubbing 400 new titles from the U.S. and Europe into Czech. “Most Czech porn movies [aside from Bohem’s] are amateurish, so there’s a big role for imports,” says Mattei, who also produces and sometimes directs Bohem’s films. While the Czech Republic absorbs thousands of foreign movies a year, the demand for Czech-made porn abroad is small and stagnant. Bohem has managed to carve out a market niche in Western Europe, but its trade with the U.S. remains a one-way street. “The distributors in the U.S. want to give us $2,000 for all rights to a film, so it’s not even worth it. Our market is the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The U.S. doesn’t need [Czech] movies. It’s a protected market.” What the U.S. does need, however, is Czech talent. Many big names now working in California are of Czech or Slovak origin, most notably the globetrotting Moravian-born mega-star Kyla Cole. “All of the [Czech] girls working out of L.A. now got there start with us at Bohem,” says Mattei. “The amount of work [in Prague] is limited, so girls try to break out as soon as they can. And of course the pay is better abroad. If they’re good and speak English, Czech girls can go far.” Czech stars land occasional work in L.A. through American castings and shoots in Prague, notably those held by the U.S. casting company Anabolic. Such was the route of well-known Czech actresses Monica Sweetheart and Leah Demay, who are routinely flown out to California gigs that pay at least twice as much as their Czech counterparts. The rewards in Prague are small on the way up. A first-time actress for a Bohem movie earns about $300 per boy/girl scene, or $150 for girl/girl. The pay rises as an actress becomes better known, but never approaches the thousands of dollars earned by stars in the U.S. Mattei, a disarming and chain-smoking blonde, started Bohem Productions with her Italian husband Claudio in 1994. The company began by distributing foreign titles in the rapidly expanding Czech market, and in 1996 started accepting scripts and producing original material. Their breakthrough came when West European porn chieftans Rocco Siffredi and Mark Dorcel hired Bohem to produce their films in Prague. Soon the company was up to its current output of six features a year. After divorcing her husband in 2000, Mattei took over Bohem Productions and her ex assumed synergic control of Bohem Agency, the country’s biggest talent recruiter for adult entertainment. Bohem Agency provides Bohem Productions with all of their girls, and Mattei says there are plenty of eager applicants for the work. “The problem is finding quality girls. There is always a labor shortage at the high-end,” she says. A casting call for Bohem Agency is first posted on the internet and in national newspapers. The women, 20 or 30 of them, then gather at Cludio Mattei’s Prague apartment/studio, where they strip and pose while he examines their bodies for scars and fat. They perform a short screen test of one or two lines, then wait for the phone call that will launch their porn career. Boys go through a more rigorous selection process. After presenting fresh documentation of HIV-negative status, they perform a brief scene with a girl under filming conditions. The success rate for men is much lower than that of women. The upper echelons of the adult film industry are famously filled with their share of scumbags, and Ivana Mattei struggles hard for the respect of her porn peers. “I walk into a boardroom and I’m usually the only woman there,” she says. “Sometimes it’s difficult, but I think because [Bohem] is run by a woman it’s a more professional operation. For example, I never sleep with my actors, and the men in my position always sleep with their actresses.” Although little of the local industry is Czech-owned and operated, Prague remains a hot destination for European pornographers. The production costs are low, and Mattei says Czech girls are popular with foreign companies. “When a Czech girl likes her partner, she’s only half acting. They have a very good reputation [in Europe] with directors and actors,” she says. Just as foreign producers come to Prague to recruit Czech girls, so does Mattei recruit foreign men for her films. “Czech girls don’t like to work with Czech guys,” she says. “Czech guys don’t listen, and the girls want someone exotic and new. Also the more they can talk with each other on the set the more chance there is for conflict. It’s best if they don’t speak the same language.” So who does the queen of Czech porn seek out to pair with her darlings? “I keep an eye open for men who aren’t just ‘bang, bang,’ but also show a little love and tenderness. I want my films to be more than just sex.” After watching the shoot for Girl Dreams, I’m at a loss to identify what “more” means, but on this we’ll just have to trust her. Most of the actors Mattei recruits at European conventions and festivals are Italian. Bohem’s latest project features five males, four of them from Italy. On the set, as on Prague’s streets, the Italians are brash, clannish and loud. They grinningly grope the women, drink espresso, and balance tall glasses of water on their cocks for the crew. In front of the visiting journalist, stars Claudio Meloni and Andrea Moranti break into their best gangsta voice and proclaim themselves “da biggest muthafuckas in da movie.” The two repeatedly make exaggerated sniffing sounds and laugh, suggesting that the two beefcakes are coked out of their simple Italian minds. “We’re having the best time,” they yell. “Bohemia Productions [sic] is the best.” Pig-tailed Silvia Lancomb couldn’t agree more. The 20-year-old Slovak was paired with Moranti earlier in the afternoon in an outdoor scene, and between bites of her Big Mac she coyly claims to be in love