Dyanna Lauren

Q: You actually have some genuine acting ability - would you consider this rare?

Dyanna: I wouldn't say that it's rare. I'm older. I don't have anything to lose. The one thing about acting is that you're worried about the reaction of other people. You're worried that someone's going to laugh at you. When you actually let loose and don't think about it don't get all caught up in it - it's actually very easy to do.

Q: How have you felt about working with Vivid?

Dyanna: Well, I haven't been in front of the camera for a few years now - except with my DVD series. Vivid has always done very, very good work, but the industry is taking a turn for being more Gonzo and so on.

Q: When I worked as a dancer I felt like I wanted to visit the grocery store dressed in a burlap sack. I developed a sort of "covering syndrome" from feeling too exposed at work. Can you identify with this?

Dyanna: Not really. I can feel other people's insecurity being around me, but for the most part, I'm someone who wears sweats and my hair up on top of my head anyway. I'm not going to let what I do me to be something that I'm not.

Q: What is your secret to keep looking so good?

Dyanna: Nothing.....I don't do . More power to anyone, if that's what they choose to do - freedom of speech and all that, but I don't live the lifestyle. This is just a job and it's what I do, but it's not who I am.

Q: You're a smart woman and you're wound up in a desirable position in your career. What happens to young girls in porn who aren't so bright?

Dyanna: The industry takes in people that I find to be too young. When you're 18, you're too young to drink, but you can die for your country and have sex on film. At 18, you have no idea what you want to do - no idea of the consequences, and society has set up guidelines as to what we are supposed to be and as to what is "normal" and "moral". People that see the flash of what we do, that see it's easy money, are often very young, and don't see that this is going to keep them from being in politics,
hinder them in some of their life choices, fall into doing things that they normally wouldn't, such as . So that they can live with themselves because of what society has told them is normal. I think the age limit should be raised.

Q: You think 21 is old enough?

Dyanna: I don't. I was 25 and I feel I made the best decision for myself. Mine was a slow progression. I didn't do it out of desperation.

Q: I've found the Vivid sex scenes to be hotter than average. What do you think of this?

Dyanna: Wow, that's the first time I've ever heard that. Usually what we get the most complaints on is the scenes aren't hot enough for the general public. I do believe in the last year they've gotten more extreme, but that's the one thing that Vivid has been put down for. It's a Catch 22: We tell stories - we get persecuted for telling stories - we don't tell stories, and it's, " Nobody can act."

Q: Maybe by hotter I meant more aesthetically appealing....

Dyanna: They happen to appeal a lot more to women. There is a lot more visually, a lot more fantasy -- granted we have the gynecological shots that everyone wants to see -- but there are better looking people and better looking sets and so forth. But as far as the hot, hot sex scenes, that's never been what Vivid has been known for.

Q: Do you have children? Will you tell them what you do?

Dyanna: I don't have children. Everybody in my family knows what I do. I have nothing to hide. My nieces and nephews, from the time that they were very young, knew what I did. It was always like, it's not okay for everybody, but it's okay for Aunt Dyann because of how she lives her life. I'm a very good person -- I don't lie, I don't do or any of the things that would make it so the job was adverse in any way.

Q: Now that you're directing and producing films, have you stopped acting?

Dyanna: That is something that unfortunately this business says if you haven't done a movie in six months. The last three big films that I did were "Bad Wives", "Kama Sutra" and "The Zone" - three of the most highly acclaimed films in the business. When you're that high up, you're only as good as your last project. I would prefer to have people think of me that way. I haven't found anything that has surpasses them, and I don't want to take any steps back.

Q: What did you say happens in the industry when you haven't done a movie for six months?

Dyanna: Immediately what they'll write about you is that you've retired. And everything after that is a comeback. Well, that's a bunch of crap! We have 8 million other things that we do with dancing, websites, personal appearances and my directing. Plus we have lives. Just because we haven't gotten in front of a camera in six months doesn't mean that we've retired. I think it just creates a little more sanity in our lives.

Q: Why did you want to direct?

