Feline Grace: On Set with Bree Mills’ Cat People

This on-the-set report on Bree Mills’ "Good Kitty" scene for Adult Time's Transfixed channel originally ran in the August 2019 issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition. “I am always looking for source material,” director Bree Mills says, using some of her down time on set to talk about today’s scene. She’s waiting for all the props to be delivered—including a chocolate cake—and for her stars to get into full makeup and costume. Kristen Scott and Natalie Mars are there to shoot a scene for Transfixed, a series that pairs cis and trans girls. (Titled "Good Kitty," the scene was released this month on AdultTime.com.) “A lot of what inspires Transfixed is a visual image—when I see something that catches my eye, I’ll bank it,” Mills explains. “And I banked this one image of a feline woman—a night shot of a feline woman crawling up a tree—months ago.” She loved the look of the photo, and thought it captured the essence of women not dressed up like cats but embodying feline characteristics. “And it really reminded me of Cat People,” Mills says, referencing the 1982 remake starring Nastassja Kinski. “It embodies the ’80s and ’80s excess, and that’s my favorite decade. So when I knew that I was going to be working with Kristen and Natalie for this, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to bring that photo out of the bank and use it.” Next came the search for both context and visual trappings. Mills settled on a leopard-print body suit almost identical to the source photo for Scott and a “fetishistic lion tamer” ensemble for Mars. Natalie Mars and Kristen Scott in costume for "Good Kitty" (Transfixed/Adult Time) “This story was actually written by Nina Haze,” Mills says, noting that Haze—a fetish photographer—has been working as her assistant for almost a year. Mars plays the madam of an elegant mansion, and Scott is her catlike pet, stretched out on the table in front of a piece of cake. “When I read that, I thought, ‘Yes, that’s going to look really visually cool. That’ll be the episode cover.’ And the cake is here, so hopefully it will look like I imagined it,” Mills says. She notes with satisfaction that Scott and Mars are just right to play the scene: “I knew these two would look amazing together and I know they would both enjoy that kind of concept, so the stars all aligned.” “The first thing that we’re going to do is get our episode cover photo. … Once all the lights go down and our stage lights go up, it’s going to give it a moody, manor house type of feel,” Mills promises. “We’ll get this photo session in the can and then we’ll start to work through the rest of the story pretty much in sequence.” After their sessions with makeup artist Azzie, Scott and Mars try on their costumes. Both performers are familiar with the director’s work—and, in fact, both had just shot for other Adult Time projects. The day before, Scott had just shot two scenes for Girlsway with Casey Calvert directing: a threesome in the morning with Dee Williams and Lauren Phillips, and then she shot with Alexis Monroe in the evening. “I’m still waking up,” she says. “Great energy on set.” Yesterday Mars shot a scene with Kenna James. “It was sort of like a Devil Wears Prada sort of thing, where I’m her boss and very demanding. And she’s my diminutive secretary/assistant. Turns out we have a sexual relationship, too,” Mars describes. Today, Scott says, “I’m more the submissive pet, and Natalie is my master. She comes home and I’m just playing that part.” Scott says this is a different type of scene for her. “I’m used to it being more gonzo or more dialogue driven. So to have something that is more visually driven, I’m really excited to see everything come together.” It’s also Scott’s first scene with a trans performer. When Transfixed.com launched, Scott reached out to Mills. “I was really excited. I saw Cherie DeVille’s scene first [with Venus Lux] and I was just blown away by the visuals and how gorgeous everything was, and I immediately thought, ‘I want to be part of this.’ I contacted Bree and we immediately set something up.” Mars, on the other hand, has become a go-to girl for Tranfixed, having shot scenes so far with Riley Reyes, Haley Reed, Cadence Lux and Kenna James. ”A lot of these girls, it’s their first.” Musing about her work with Mills, Mars says, “I’ve really been enjoying the Transfixed series because it’s all girl/girl. So many of the trans porn companies, it’s mostly like guy on girl or trans on trans. It’s rare you actually shoot with cis girls. It’s becoming a bit more common.  … “This whole Transfixed series wouldn’t have happened a couple of years ago. It would have been hard to find girls to work with us. It’s definitely improving.” she adds. Natalie Mars and Kristen Scott