Pierre Woodman
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Pierre Woodman (born 1963 in Auvergne, France) is a pornographic film director and photographer. He is the creator of more than 60 pornographic films, more than 1,000 hardcore scenes, more than 1,500 photosets and more than 7,000 castings. Woodman claims to have bedded more than 3,000 women.
Woodman began working at 16, taking such jobs as bartender, salesman and store clerk. He joined the army at age 17, and later became a policeman. In 1986, he started a career as a fashion and TV photographer. In 1989, he took part in launching the magazine Hot Video, as a reporter. Beginning in 1992, he worked for the Private Media Group, Inc., for which he made several big budget movies, such as The Pyramid (1.2 million USD), Tatiana (600, 000 USD), Riviera (450,000 USD).
Woodman owes his early reputation to taking risks that sometimes bordered on recklessness. In some countries where filming was done, pornography is synonymous with the death penalty, such as Egypt, Indonesia, etc.
In 1997, he launched his series "Casting X" (see below), which is now the biggest selling series in the X-rated category in the world.
In 1999, faced with a wave of "Gonzo" genre videos, Woodman began to produce and release his Superfuckers series for Private, which ran to 12 Chapters. Woodman showcased women, glamor, sex, excitement, passion and fun. At the end of the year, he received an invitation from Larry Flynt, owner of LFP, Inc. and a millionaire publisher of the magazine Hustler, the second largest magazine periodical in the US after Playboy. Penthouse was on the verge of bankruptcy and Flynt knew he needed a video department to survive. He asked Woodman to create a series similar to Private and in 2000, Flynt signed a contract with Woodman for 5 million USD for five years. Woodman began Chapter 13 of Superfuckers for LFP. But unlike Berth Milton, Jr., owner of Private, Flynt spent little on advertising, relying instead solely on the Hustler name and word of mouth to sell products. This bothered Woodman, who made a few big budget movies, such as Brazilian Snake (2001) (520,000 USD), Brazilian Snake 2 (2002) and Manipulation (2004) (430,000 USD), but ultimately disappointed by the lack of promotion of the products, Woodman refused to sign a new contract for LFP in 2005.
In 2004, after playing himself in the big-screen Spanish film Yo Puta, alongside Denise Richards and Daryl Hannah, he did several photo-shoots for various fashion magazines, such as Vogue and Blast.
Woodman then launched a program affiliation on the Internet called "Spider-Cash,"[1] to distribute its films in the form of video sequences, after Berth Milton, head of Private, asked Woodman to return to work for him in 2005.
Woodman made a trilogy Sex City, a "porn-remake" that "borrows" much of the storyline of Frank Miller’s Sin City, including the clever use of black and white photography, with splashes of color inserted throughout the film. Woodman's Sin City was filmed entirely in high definition, with a budget of 540,000 Euros. The first part was released in May 2006. After five weeks, the film became the best selling in the history of Private, even taking the lead in sales in the U.S. on June 5, 2006.
Nevertheless, Woodman announced in June of 2006, his departure (for the second time) from Private Media Group, and the undertaking his own production and distribution company: Woodman Entertainment[2], based in Barcelona, where Private Media is also based. From there, he directed a mega-production, a remake of the film Excalibur, with a budget of 800,000 Euros. This film, titled Xcalibur, was released in May 2007 and draws on an exceptionally large cast of 75 actors and 250 extras, a first in the world of porn.
Woodman continues to work in the fashion world, doing photo-sessions for big-name magazines (Blast magazine cover and layout Sept. 2006) and discovering fashion models from his castings. Some of his fashion models have gone on to join some of the top modeling agencies, such as Alla Krivocheeva for Elite or recently one of the finalists for Miss Hungary 2005, Budaï Zsuzsanna.
He has been married three times and is the father of two children. He is most recently divorced from the Russian/Latvian porn star Tania Russof. Since 2002, Woodman has lived with the photo model Sophie Paris[3].
Woodman often shows up at some of the film industry’s important events, such as the Cannes Festival. He maintains a close relationship with the world of traditional cinema.
"Woodman" is a pseudonym, which comes from his childhood when he lived in the country and being very good at climbing up trees, his classmates at school called him "the man of the woods," which later became shortened to "Woodman." When he started in the entertainment world, he started signing as Pierre "Woodman." In the United States, his name has a double meaning, with strong sexual overtones. This double entendre was first explained to him by his friend Jenna Jameson, when they first met in Las Vegas in 1995.
[edit] Pierre Woodman’s castings
Woodman started with his castings, or private "try-outs," for Private in 1992. At first, there was no explicit commercial motivation behind them, but eventually this is how the "Castings X" and "Behind the Scenes" series began. The initial castings were made by Woodman, in his role as assistant to director Michel Ricaud and as a photographer scouting new talent. Woodman recorded Castings merely as a reference. He also indicated that the video record served as a protection against any allegations that might be made of sexual assault, a precaution he thought especially appropriate after boxer Mike Tyson was convicted of rape in an Indianapolis hotel room in 1992.[4]
With the breakup of the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Eastern Europe became a new center of pornographic production. Attractive models were available for a fraction of the cost of American performers. Budapest, especially, became one of the new capitals of porn production, both gay and straight.
Beginning in 1992, Woodman has spent considerable time Eastern Europe casting new talent. This is how he discovered some of the biggest stars in the porn world. Woodman's "Castings X" DVDs[5], which were began to be released in October 1997, give a good idea of what takes place in his castings sequences. They were released by Private between 1997 and 2003, when they began to be issued by Hustler under the label of "Hustler Casting Couch." In April of 2008, Woodman announced that Woodman Entertainment would begin new issues of the Casting X series in June 2008.
Many starlets made their debut and/or got famous making movies in the "Castings X" series, including Silvia Saint, Alexa May, Tania Russof, Monica Sweetheart, Monique Covét, Laura Angel, Lenka Gaborova, Sophie Evans, Cassandra Wilde, Dora Venter, Claudia Ferrari, Nikki Anderson, Michelle Wild and Angel Dark.
The castings typically take place in hotel rooms, usually in Eastern Europe, where his recruiting agents bring him their lastest discoveries. Woodman has also discovered his girls in shopping malls and other public places. The girls that he casts are generally 18 to 20 years old. Most of them do not really know what Woodman does. For him, the most difficult stage is to get them to go to his hotel room. Once there, with help from his interpreter, he shows the girls a Private magazine or some pornographic images and invites them to do something similar. Their initial response is usually no, but after having long conversations with them, he often manages to persuade them to be initiated "Woodman-style." However, in many countries this style arguably could be considered rape.[6]
Woodman has already released 64 DVDs from his Casting X series, using Hungarian girls (427), Czech girls (336), Russians (176) and other nationalities (+ 200). In an interview, he claimed to have more than 7,000 castings in stock.
