How Do You Play a Porn Star in the #MeToo Era? With Help from an 'Intimacy Director'
I was at work, standing in a small room, with the door closed and my back facing the far wall. Two men were blocking my way to the exit. One had both hands on my boobs, and the other had his hands all over my right thigh. My shirt was half open, and my skirt was hiked up over my hips. But this isn't the beginning of a #MeToo story. It's something more like the opposite.
I'm an actor, and in April, my manager suggested I audition for a role on HBO's "The Deuce." Set in 1970s New York, the series is one of the most inherently sexy shows on TV, with a cast full of prostitutes, pimps and porn stars. The role in question was "Heather," an ambitious actress playing a female prison guard in an adult film.
The audition breakdown came with a warning: "THIS ROLE WILL REQUIRE PARTIAL NUDITY. LIKELY EXPOSED BREAST ONLY." Before submitting my headshot and résumé, my manager asked if I was truly O.K. with that.
"I'd for sure go topless for Maggie Gyllenhaal," I told her. (Actually, I phrased it more coarsely, but let's just say that HBO and The New York Times have slightly different rules on language.) Ms. Gyllenhaal, who in season one plays a Times Square sex worker named Candy, is one of my professional idols. She's also a producer on "The Deuce." If I got the part, it would mean three juicy scenes with her, on a program led by one of the top showrunners in TV — David Simon, of "The Wire." It would be a dream, realized.