A TASTY DUO OF PORN

There are very few things as fun as spending a morning browsing porn, under the guise of doing research. But it is important for journalistic integrity to know a bit about the people you are going to interview, or so I told myself, and I kept my bedroom door open to confirm to everyone in the flat that it was legitimate and professional.

And as I watched, I kept feeling more nervous. I mean, I was going to be interviewing porn stars! The one guy gets pissed on, for God’s sake, and seems to love it. What do you ask someone like that? And the other is Argentinean…

There are three nations in the world whose men that I am in love with, without exception and unconditionally. The first is Israel. The second is Italy. And the third is Spain. Argentinians, by a fortuitous stroke of history, are descended in equal part from Italians and Spaniards and are therefore, according to my maths, so attractive they begin to warp the laws of physics. Keeping my face from going the bright red of a schoolboy crush was going to be my first challenge of the interview.

So I hardened my resolve. I told myself to power through any inhibitions or niceties. These men would be rough, and dirty, and I should not feel embarrassed to ask the most candid sexual questions. I may have even rehearsed saying “fisting” out loud a few times in the mirror before setting off.

But they caught me completely off guard. Both signed to the Lucas Entertainment studio, Pavlvs Guell and Salvatore Dolce were out in Cape Town for Sexpo. They were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, wandering about the square off Heerengracht in the sun with the excitement of travellers just arrived in a new country. They were not rough in the slightest; they were playful and boyish, shy and well brought up. And cute. Very, very cute. So much better looking in real life than in all my research. Especially Pavlvs, as my theory of Argentinians had predicted, and I was relieved to have a notebook to glance down at to break eye contact when his onslaught of flirting began.

I sat down and ordered a coffee and asked them a little bit about themselves, and the first thing I noticed was that they are both complete romantics. I asked how they had ended up in their various cities, and both had moved there for love. Pavlvs, for a three year relationship; Salvatore for a three week tryst.

And how did you get into porn?

P: I started because I have friends in porn. I was always interested in doing it. But it was a surprise for me. The first time is very strange.

S: I always had this feeling that I wanted to go into porn, but I was not sure. I was living in Milan before, and in Italy, people don’t see porn stars in such a good way. But then I moved to London, and my relationship was over, and I started thinking about doing it. An agent contacted me on Facebook and asked me if I wanted to do it.

Pavlvs is a tour guide in Rome. He takes groups around the city and around the country. Asked if he’s ever slept with any of his tourists, he responds enthusiastically:

P: For sure I did! You are totally different when you are working. You are serious. You are explaining about the history of the place you are visiting. You are walking around the Basilica in the Vatican, and you don’t expect your customer to say “I’ve seen you in a porn movie!” But sometimes they come up to you and say it. And sometimes they are cute.

I’m guessing it’s very easy to get laid?

S: Yes, like you can’t imagine! People in London love porn. They know before you do that your new movie has been released.

P: In Rome, you have two different reactions. Some people like it, and some people really don’t. Italian culture is a little conservative. I work in one of the biggest gay night clubs, so people know me from working there. Lots of them tell me “I saw you” and get very excited. And others say nothing, but I know they know. So you can tell they don’t like it and wouldn’t talk to me. I don’t live my life really into porn though. I have my life. I’m a good guy. Porn is just something I do. It’s a job that I enjoy. But I know other guys think all there is to them is their porn acting. I don’t have fan pages or websites or any of that stuff. But I also don’t have a problem with it.

And what do your mothers think?

P: My family encourages it. My grandmother, she loves it. Really, she loves it.

Every gay man wants to be with or be a porn star. What is the best thing about it?

S: Fun. You have fun. You know, you watch the movies. You think you know about porn. But watching yourself in a movie, and doing it, is completely different. You have fun; the people are so nice and friendly. There is a lot of laughing. Maybe you see the hardcore “oh yeah, come on! Yes!” but behind it, when you do it, it’s actually loving.

How does it work? Do they send you a script?

S: They contact you when they want to do a movie – and they send you details and pictures of the other actors. You can decide if you want to do something with them. The script depends on the studio. With Lucas, we start just to have sex.

Do you get training?

They both burst out laughing.

P: Training? No! But there is always something you can learn, something you can share, tips you get from each other. You can try new things. There are always things you have to do that maybe you wouldn’t do in real life when you have sex. There are things I don’t want to do in real life that I like to do in a movie.

And do you take some of the things you learn and use them in your personal sex life?

S: Yeah well, you know, people… they expect you to be amazing.

P: And we are!

Lucky for your boyfriends

P: No, we are single! I think it takes some getting used to. You have to pay attention to the camera. Aside from having sex, you have to try to let it be seen. Some positions are not very comfortable.

Don’t you get stage fright with all of those cameras on you?

P: You have to be an exhibitionist to do porn. For sure, it’s not normal, but I enjoy it. Except once, I didn’t enjoy it. Because my partner, I don’t like him. Physically, he’s not my type. So while we were filming I was a little bit disappointed. You can’t see I wasn’t really enjoying it when you watch it. It’s actually one of my favourite scenes.

And do you ever take Viagra?

P: There is another thing. I don’t need it, but a lot of guys use it. It’s an injection. It’s much better than Viagra. You stay hard for hours.

Is that how long it takes?

P: It depends. Three to four hours sometimes. Once I was filming a scene for 14 hours.

You must have been exhausted!

P: It depends on your partner too. Sometimes you are working, but he is just lying there.

Have you ever ended up dating someone you met on set?

P: Yes, I did. In my first movie with Lucas, I was only supposed to have one scene. I arrived at the apartment, and there were four studs. The one guy, Jonathan Agassi, and I had a very, very good feeling. So we started something. We started a relationship. After that, the studio decided to make another scene with us together. I moved to Berlin with him, but it didn’t work. You know, the people in the porn ind