From www.ifc.com- Plenty of adult film stars have gone mainstream, from the late Marilyn Chambers (“Rabid”) to Ginger Lynn Allen (“The Devil’s Rejects”), and even Traci Lords (whose long-time public resentment over being labeled an ex-porn star probably isn’t helped by her supporting bit in “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”).

However, sleepy-eyed sex starlet Sasha Grey — already one of the hottest properties in her biz today — may have trumped her predecessors with the central role in a penetrating, thrilling Steven Soderbergh drama that played Sundance. Shot cheaply and quickly last October with no other professional actors and a largely improvised script, “The Girlfriend Experience” follows Manhattan escort Christine, a.k.a. “Chelsea” (Grey) as she tries to juggle her job and a relationship with physical trainer Chris (Chris Santos). By phone, Grey thankfully didn’t charge me by the minute as we talked about her “Girlfriend” experience, how she first became a cinephile, the dangers of social networking, and a professional rumor that’s not quite true. Don’t worry, this one’s safe for work.
Naturally, yes, I’m comfortable in front of a camera — but I had to become comfortable performing as an actor, not as me having sex on camera.

Q: Could you give a quick-and-dirty walkthrough of your “Girlfriend Experience” experience, along with any expectations you might’ve had?

A: Going into the film, I didn’t really know what to expect because the shooting style was so experimental. I wrote a character backstory — I condensed that – and would ask Steven: “Is it okay to use this, and adapt these personality traits into the person?” The casting director Carmen [Cuba] actually sent us links to blogs, all written anonymously by these escorts. I read those, and Steven and I met up with two escorts. We interviewed both of them, and a lot of the idiosyncratic behavior of Christine or Chelsea was taken from these two women. [As for] actually shooting with [Soderbergh], he’s so quiet and intimate, yet methodical at the same time. You can see and feel the wheels turning inside his head. He says so little, yet everything he says has a lot of impact on each scene.

Q: I was told that you were the only person who was allowed to see Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s script, since so much of the film relies on improvisation.

A: I’m not sure. [laughs] I didn’t get an outline until the evening before we started shooting because they wanted some of the situations and reactions to be natural and not forced. Sometimes we’d get on set and we had an outline. We knew what the scene would be, but what was said and happened was constantly evolving every day and in every scene.

The most noticeable thing for me was that I was relaxing. [laughs] Sometimes you get in front of a camera and you premeditate all these things you want to say within a scene, but you kind of freeze up. It’s a hard feeling to articulate to somebody. I mean, naturally, yes, I’m comfortable in front of a camera — but I [had to become] comfortable performing, I guess you could say, as an actor, not as me having sex on camera. Obviously, that’s a big difference.

Q: In the film, you play an escort with a boyfriend, and in real life, you’re engaged. Is that a tricky dynamic to be in a long-term relationship when you’re having sex with other people for money?

A: I’d say the first three months were the hardest because, and you can ask my fiancée this as well, it was less about having sex with other people and more about spending time with multiple people, if that makes any sense. It’s like, I’m not going to get home at five o’clock, we’re not going to eat dinner at six o’clock, because it’s entertainment, so things can run over, or you get home early. So it was getting used to a very different way of living for both of us. Now it’s very natural, and because we’re both very liberal people, the sex part comes easily and is not so difficult to deal with. In Chelsea, or Christine, and Chris’ case, she’s constantly coming face-to-face with emotional circumstances with her clients, whereas I go to an adult set, and I’m not there to pretend to be somebody’s girlfriend. We all know why we’re there, and it’s very upfront and honest.

Q: Porn stars don’t typically have career longevity. Do you have something like a five-year or ten-year plan that involves a different professional path?

A: Yes, I just started my own production company called Grey Art, and I’ll be shooting my directorial debut in the next two weeks. It’ll come out in June, actually. It’s called “The F&%k Junkie.” I’m working on my web site, sashagrey.com — I’ll be performing and directing on there as well. I’ve been working towards directing in the adult industry for quite some time, and I’ve finally found the right way to do it. I’m also working on music, a sex philosophy book, a graphic novel, and I have an adult toy novelty line. I’ve never really limited myself to just one thing.

