Interview: Isabella DeSantos on Directorial Debut, 'Pure Bush'

Isabella DeSantos is still fairly new to the adult movie community, arriving on the L.A. scene less than two years ago after having been a camgirl for Bang Bros in Florida for four years before that—and to hear her tell it, the move across the country was quite an experience. "I was webcamming solo, but every so often I would do girl/girl scenes on webcam, but that's about as good as it ever got," Isabella recalled. "Working for Bang Bros was awesome because I feel I was initiated into the industry, even though I wasn't into it completely, but you kind of get a feeling; you see how it works, so it wasn't such a big shock when I came to L.A. my first trip out to come to work in XXX." She continued, "This is the pro area, and I must admit, it's like night and day when you go from Florida to L.A.; it's a lot more challenging, and I must admit, everything's more organized out here. You're more into filmmaking here; you have a lot more makeup artists and so many people working together, so it's definitely a big change. I remember when I first worked out here, I was like, 'Wow! Everything is so different here compared to the industry in Florida, a really different vibe,' but I love it. I love the rush it gives." We caught up with Isabella on the set of her directorial debut, Pure Bush for Airerose Entertainment, just as she was shooting a teaser for the movie—which, as so often happens, was the last thing to be shot. It was a shower scene with herself and Allie Haze soaping each other all over; no hardcore, but the gals certainly did seem to be having fun—but we had to ask, does the fact that she's now crossed over to take her place behind the cameras mean that she'll be giving up on performing? "No, I love performing!" she exclaimed. "Performing is fun! I enjoy it very much. I'll do it as much as I possibly can. I would like to incorporate my being a talent as well as being a director together. I think it's a great bonus." So how did Airerose decide to offer the tiny half Colombian/half Peruvian actress her own movie to direct? "I think it was just a lucky series of events," she said. "I consider myself extremely fortunate that one of my very first shoots when I first began to work in the industry was with Airerose. I'd been in the industry for about a year and a couple of months, and they hired me to do Raw Talent 1, and I also worked on Raw Talent 2, just as talent, and a couple of other movies for them, and they offered me this really nice opportunity, so why not take it, right?" So how did Pure Bush come about? "Well, see, I have a bush; had one since I first walked into the industry," she explained. "I love bush. I love women who can actually work with the bush. I mean, the bush is not the thing for everyone; not many girls really like it. But that's how it started, the whole bush idea. Basically, they brought the bush idea to me because I have one and I like it." She elaborated, "The idea of the movie is me throwing this big house party and inviting everybody I know with a bush, so it's bush galore. And I have an awesome cast; I'm really happy with the girls that I have. There's Allie, me, Sarah Shevon, Mick Blue, Bill Bailey, and I also have Valentina Nappi—I love her accent; I must admit, that girl has the most seductive eyes I've ever seen, very beautiful. And in that scene, I have her with Steven St. Croix and Ralph Long, and with me, I worked with Ramon [Nomar]. He's an excellent actor, he's very passionate about his work, so I think they all bring a different vibe to it, all showing the different ways a person can adore a bush, I suppose." But what's it like being responsible for a whole feature rather than just giving a hot performance in a single scene? "It's a lot more to do," she sighed. "There's so much more going on all around you. I mean, when I work as a talent, I completely disconnect myself from everyone, even the person holding the camera right in front of my face. So being outside of the scene and being able to see the bigger picture, and what needs to be taken care of, even the small things, you know, that's where the real work comes in. Because it's so important just to have everything accessible, and to make the talent feel comfortable; you want them to feel comfortable, because as long as the talent's happy, every scene is going to be happy and great. It's a lot more hard work; I still have a lot of learning to do, but I love it. It's a learning process for me too. "Ralph is one of my camera people, and the production manager as well," she added. "He's an excellent guide; he's taught me so much. He's an excellent person to learn from. And I also have Mike Towers; he's an amazing photographer and he's also one of my cameramen. So I have a great crew; a small crew, but I mean, the smaller, I feel, the better, because I have better communication with them, and there's not so many chaotic people around. I like it small. Start small, go big, I guess, is the way I like it." When we spoke with her, Isabella's adrenaline was still pumping from having just finished directing both the Allie Haze/Mick Blue scene and the shower teaser, but she said she couldn't wait to start her next project. "I've got a few more scenes booked as talent over the next few weeks, but I think I've really got a taste for directing, and I think I'm pretty good at it," she assessed. "I'll be working with the editor for Pure Bush over the summer, in preparation for it to be released in September, but really, this opportunity has been thrilling for me, and I can't wait to do another one." Neither can we!