with the heavily tattooed moron from Milan. “Andrea is so cool. The sex is so great,” she gushes. “I don’t know what to say more.” Finally, she thinks of something: “Oh, the anal today. Wow.” Meet Neeo “Neeo,” born Libor Kubíèek, was the only Czech male to land a role in Girl Dreams. The 23 year-old from Ostrava has appeared in more than 30 European porn films in the last three years, including a dozen for Bohem. Ask him a general question about the business and he’s quick to tell you he is one of the few “high-level” men in the world of Czech porn. Impressive. And what exactly does it mean to be “high-level”? “It means being able to do more than one scene a day,” he says. “It means being able to perform, even if it’s cold outside, on the pavement, whatever. It means being physically and psychologically able to handle a scene that takes six hours to shoot. And you have to have strong knees. Sometimes a scene requires 20 different positions. Knees are important.” But even Neeo’s knees couldn’t help him last year when he was teamed with 12 girls in one bed. “It was way too much,” he says, almost bitterly. “It was all of them and me. I don’t like to work with more than three girls at a time. Three is the max.” Neeo took his stage name from the popular sci-fi film The Matrix. He admired Keanu Reeves’s character – “he could fight and had sex with beautiful women” – and now uses the moniker for porno credits, Tae Kwon Doe tournaments, and his successful Prague strip-tease act, which involves a naked Neeo walking bravely on broken glass. Like every cast member of a Bohem production, Neeo is tested for HIV before each film. He claims porn stars are the best lovers because they can do anything, anytime, anywhere. “I don’t have sex with my girlfriend two days before a shoot,” he says, “[but when I do] I can do everything, even if there are people around. I don’t care.” Neeo’s porn ambitions are modest. He acknowledges the difficulty that Czech men have breaking through internationally, and his poor English guarantees he won’t be lounging under palm trees anytime soon. His goal is to one day win a Golden Star “Best Actor” award at the Czech Adult Film Awards. Last year he won a Golden Star trophy for “Most Sympathetic Male Actor,” but feels it isn’t enough. “I like the acting part of the job,” he says, “especially the comedy sketches some movies have.” Last month Neeo had a large role in a Prague-based French porno production in which he played an invalid. “It’s harder to be a guy in this business,” he says. “They call you in on short notice and you have a couple scenes and then you’re out. The girls are treated much better.” But is it fun being a hired stud? What’s the best part of the job? Neeo thinks for a moment, blinks and says: “Going home to my girlfriend.” Their kids are going to have great knees. Miss Erotica 2002 On one of those days Neeo couldn’t wait to get home to his girlfriend, he was bonking a statuesque blonde named Jane Durling on a staircase for Girl Dreams. “I chose to be with [Neeo] because I’ve worked with him five times before” says the 22 year-old Durling, her fingers still slick with McDonald’s lunch grease. “The Italians are better known and are better self-publicists, but I like Czech guys. Neeo and I are friends.” Just friends? “Yes. I’ve never been involved with an actor I worked with. I have a boyfriend.” Does the boyfriend watch your films? “No. He would get too jealous. I only show him my nude pictures.” Jane Durling – who thinks her name is pronounced “darling” – comes from Kláàterec nad Oh´´í, a town in Northern Bohemia with a population of 16,000. A year ago she answered a Bohem Agency casting call posted on the internet. “I wanted to meet new people and travel,” she says. “And of course the money is easy.” Durling now averages five or six scenes a month for Czech and West European films. A rising force in the local porn world, the rookie has been named “Miss Erotica” and took home a Golden Star for “Best Starlet” at this year’s Czech Adult Film Awards. She came home empty-handed from last month’s European Adult Film Awards in Barcelona, but hopes to continue working hard so that one day she can retire, build a house in the Czech Republic, and start a family. Until then, Durling would like to work abroad, including the U.S., where she says the money and working conditions are better. “Sometimes European porn films are chaotic on the set,” she says. “Especially the Italian ones. I don’t like chaos.” What she does like is sex, especially when she’s on top. “I like to be dominant in bed.” Do you take your work home with you? “My sex life has gotten better since starting this job,” says Durling. “I’ve learned lots of new positions to try with my boyfriend. I don’t like to be with more than one guy per scene. Two girls and a guy is best.” Do you ever have real orgasms during a shoot? “Sometimes, but not often. There are too many interruptions, and a scene can last anywhere from 40 minutes to 12 hours. You don’t get to control the action, because the director is always yelling ‘spoon’ or ‘doggie’ and you have to change positions. Still, all the scenes are erotic for me.” I believe her. How can you not believe a woman with zebra patterns glued onto her fingernails and a “Miss Erotica” award on her mantle? Unlike her friend and sometimes boss Ivana Mattei, Durling doesn’t believe in the myth of the Czech female porn star. She thinks Czech women are popular with foreign producers for the same reason Hungarian women are. “Foreign filmmakers come here for financial reasons. If they use Czech women then they don’t have to pay for a hotel and plane tickets,” she says. “It’s cheaper.” Markéta Hofmeisterová contributed to this report. |
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