Director's Corner: Brad Armstrong

"The big movies I've done are the nearest and dearest to my heart, because
     they made me try to top what I've done before. And realistically, I
     think that's what we've done on Euphoria, on a lot of levels. The
     script is very thought provoking, and the visuals support it."
     - Brad Armstrong

By Daniel Metcalf

Canadian by birth, Brad Armstrong has proven himself to be a veritable
     renaissance man of the adult industry, having received numerous AVN
     and Hot D'or nominations for his acting, writing, and directing
     abilities. A filmmaker with a passion for porn stars, he dated Dyanna
     Lauren before entering a long-term relationship with Jenna Jameson.
     Brad and Jenna subsequently worked together on projects like
     Dream Quest

     Brad attended college where he majored in commercial art and advert-
     ising. At night he bared all at local strip clubs and was featured in
     the traveling show "Playgirl Plus." After becoming the most photo-
     graphed male model in Hustler magazine history, Brad began his
     adventures in production after establishing himself as one of the
     industry's most in-demand woodmen.

     After self-financing his first film effort, Brad met Wicked Pictures
     President and Owner Steve Orenstein at the East Coast Video Show.
     Impressed with the new filmaker's talent and vision, Orenstein signed
     the director to an exclusive contract in 1995. Since then, Brad has
     continued to artfully craft many of their best and biggest features.

     Brad's efforts have served not only to win awards for the company, but
     also to elevate the art of video erotica in general. His many award
     nominated features to date as a director include Flashpoint, Hell On
     Heels, Exile, Partners Forever, and Wild Thing. Conquest saw Brad
     receiving AVN nominations in three different categories:
        * Best Director
        * Best Screenplay 
        * Best Supporting Actor.

     Other Armstrong classics include Pure, The Kissing Game, and Heartache.
     Brad continues to produce stimulating features like Dream Quest,
     a co-production between Wicked Pictures and Adam & Eve that became the
     first adult title in history to see a same day and date release in both
     VHS and DVD formats. At the 2001 AVN Awards, Dream Quest was hailed as
     both the best selling and renting title of the year by AVN. The deluxe
     DVD edition of Dream Quest went on to win many more awards, including
     DVD of the Year from both the VSDA and the XRCO.
     Note from Den: Dream Quest was voted Best Video for 2000 by the
                    CAVR voters.
     The Armstrong-Wicked team has added a new level of excitement to adult
     films, combining entertaining action sequences and beautifully photo-
     graphed sex scenes with the hottest actresses in the business.
     Outgoing when it comes to discussing the technical aspects of his
     craft, Brad sat down with us recently to discuss the making of his
     most intricate production to date, Wicked Pictures' Euphoria:

Q: Euphoria is being compared to mainstream films like The Cell and
   Videodrome. What's the background to the story?
A: It's a story I wrote with David Aaron Clark, who subsequently wrote
   the screenplay. It's a very highbrow script. It's set in the future,
   a post-apocalyptic landscape. The story focuses on a drug of the time
   called "U4," which is revealed to be the grandchild of the Viagra we
   have now in the year 2001. The story is set in the year 2025, a time
   when the drug affects not only your physical state, but also your mental
   state.


Q: Given your fondness for ornate visuals, this must have appealed to you
   as a way to create "altered realties," and portray them on screen.
A: Exactly, I could shoot little "dreamscapes" that would benefit from the
   kind of art direction I wanted explore. These would be fantasies that
   unfold in the head of our "test subject," portrayed by Sydnee Steele.
   Her character is a prisoner of the state due to problems she's had in
   the past, and just like people now can get reduced sentences for good
   behavior, she agrees to participate in scientific experiments in order
   to get out of her sentence. She goes through a number of experimental
   tests, and the various sex scenes are a part of her journey through her
   own subconscious, via the drug.


Q: How did you approach the casting for such an unusual project?
A: Well, most of the people I cast play two parts. They're characters at
   the actual medical facility where the experiment is taking place, and
   then they play extensions of themselves that appear in Sydnee's dream
   world.


Q: Will it always be evident whether what we're watching is supposed to
   be reality or illusion?
A: No, I'm working to keep that very open-ended, so you're never really
   quite sure where reality ends and fantasy begins.


Q: Needless to say, many are going to find this to be pretty heavy material
   for an adult movie. What appealed to you so much about the story to put
   so much time and effort into filming it?
A: A lot of it had to do with my admiration and liking of The Cell.
   Obviously, it had brilliant art direction, and it created a really unique
   way to get into that visual arena, without having the whole story set in
   a fantasy world. Those situations, like in Dream Quest, where you have a
   fantasy world and a real world, lets me explore my abilities and push the
   envelope with art direction. I really like to see how far we can take it
   on the budgets we are allotted in adult features.


Q: Beyond the technical challenges, what intrigued you about Euphoria?
A: Well, Viagra has become such a big deal in the media; everyone's aware of
   it, yet it's remained a "taboo" subject in adult, so I really wanted to
   put this out there.


A: What was Sydnee Steele's contribution to the project?
Q: It was very similar to Jenna's part in Dream Quest where she's traveling
   though an unknown world, and her character is learning as she goes,
   building up to a type of awakening. For the first part of the movie,
   she's almost like a voyeur, a traveler on a bus, but as the story unfolds
   she gains more character.


Q: How did you enjoy working with her as a director?
A: Sydnee was a joy to work with, and she did a great job. It's a great part
   for her, and she carried the persona of the role well. She was true to
   the piece.


Q: You're in post-production now. Do you have a favorite sex scene yet?
A: Well, it's one of those things where the shoot was so difficult and so
   draining that I'm not sure if I'm ready to say that I have a favorite
   yet. I have several that I think worked out really well. And one thing
   that I'm really happy about is that we had a couple of pick-up days, shot
   a month later, at very different locations, and they're matching up
   really well to the original footage.


Q: Looking back over your career with Wicked, which of your many projects
   would you consider your favorite?
A: Obviously the big movies I've done are the nearest and dearest to my
   heart, because they were challenges, and they made me try to top what
   I've done before. And realistically, I think that's what we've done on
   Euphoria, on a lot of levels. The script is very thought provoking, and
   the visuals support it.