Ron Jeremy: Acting, Money, The Media/Sex Culture & Sandra Bullock
There are two names that come to mind in adult entertainment. Representing the ladies of the industry is Jenna Jameson. Her male counterpart is Ron Jeremy who’s appeared in more adult films than any other person in the history of pornography. Many note him as arguably the most famous adult entertainment star in the industry’s history.
Jeremy’s first passion wasn’t to get into the adult business. He had a passion for acting and took the road less traveled by getting into pornography after not achieving any early acting success. Most people that take the road into the x-rated business will end up killing their chances for future movie opportunities in films that are put out by major studios. Jeremy might be the exception to the rule as he has received opportunities to be in Hollywood films in recent years that include cult classics like Boondock Saints and Detroit Rock City.
Through his popularity in porn as the average looking guy, Jeremy has also had numerous cameo roles in movies including his latest in Finding Bliss starring Jamie Kennedy and Denise Richards out in theaters in New York and Los Angeles this week. The film coincidentally is based around the adult industry.
A former teacher who is still licensed, he believes the Internet is the most harmful thing affecting today’s youth. As far as the economics of the world, Jeremy is a great example of not letting celebrity or fame go to your head. He knows that celebrity is not a constant gravy train. Ron owns a few condos that he rents out and banks everything.
The on going sex coverage by the media of famous husbands cheating on their wives, mistresses and celebrity sex tapes has been more common lately than anything we’ve seen in the past. Jeremy isn’t surprised that Jesse James who he knows fairly well or Tiger Woods cheated given the fact they have celebrity and women are throwing themselves at them. Though he agrees that none of this should be considered news, he believes this isn’t all that surprising. Ron hopes to continue his acting career in the future, which is probably his real passion in life over what he’s most widely known for.
Listen to the Ron Jeremy CYInterview:
(Backup Player: Including IE)
Chris Yandek: Finding Bliss centered around the adult entertainment industry. What are your thoughts on the direction of where the industry is going?
Ron Jeremy: “Well, the key thing about Finding Bliss is it’s kind of the way the film industry was years ago. It’s about the making of the movie. Now it’s all shot on videos and it’s quick stuff. The thing about Finding Bliss just is its cute little heart and soul in it. It’s not so much about the adult industry as it’s about people’s feelings, about people getting hurt. But it’s like an emotional roller coaster kind of with a couple of surprise endings. It’s kind of like in a way, I guess that film Make a Porno [Zack and Miri: Make A Porno].”
CY: The one with Elizabeth Banks. I know what you’re talking about.
RJ: “Seth Rogen was in it and Traci Lords. I like this one better. Not just cause I’m in it because it had a little more story I think. The other one was kind of like they also tried to do the same thing, show emotion that goes on in subtext, things that go on behind the scenes, not so much the actual movie or the nudity. It’s like you know, and Seth Rogen falls for his leading actress kind of thing. This one gets a little more intricate. It’s about boy meets girl, boy falls in love. This is actually I think more, I think it’s a better story and they used actual porn stars in this one too. Plus we have Gary Marshall in a cute little cameo. The famous director himself of Happy Days and gosh, it’s so early in the morning, Richard Gere what was that film that Gary Marshall directed, that huge movie?”
CY: Pretty Woman.
RJ: “Yeah. Why was I getting a mental block on that? Yeah. So he’s in this. He has a cute cameo.”
CY: As someone who wanted to be in acting before you took the path of getting into adult entertainment, what does it feel like now to be part of movies and Hollywood and work with these stars?
RJ: “Well, it’s always been a thrill. I was always a big fan of Hollywood growing up and anybody that’s looked at my biography, which was a NY Times Best Seller.”
CY: Yes it was.
RJ: “All of my documentary. They knew that I always was born and raised in Bayside, nice Jewish boy that went to Queens College and actually I had a teaching license, but then I wanted to go on to Hollywood and I was always a big fan of Hollywood stars. Performing with them has always been a huge thrill. I worked on Killing Zoe, which is produced by Quentin Tarantino. Here I’m working for him and Roger Avery. Later on these guys win the Academy Award for Pulp Fiction. Imagine what a thrill that is, huh?”
CY: Yeah.
RJ: I worked for Adam Rifkin and he writes a film for Spielberg called Mouse Hunt. He’s put me in six projects so far. Here I get to tell my friends of course back in New York that this guy who writes for Spielberg puts me in his films. It’s kind of a thrill you know.”
CY: Why do you think producers and directors like putting yourself in their films and usually as a cameo of yourself sometimes?
RJ: “Well, Adam answered that really when he said that always Ron really gives it that extra mile. He knows how to shake the stigma of just being considered an adult film actor. He’ll work extra hard, do the lines a little bit better, more personality, a little more creativity. I guess all actors do that. I shouldn’t concede that only I do that, but I try really hard to do an extra, extra good job and be a total gentleman on the set because they’d expect me to pull it out of my pants. What’s funny though is the biggest roles that I’ve had are the ones that are most cult, mainstream which are huge in colleges I actually wasn’t playing Ron Jeremy. The third biggest was Detroit Rock City, Adam Rifkin’s film. Have you seen that one?”
