On the Set: Unscripting Hustler’s ‘Girl Toy’

Above, Val Dodds and Trinity St. Clair. Below, Trinity St. Clair, Val Dodds and Reagan Foxx; bottom, Dodds with writer/photographer Shawn Alff “I’m basically just fucking all the moms in the neighborhood, right,” Val Dodds says when director Rick Davis asks if she reviewed the script for her feature role in Hustler’s Girl Toy. “Basically,” Rick says, grinning. The two scan the script handed down by Hustler’s producers. In porn the script is often as fluid as the sex scenes. The story’s primary function is to contextualize the characters. Viewers don’t so much care how performers ended up in bed together as they care what positions these actresses assume. Val poses for box cover photos in wedges, jean shorts, and a plaid shirt rolled at the elbows. This wholesome, Midwest look reflects her roots as a former Catholic schoolgirl from Nebraska who answered an ad to become a model, and ended up in porn. She slowly strips for the camera, revealing a long, elegant physique tanned to the bone. At 23, Val looks more like a seasoned model than a naïve teen. But in porn, young performers must pretend to be teenagers while performers in their late twenties pretend to be moms—or MILFs. “Now I want a picture of you looking straight at the camera,” Hustler’s photographer, Sir Ron, tells Val. “A picture of you looking at the guy picking up the DVD.” Val shifts her focus to Sir Ron’s lens. Near Val, a painting of a tree covers the TV so the plasma screen doesn’t reflect the guys lurking behind the scenes, each searching for unique ways to commodify Val’s charm. A video journalist shoots Val for his website. I scribble notes over Sir Ron’s shoulder, pretending I’m writing this story for the visually impaired, or those who like to fill in the graphic details of a porn scene with their imagination. *   *   * The sun shines sharply through the cloudless sky. It’s a perfect day for shooting porn. A hot tub bubbles over and spills into the pool. A tiki hut shades the empty pool bar. Recent storms caused a bloom of dandelions in the yard and knocked down the privacy fence behind the pool. As a result, Rick can’t shoot the threesome in the pool as the script demanded. While Rick discusses this issue with the property manager, I sit poolside with Val. Wearing only a pink bikini, she toes her reflection in the freezing water. “How many women are you fucking today?” I ask. “I don’t know,” Val says. “Rick, how many women am I working with today?” “Three today,” Ricks says. “Two tomorrow.” “I’ve never slept with that many people in two days before,” she says. “At least most of them are MILFs.” Val prefers to bed MILFs in scenes and befriend them off set. She is drawn to mature performers off camera for the same reason many men prefer these seasoned women on camera. MILF performer Reagan Foxx joins Val by the pool. Foxx is a fit, mid-thirties model with dark hair. Prepping the women for the scene, Rick tells them it’s more important that they understand their characters as opposed to memorizing their lines, as the script is changing. “I’m basically pimping Val out to my other MILF friends, right?” Reagan asks. “Basically,” Rick says. The cameras rolls. The women go off script, working into the scene the key information that Reagan is the mother of one of Val’s friends. After their characters meet on camera, Val and Reagan remain by the pool, chatting while Rick heads inside to find a room to stage the threesome. On a boy/girl set, the performers might start fooling around before their scene to help build their chemistry. Val and Reagan’s foreplay consists of talking. “I was so excited when I found out I was working with you,” Reagan tells Val. “We’re the same height. I’m tired of towering over teen performers and feeling like a giant.” Rick and Sir Ron discuss the best way to modify the script in order to move the action from the pool to the bedroom. I’m less interested in the story of how these characters ended up in bed together than I am in how the performers ended up on set, together. *   *   * Val, Reagan and petite performer Trinity St. Clair sprawl naked on a bed beneath Roman columns that serve as bed posts. Arching over the bed is a metal canopy that looks built to support BDSM rigging. Sir Ron snaps photos while Rick reviews the characters’ intentions. “Remember, Val,” Rick says. “You secretly want to, but you feel like you should hold out, like you’re unsure if you should eat pussy. So fight it, just a little bit, then give in.” Reagan twists her nipples to get them camera-ready and spreads her legs. Val licks her fingers like a quarterback readying for a snap. “How many fingers do you want?” Val asks. “You can put up to four fingers inside her,” Sir Ron says. “Just not the thumb, then it’s fisting and we can’t show that.” “Should I be licking her pussy too?” Val asks. “The answer to that question is always yes,” Sir Ron says. Camera lights freeze the women in place as they float atop the feathery, white comforter. The women rotate positions. Val lies back and opens her legs for Reagan and Trinity. “You can always spot a boy/girl performer by her nails,” Val says nodding to Reagan’s fingers. Girl/girl performers usually have short nails to accommodate the amount of digital insertion required. “I’m sorry” Reagan says. “Should we use lube?” “No,” Val says. “Just spit on it. But I love the feel of long nails running over my skin and through my hair, so do that a lot. Something about it feels so comfortable. Like a mother’s touch or something.” The women get dressed back in their outfits in preparation to film the sex scene they just pantomimed for photos. Rick calls for quiet on set. I step into the hall, just out of the camera’s range. From my vantage point, I’m forced to construct their sex scene from the sound of their kissing and moaning. In some ways porn sex is quiet. The performers try to communicate their inner pleasure while the white noise of life—TVs and stereos and phones—is muted. I’m left with the image of one of Val’s feet, dangling off the bed, rocking in time with her accelerated breathing. Her toes curl. My imagination builds an entire sex scene atop this disembodied detail. My focus drifts from Val’s foot to five canvases hung, inches apart, on the wall beside the bed. This piece depicts the black and white image of a naked woman in repose, split into sequential units. The model’s beauty is divided into parts, frame by frame, leaving viewers to fill in the gaps. Girl Toy will street August 15 from Hustler Video.