When I heard that James Franco had something to do with kink, I admit, a part of me went, “Well about time!” Franco hasn’t exactly been squeaky clean with his reputation – in fact he has what some might call a mildly smarmy reputation of trying to pick girls off of Instagram – rumors or not, it’s his not giving a shit attitude that made this whole kink thing seem like just up his alley.
It turns out (and sadly) Kink is actually a movie documentary that James Franco and Christina Voros produced and directed respectively. Still, I love that he is brave enough to venture into this domain in a truthful and not sensational manner.
A fetish is usually treated as if it is a disease, and any kind of sexual act other than the most vanilla of acts (missionary, straddle and doggie style – and sometimes even that is looked upon questionably) is often judged ill by people who don’t understand or who aren’t willing to understand sexual desire and fantasies. Kink usually bears the brunt of that!
The movie premiered in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and it goes behind the scenes of the life at Kink.com – the world’s premier BDSM porn site. Founded by Peter Acworth, Kink.com is housed in a 200,000 square-feet space in the historic San Francisco Armory and has around 50 different movie sets. The site itself is made up of 18 subscription sites – one for any type of kink you may have.
Franco got a crash course into the world of Kink.com when he had to shoot a couple of days on the film adaptation of Stephen Elliott’s 2009 book The Adderall Diaries inside the Armory. In an interview with The Daily Beast Franco spoke about his experience:
“I was given a tour of the place, and then I got to watch a video being made,” says Franco. “It was very interesting because the dynamic in front of the camera was very different from what was happening off camera. It was a BDSM scene of a girl in a cage, and very intense, but off-screen it was surprisingly warm and cooperative, with everyone as a willing participant. I thought I’d like to explore this, and I’m sure a lot of other people would, too.”
While it took a lot of convincing (and understandably so) that Franco would make his documentary objectively, once their subjects agreed, Franco brought on his long time collaborator Voros on board to direct. From the offset it certainly peaks my interest! I can’t wait to watch it!
