Jenna Haze called me after staying up all night reading the latest thriller, The Passage. This may not be the all-night-activity you'd expect from one of the most hardcore working pornstars, but Haze's entire career has been built on defying expectations. Compared to that other famous Jenna who made a fortune in porn, Haze is the antithesis of the fake blonde bombshell. The petite brunette with smaller natural breasts seduced her way to the top of the pornstar pantheon, winning nearly 40 major adult awards in less than a decade simply by being herself—-a self-described stoner chick who loves books, video games, and sex. I caught up with Jenna before her performance live at the Penthouse Club in Tampa October 22-23.
Shawn Alff: You’ve won the FAME award for Dirtiest Girl in Porn two years running (09-10). What distinguishes you as the dirtiest girl in porn?
Jenna Haze: I don’t know. I think it’s really funny because there are so many things I haven’t done in porn. Everyone says it's because of my
dirty talk. People think I look innocent then all of these nasty things come out of my mouth during a scene.
SA: Would you ever try to break Lisa Sparxxx’s record of gang banging 919 guys in one day?
JH: No, I’m not into the gang bang thing. The most guys I’ve done at once was three or four and I've only done a couple of blow bangs. I always wonder why these guys can't get someone else to fuck. My fans have this obsession with wanting to see me do crazy, hardcore things with all these dicks and I just feel like the porn industry has gone a little too hardcore. I mean, I’m into anal. I think DPs [double penetration] are hot. I think cum swallowing is hot. I think toys are sexy. I’m into dirty fantasies and bondage. But all those guys on one girl is just not sexy to me, and I don’t know why fans want to watch guys standing around in line jerking off, waiting to be the next one to fuck her. The closest I've come is a girl bang where 19 girls took turns fucking me. But while that was a fun experience, I didn’t feel like I really had a connection with the people because there was so much going on. I really like to have that chemistry in a scene.
SA: Sasha Grey has been given a lot of credit for being a kind of anti-pornstar pornstar, but in many ways you were the original. You’re petite, a brunette, have small natural breasts, and you genuinely enjoy hardcore sex. Why do you think you never received the mainstream attention that Grey is getting?
JH: Honestly I don’t think Sasha Grey ever really wanted to be a pornstar. I think she used it as a platform. She saw an opening so she came into the business to make a big stir. I met her on her first shoot, which was the orgy scene in Fashionistas 2 for Evil Angel. In the group sex scene we were all in, she asked Rocco to punch her in the stomach. I was like 'Wow, who is this girl?' I think she came in with the intention of doing things to grab people’s attention and getting that spotlight put on her so that she could catch the eye of someone like Steven Soderbergh and launch herself into some kind of mainstream career, because as soon as she got there, she turned her back on porn. I don’t think her heart was ever into porn. My heart is into it a lot more. I didn’t get into the business because I wanted to be famous or rich. I got into porn because I really wanted to have sex. At 19 I was already taking guys home from clubs, fucking them, and having crazy sex experiences. So when the guy who got me into the business asked, 'Hey do you want to do this on camera, have people be tested, get to pick and choose who you work with, and call the shots,' I was like 'Fuck yeah.'
SA: When you first entered the industry, you had a reputation of shooting as many scenes as you could with whoever wanted to work with you, which is much different from some pornstars who only put out a few feature videos a year. Was this an intentional business strategy or just a side effect of your personality?
JH: When I first got in, I did everything right away. My first scene was anal. I was doing everything and working for every company. Then I settled down into one contract with Jill Kelly for a while and that was the right thing for me at the time. During that period I quit filming with guys. I was in love with the cameraman on the set so it made things a little uncomfortable, and honestly I didn’t want to fuck anybody else. Then I got out of that contract and I broke up with the boyfriend and I started doing the same thing I did before with a bunch of companies. I think it was the right thing for me for sure, to have no agent and just kind of do what I wanted. I don’t think I’ll ever sign with a contract. I have my own company now.
SA: By all accounts you seem to be a genuine romantic: you were engaged at 19, you stopped doing girl/boy scenes when you fell in love, you dropped everything to tour with a boyfriend’s band... Will falling in love be what lures you away from porn?