Dyanna: Years ago, I was watching something like Oprah and this woman came on, saying that she directed these films and they were based on what women wanted, and oh my God, they were the worst things that you've ever seen! There was no hardcore sex - I don't know where this woman came from - if it was that she didn't want to see any hardcore sex.... I'm bisexual, and I knew that I'd be able to give both sides what they wanted. I really like hardcore gynecological shots. I find those to be very, very stimulating. I really like watching a woman give head if that's something she really enjoys doing. At the same time, I want to see good looking people. I want a story. I want to be able to get involved with the character. Because that's what my feminine side tells me. I try to do a little bit of all of it.

Q: Directing-wise, what would you like to explore?

Dyanna: What I've been doing now with the DVD series is more technical things as opposed to story lines. I've won several awards for the series, I do several different things, like with the multi-camera angles, what most people do is give you not linear angles, but they will give you just another view of the scene the same exact footage is going on at the same time. So you're getting footage that was actually edited out. But I use four, sometimes five different cameras to get you all of the different angles at the same time.

Q: Which one of the Dyanna Presents line would you people look at?

Dyanna: Sex Orgy 2000 is pretty recent and really technically advanced.

Q: How long have you been in the business?

Dyanna: Let's see, ...ten years of having sex, two years of being in the movies without doing hardcore parts...and from the age of 18 doing nudity of some sort.

Q: What trends in adult movies are you content to see fall by the wayside and what current trends are you happy with?

Dyanna: A lot of people fought for a lot of things in this industry, and God bless Janet Reno for the things she's allowed us to do - and more power to anyone who wants to make pissing videos, or violation videos, whatever they want to do for themselves, that's up to them. But just like the rest of the entertainment industry, we have a responsibility. You have no idea how many times kids have come up to me in the last ten years saying, "I learned how to have sex from you." I don't think that somebody should learn how to have sex from somebody fisting themselves. Or some 18 year-old kid wants to get laid for the first time in his life. He's going on his first sex date, or however they're doing it these days. And the first thing he does is spit on the girl and slap her in the face.

Q: What direction do you see porn going in, in the future?

Dyanna: I think what people are forgetting is that this is supposed to be erotic, it's not supposed to be shock value. It's going to end up having to take a huge step back - it's got to. When I first got into the industry the most shocking thing was that people shaved, and then it went to anal scenes, and then DPs - which, fine, whatever. But why, especially in an era when diseases are so RAMPANT, ...does someone have to do 600 guys in a day? What's the point? That's not erotic. Tomorrow, you're not going to remember the girl's name. She'll have no longevity, no career. It's ridiculous.

Q: Do you think it's possible for the adult industry to take a step back?

Dyanna: It's going to have to. The second that Janet Reno leaves office. I don't care if it's a democrat or a republican or a gerbil that takes her place. We are the easiest industry to attack to make a name for yourself, and considering that these are laws that are in place - it's illegal to do defecation videos or fisting, all those things. They're all going to end up going to jail again.

Q: Someone said recently that kissing used to be a neglected part of porn and now it seems to be getting a lot more attention. What do you think of this?

Dyanna: I don't think it's gotten any more [attention]. I think it's [nothing more than] people...spitting in each other's mouths. I don't find that the romance has come back in any way, shape or form.

Q: Does having sex onscreen ever feel like an intimate experience? Can it be enjoyable?

Dyanna: Sure it can. It depends on a lot of variables. It depends on the person, on how the crew is. Not everybody wakes up every day wanting to have sex. You aren't attracted to every single person that you work with.

Q: Do you prefer acting with men or with women?

Dyanna: It all depends on the person, has nothing to do with the gender. It depends on my mood, how the person treats me.

Q: Could you conceivably direct adult films indefinitely, without getting burned out?

Dyanna: Yes, this is my career.

Q: What other women would you consider to be real mavericks in the field? Do you stand alone, or are there people to inspire you?

Dyanna: I don't keep up on too many other people's works -- I find that it's a distraction. It can interfere with your own creativity.

Q: Are there people you look up to?

Dyanna: I'm not a person that does that. I've never been somebody to look up to anyone. Somebody may have accomplished something, and that's great...I have respect for the people that came before me, but that doesn't mean that I look up to them because they're not who put me in the position that I'm in -- I have.