Q: It’s suddenly common knowledge that Jean-Luc Godard is your favorite filmmaker, and you almost used Anna Karina as your nom de guerre. When did you start watching art and foreign films?

A: When I was about 13, and then really heavily when I was 14 or 15. My most influential theater teacher, one of his things was telling the class, “Listen, you should be watching one film per week, minimum” to learn the craft of film, and to study other actors as well. I’d ask him for lists of different films to watch, and I would go home every week and try to watch one. Usually, I would watch two or three.

Q: What hooked you on Godard?

A: It’s Godard. You either get it or you don’t, you know? [laughs] He is definitely one of those people, like a David Bowie, who has always challenged himself and the way things are done. He’s constantly evolving, breaking rules, creating new ones, and breaking those rules. I think there are very few people, in my generation at least, that are that passionate about what they do. I really admire that.

Q: So we should expect arty influences in your XXX directorial debut?

A: Definitely. One of the reasons I got in this industry was because I saw a creative void. I don’t think that I have to get on a set and say to myself, “This is porn. This is how it’s shot. This is all that sells.” I don’t believe that there’s only one formula that people want to buy and see. Especially right now, with the amount of free porn that’s out there, why would somebody go buy a scene that they can get for free? You have to add those missing elements, and make it something that the audience will want to watch from beginning to end.

Q: Which other auteurs would you like to work with?

A: There’s plenty. I know this is funny, but John Carpenter. I adore him. [laughs] David Lynch. David Gordon Green. Catherine Breillat. The list goes on. I hate this question because I always feel like I leave somebody out.

Q: Breillat reminds me: I heard that on your very first adult film shoot, you asked Rocco Siffredi to punch you in the stomach, and yet you’re quick to point out your sensitivity to feminism. Some might see this as a conflict, no?

A: Actually, that was sorely taken out of context. That actually didn’t happen. What I have to say about that is, even if I did ask [Siffredi] to do that and he did it, what’s to say that I don’t get pleasure out of that? I’ve never done that on camera, but if it was something that turned me on, I asked him to do it and we had a safe word, what’s degrading to one person might be very pleasurable to another. There are so many aspects of human sexuality that we’re afraid to talk about, because people still don’t understand it. It’s not just black and white, you know?

Q: Are inroads being made to challenge America’s buttoned-up conservatism towards sexuality?

A: Definitely. One of the things I enjoy is being able to encourage people to not be afraid of their sexuality and their fantasies, because we all have them. It’s quite evident that people are really interested in sex but don’t want to talk about it. There was a recent study that Utah has the highest internet-porn consumption rate — one of the most conservative states in America. So it’ll become more of an open subject to talk about, but I think we have to fight for expression and understanding. I hate to sound like a little kid, like “Nobody understands me!”, because there are people that understand me, and plenty of people who feel the same way. But for many, many years, we haven’t been able to validate our feelings towards sexuality because we’re made to feel guilty about it.

Q: When you do it for a living, do you get desensitized or outright bored by sex?

A: The day I feel like I’m at an office job is the day I’ll quit performing in front of a camera. I try to prepare for every one of my sex scenes starting the night before, and I try to find new and creative ways to make each scene different and unique.

Q: Do porn stars naturally have creepy fans?

A: Actually, I have a really great fan base. I think I’m luckier than most celebrities. Pick any actor: They’re walking down the street in Hollywood, and a fan will bum-rush in, try to take their picture and ask for their autograph. In my case, people are intimidated. They don’t necessarily know what to do or say, so I usually just get the double-take. Every once in a while, somebody will say, “Oh, I really like your work.” I was at a store the other night with my fiancée, and someone was like, “Sasha rocks!” That was it, because people don’t know how to say what they want to say, for the simple fact that I do have sex on camera.

Q: You seem to be a social-networking fiend with lots of followers. How have Facebook and Twitter changed your life, and more importantly, why haven’t you accepted my friend request?

A: I haven’t been on Facebook in so long, honestly. My Twitter just cycles through, but I should go on there, and I’ll do that for you. [laughs] I think they’re great tools because it allows an instant communication with my fans, but in the same vein, sometimes it can be a bad thing. Information just comes and goes so quickly, or it can be misconstrued. I can be a very sarcastic person, and sometimes people take every word I say literally.