JH: I don’t know that it will pull me out of porn. Right now, I’m kind of involved with someone who isn't in the business. It’s new and he’s really supportive. I think kids will be what pulls me out of being in front of the camera. But I think I’ll always direct, or be an agent, or a makeup artists, or just dance and tour like the legend Nina Hartley. I’ll always have a finger in the business, so to speak.
SA: You're a self proclaimed stoner, a bookworm, and a video game dork? Do you think that image appeals to the same type of fans who spend a lot of time on the internet looking up porn?
JH: I don’t know if it helps me. It would be really cool if it did. That’s just me. I’ve been playing Nintendo since I was 6-years-old with my grandpa. I’ve always carried a portable game unit with me. That’s just who I am. I think it’s important to be who you are in everything you do, even if you're an actress. I just put myself out there for people to see. My fan’s really like knowing who I am and that’s one of the reasons I feel like I’ve been so successful. I tour constantly. I’m always interacting with my fans and spending time with them whether it’s on my webshow or my website or on Twitter. I have fans across the country who I know by name. I just hate fakeness, and so many girls are fake in this business: fake hair, fake tits, fake lips, fake asses, fake nails—-it’s like, where's the real you. I feel like these girls are insecure in some way, like they’re trying to be something they’re not. I really like confident women. It's really sexy to me to see someone who's unique and happy the way they are. My best friend, Joanna Angel and all her Burning Angel girls are good friends of mine, which surprises people because we're such opposites. They're so unique. I like uniqueness and natural beauty.
SA: Before you got into porn, you tried dancing for one day and hated it. Almost a decade later you won the NightMoves award for Best Feature Dancer of 2009. How did that evolution occur?
JH: I danced for a day at a strip club in Orange County and it was horrible. It was a day shift, I was 18, and had no idea what I was doing. I went on stage in Payless shoes and a little thong bikini. I didn't know what was sexy. I mean I was a waitress at Marie Callender's. It was quite a different life. I didn’t know how to be sexy on stage, but I wanted to do it. I always liked dancing. I made $60 at the end of a whole day's shift, but the club took most of that in stage fees. It was just a really bad experience. So I didn’t dance for a long time. Then I was in the business for a few years when Jill Kelly finally said, 'You’ve been a contract girl for a while. You have a big name. You’ve won awards. You really should get out there and start touring.' Being a featured dancer is really different from being a house dancer. As a house dancer I didn’t like going up to guys and being like, 'Hey baby, do you want a lap dance?' I couldn’t do that. I would laugh. As a feature dancer you get to put on more of a show, and you only go up a couple times. People come up to you. I don’t feel like I’m trying to hustle some guy for his money.
SA: What is your take on the news of the gay-to-straight porn performer testing positive for HIV? Do you think this will push porn studios to adopt a condoms only policy?
JH: It’s not the first time it’s happened since I’ve been in the business. The first time was in 2004 and then last year we had a little scare. I think the industry should just go condoms only; it’s not worth the risk anymore. My company isn't shooting for a month, maybe two, just so I can see the way the industry is going and what new rules and regulations are put in place. It’s the best thing for us to go condoms only and have everyone tested. Some people are talking about making it condoms only and not having people tested. That’s just stupid. Condoms aren't a big deal. Some think condoms will be bad for sales, and as a company owner, it may be bad at first, but if all of the companies are using condoms and that's the only porn out there, people are still going to watch it. No one is going to stop watching porn just because of condoms. And me personally as a porn fan, I'd rather watch two people that I know are being safe than watch two people and think, 'Wow, I wonder if they’re going to contract HIV?'
SA: You played Bella Swan in the XXX parody of Twilight. Have you ever acted in a parody porn based on the work of one of your favorite authors like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, or Anne Rice?
JH: I wish I was invited to be on the True Blood one. I’ve read all the Twilight books so it was fun to do that role. I have a friend whose girlfriend is a huge Twilight fan, so every time she wants to watch one of the movies he suggests they watch the parody because he likes my acting better. The parodies have taken off, but I think a bit too much. I just saw that they did a Judge Joe Brown Parody.
SA: Have you ever considered writing your own dirty stories or a memoir?
JH: Publishing a book is the trendy thing for pornstars right now. Tera has one. Jenna has one. Mr. Marcus has one. Sasha Grey is coming out with one. I’ll probably do one eventually at the end of my career. Then I’m just going to say everything and be completely, 100% candid.
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