CY: On Kiss. Based on Kiss.
RJ: “Yeah with Kiss and Eddie Furlong where I play the MC, the announcer. I crack a few jokes. Second biggest is Orgazmo, which is huge in colleges, which I played a bad guy Roy. Just Last to Zero was one of the names I use and I had one of the leads in that one and that went on to become huge because of the success of South Park. Then the biggest one I’ve ever done, nothing comes close as college cult films is Boondock Saints. You ever heard of that one?”
CY: Yes. Absolutely.
RJ: “And they just did a sequel which even put more attention on the original with William Dafoe and stuff. Those are the three things I did that are probably the biggest as far as audience, as far as being seen and recognized. I was not me. I was playing a character.”
CY: Did you have the motivation that you wanted to be the most over worked adult entertainment star in the history of porn? You have the most movies of anyone. Was that your motivation going in to be the most well known in that field?
RJ: “It’s hard to say when I got into porn. As I was doing it I kind of enjoyed that. It’s like I figured, my dad always taught us as kids if you’re gonna do something, you be the best at it. And if you’re going to be a shoeshine or wash dishes for a living, you damn well do a great job and even own your own shoeshine concession or you hire dishwashers and become the foreman of the dish washing industry, whatever. You work your way and you become the best. I want to do porn. I might as well take my character seriously. You know, work my way up. Do the best you can.”
CY: As someone who holds a masters degree in special education, are you still licensed to teach by the way?
RJ: “Yes, yes I am believe it or not because mine was made permanent after getting 32 graduate credits.”
CY: Recently you said in an article that you thought that violent video games were more harmful to children than adult movies and obviously it was up to parents to censor their kids from that. I wonder given all your experiences as an educator and to some in the culture obviously being a controversial figure for the industry you’re famous for, what do you feel is the most harmful thing affecting today’s youth?
RJ: “It’s funny, I’d say the pros and cons of the Internet would be a good answer. The interesting thing affecting that because there are things going on that are so uncontrollable. It’s the wild frontier. You can be totally anonymous and not be who you say you are on the Internet. I think it’s a very dangerous place. I think identity theft is frightening, that people could take the website of a child of anybody and do God knows what with it. Order clothes. Order food. Order things. Spend money. I was a victim of fraud twice, identity theft. They tried to take money out of my bank setting up Internet accounts when I didn’t have one saying they’re me.
It happens to all my friends. I think that’s gonna affect not just kids, everybody. I think it’s a very scary world out there. I said it in my interviews, which were the BBC made a thing about it, CNN did a thing about it, but I understand the Internet is a great marvelous gift. It reminds me of nuclear energy, one of the cleanest, most efficient forms of energy that also makes a bomb. The Internet while its phenomenal for education and teaching me how to raise my pet tortoise and God knows what else, it has allowed dishonest thieves, crooks, perverts and just disgusting squatters to make millions. Under normal conditions these guys wouldn’t make a penny washing dishes. Because of the Internet they can squat and steal names and do God knows what. Just filthy disgusting people who know they are going to be poor and broke are making millions. That’s how I feel and if I’m wrong, someone can correct me.”
CY: Speaking of money and the economics of the world, in a documentary about yourself in recent years, you said you’re very frugal with your money. Given the current economic situation and many stars losing homes or other assets of well known celebrity, what was the reason you decided not to buy into the hype or fame and you’ve saved your money if that’s all true?
RJ: “Well, I did. I bought, I have a couple of condos that are still doing well that I rent out. Well, I’m a Jewish boy. That’s part of our culture. Our dad raised us. We bank everything you know. My standard joke is when I take a dollar bill out of my pocket, the president on the dollar bill is rubbing his eyes and going ah, daylight, thank God. You know?”
CY: But it’s not surprising to you that there is a good amount of celebrities – they owe back taxes, they’re losing homes, they’re losing assets?
RJ: “Because the money is coming in so fast and furious they think it’s never going to end. It’s a constant gravy train you think. People make that mistake from all walks of life. They’re not just actors.”
CY: Yeah I know.
RJ: “That’s why we had the economic disaster of the home industry. It wasn’t just a matter of the government, the banks and Fannie and Freddie Mae. It wasn’t just them who made the horrible mistakes. People are overlooking some of the people who are obliterating idiots you know who got the mortgages on their homes and then when the market was really good, they get a little kickback. Rather than reinvest it to lower their mortgage they went and bought SUVS, stereos and all kinds of toys and adult toys. Then when the market went south, now they’re in serious trouble. Now they’re gonna lose their home and we’re supposed to bail them out.
There was a part of me that felt sorry for them, but part of me is going why should someone who was very smart and careful and put their money in properly to their home have to bail out through taxes idiots who admitted they sold extra money on their house to buy a boat with it or car or they should’ve reinvested it into their home for the days when things go south. The public was ridiculous. I think it was Clinton or whatever and I’m a Democrat, but Clinton said everyone deserves to have a house. No. It’s a stupid, stupid comment. You get a house if you can afford to own one otherwise you get an apartment. What I believe is everyone deserves a roof over their head, but if you can’t afford it then you have an apartment. We’ve all done it you know. Not everyone deserves a house with one and two cars unless they’ve saved up for it. They spend money every day like you’re talking about then you don’t deserve one you know. Isn’t this pretty academic?”
