Sasha Grey, winner of my 2009 Sexaminer Award for Porn Star of the Year, has been a mainstay of this Sex & Relationships column throughout 2009, and managed to find herself connected to just about every adult entertainment headline of the year.
Grey made at least 30 films in 2009, ranging from a flirting-with-the-mainstream role in Steven Soderbergh's indie film The Girlfriend Experience to the raunchier work she is better known for, including such titles as Masturbation Nation 3, Face Invaders 4, and I Wanna Bang Your Sister.
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But it's the middle ground I'm most interested in: Grey's higher-minded and higher-art adult entertainment features like The Birthday Party (her first film as both director and producer under her new Grey Art Productions label) and the highly acclaimed porn-noir Throat: A Cautionary Tale are changing the way people think about pornographic cinema, and Grey, the self-proclaimed "existentialist porn star" has positioned herself as the poster girl for a new brand of more intelligent and more artistic pornography.
Case in point: Throat: A Cautionary Tale from Vivid Entertainment is a Best Feature Movie nominee at the 2010 AEBN Awards, where Grey was also nominated for Adult Performer of the Year; a Best Video Feature nominee at the 2010 AVN Awards where it's up for Best Video Feature, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay, and where Grey is scheduled to give the keynote address; and Feature Movie of the Year nominee at the 2010 XBIZ Awards, where she's a Female Performer of the Year nominee and is in the running for Acting Performance of the Year for her role in Throat, and where Throat director Paul Thomas is up for Director of the Year).
Other Sasha Grey highlights in 2009:
Kicking off the New Year with sox appeal on December 30, Grey posed in nothing but American Apparel's 3-stripe socks for a series of nude ads. She followed it up in May, with another series of sexy spots for the company, this time wearing their ass-bearing Sheer Luxe Cutout Pantyhose
Think you've seen every angle of Sasha Grey? How about this sophisticated (and fully-clothed!) 2009 catalog shoot for Manoukian?
Grey got a couple pieces of the porn parody pie, starring as a Vulcan temptress in This Ain't Star Trek XXX and making cameos in Seinfeld: A XXX Parody, and Not Bewitched XXX
Working with Steven Soderbegh paid off in more ways than one: In August, Grey made #13 on Premiere Magazine's list of the 40 Most Beautiful Women in Hollywood
Grey Art Productions came on strong in its first year, inking a broadcast deal with Spice Digital Networks in August and nabbing a nomination for New Studio of the Year at the 2010 XBIZ Awards
And, closing out the year and the decade, Grey weighed in on Governor Sanford's Appalachian Adventure as an expert sex scandal commentator for Newsweek's Decade In Rewind special issue (Larry Craig's "wide-stance" topped Sanford for sex scandal detail of the decade).
As for New Year's resolutions? She's got plenty:
On January 7, Grey will give the keynote address at the 2010 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. On Janury 9, she'll accept the Jenna Jameson Crossover Star of the Year Award at the 2010 AVN Awards (and probably a few others)
On January 25, watch for Grey in the title role of Malice in Lalaland, Lew Xypher's twisted take on the Lewis Caroll tale
In February, Grey will be on hand for Sex Week at Yale
Doc Johnson will be releasing a line of Sasha Grey signature sex toys in 2010
And, finally, stay tuned for a new book she's putting the finishing touches on for Vice/MTV Books (she's also on the cover of News, Nudity & Nonsense: The Best of Vice Magazine, Volume II, released last month).
For more from Sasha Grey in the New Year, follow her on Twitter @SashaGrey. And while you're at it, please subscribe to this column and follow @Sexaminer for the latest Sex & Relationships (and Sasha Grey) headlines throughout the year.
Comments
I love it! It's so fun to try to reconcile the hardcore and foulmouthed Sasha Grey with the woman who is so clearly a thinker and an artist, and so awesome to see that she's being appreciated for both. Such a refreshing change to be reminded that sex (and porn) is complicated stuff that adults can appreciated on different levels! I wonder if she has any idea how many female fans she has?
Who knew there were so many pictures of Sasha Grey with so many clothes on?
you make a compelling case and it's certainly been a big year for her, but hasn't she won plenty of awards? i'd love to see the spotlight get spread around a little bit
Hello dear Sarah:
Just linked to one of your terrific 2009 wrap-ups with my Top Ten Cheaters List for 2009.
Wishing you a glorious New Year (and will email you with some thoughts to share). /R
Your article reminds me of a great Sasha Grey quote I saw in a magazine recently: ""What one person sees as degrading and disgusting and bad for women might make some women feel empowered and beautiful and strong." Sing it, sister!
good one
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