CY: There has been so much focus on sex in our media culture in the last few years including affairs famous men have had. Some examples include Tiger Woods, Jesse James, John Edwards. Their mistresses like in Woods case Rachel Uchitel get all these different business deals. She’s gonna pose for Playboy.
RJ: “I just saw one last night. I just met one last night for the last time. I was at a club last night, just last night, it’s funny, the one who was with Tiger Woods, Joselyn James. Yeah I just saw her last night. We met for the first time. I did one of my fake sneezes.”
CY: What do you make of this obsession by the media of this sex culture of these people having affairs? Is this really news?
RJ: “No. Not really. No. And if people are doing it, they just haven’t discovered it. I’m sure Jesse or Edwards, I’m sure a lot of these men had other affairs. They just didn’t get caught. With all due respect to these guys and I actually know Jesse fairly well, he’s a good looking guy and it’s opportunistic. People call it sex addict. That’s so incorrect and most people agree with me when I was on The Joy Behar Show discussing this on CNN when I said that, ‘Tiger Woods isn’t a sex addict. Because if he was still an unknown golf player working his way up the ranks he’d just be doing his one wife and whatever.’
But when you’re a really good looking, nice teeth, handsome black man who’s probably a billionaire, women are going to make themselves available to you. He’d be a practicing homosexual if he didn’t go for it. Now the other thing that says he had a wife, for that of course he’s wrong. America can forgive a swinging schmekel, a bachelor. America doesn’t mind that. What pissed off America is he had a wife and kid and they were not in on it you know. You follow?”
CY: Yeah.
RJ: “America hates the rats, the girls who came out of the closet saying I did him, I did him and the one that gets Gloria Allred, ‘He said he cared.’ Yeah, right. So a lot of that is really disgusting. And the funny thing is if it were someone like Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed, they’re in a relationship.
CY: But they have an open relationship.
RJ: “Right. And I can give you some other names of Hollywood celebrities which I can’t do right now, but there are others. I know a few other couples who are into that. If Gene Simmons got caught with five or six women, Shannon Tweed would probably go on the air saying, ‘It was a slow day for Gene. Only six?’ Because they have that relationship. It’s a whole different Chippendale’s dance. It’s a different attitude but since Tiger was in a monogamous committed relationship with a brand new baby, he looked horrible.
As far as being a sex addict, no. I think most of us were sex addicts before it was easy to get. Back in the days we used to go to discotheques and hope to get something. They were addicted. Man, let’s get a girl, let’s go out let’s go dancing. Once you become any kind of celebrity and it’s a lot easier, you don’t try as hard. Most rock stars can line girls up every 15 minutes. You get 15,000 people at a Poison concert and Bret and C.C. Deville can probably go through half that crowd and only think twice. You don’t call that sex addicts. You call that opportunistic. I’m young. I’m cute. I’m in a band. I can get lucky.”
CY: I’m just curious given the fact that you know Jesse James you’re really not surprised that he had affairs behind Sandra Bullock? Who would want to cheat on Sandra Bullock in the reality of normal society? You’re just saying that’s not surprising?
RJ: “Have you seen the wife he had before that who has a child with him?”
CY: Janine Lindemulder.
RJ: “She’s breathtaking. She is gorgeous. In fact she looks like Jillian Barberie. We always joke about that. I know Jillian too who knows she looks like her. But no, he’s had plenty of gorgeous women, but men like variety. Women do too believe it or not, but humans like variety. Everyone complains while the romance gets better and better with age of a relationship, the sex sometimes goes into autopilot and it’s difficult to keep it sparky.”
CY: What is your advice for some like Tiger Woods going forward who has alleged to have slept with 100 women during his marriage?
RJ: “Well, it’s bad because he cheated and again America does not like him for that. He’ll have a hard time getting his image back because America doesn’t appreciate a man who cheats like that. In fact, women will hate your guts. If he had an open relationship where he told her and she was ok with it, they wouldn’t care. They wouldn’t care at all. They’d be a swinging bachelor. Not their cup of tea. The Midwest would think he’s kind of like a pig, but he’d do fine. But the fact he cheated on her, he lied. Supposedly he brought them back to his home when she wasn’t there. That was a huge mistake. For the money he’s got, you can’t buy a motel? That was the biggest crime that he did it in their bed or supposedly. They have different homes. He was in homes she wasn’t in at the time I heard. Now if I’m wrong, I apologize. That’s really bad. That’s bad you know.”
CY: In closing Ron, what do you hope for the future?
RJ: “To be a (Plays Harmonica) better harmonica player. No, just to get more acting work and I’m working on some really good films coming up I’m excited about. I’m doing a film with Billy Zane today actually. So I’m just trying to keep busy and enjoy the wonderful world of acting. That’s what I always have wanted to do.”
Finding Bliss opened in theaters in New York on June 4th and opens in Los Angeles on June 11th. You can find more information about the movie at http://www.findingblissthemovie.com/
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