All photographs from Eon McKai's upcoming Girls
Lie,
courtesy of Vivid Alt. Used with permission.
Director Eon McKai's first feature for VCA Art School Sluts, received rave reviews from the adult industry and helped usher in the era of alt porn. Having recently moved from directing for VCA to heading up his own label for Vivid, known as Vivid Alt, McKai is set to make an even bigger splash with his next feature, Girls Lie. Vivid Alt's two releases so far are Winkytiki's ReBelle Rousers and Dave Naz's Skater Girl Fever.
We caught up with McKai recently to chat about -- what else? -- porn.
Eros Zine: I remember when I first got into porn it was the late 1980s. It was already sort of hard to find early porn on VHS -- meaning immediately post-Golden Age, early '80s stuff. Was that stuff starting to get re-released on DVD when you were first into porn?
Eon McKai: I think so, but I was more about garage sales. Digging up old VHS. It's all about VHS, the big box. The look gets killed on DVD. Things are just more dirty on VHS. One day I'll have to get an intern to put all my VHS on DVD-R. That will be a sad day.
Eros Zine: What's your favorite era of porn?
Eon McKai: '70s and '80s. Something about the '80s stuff is more laughable, and the '70s seemed to have all the big stuff you can look up to. So, '80s for fun ironic viewing and '70s if you want to get down and study.
This is obviously going to be a generalization but the '70s stuff still has a renegade spirit, a filmmaker spirit. The '80's or video stuff is more when stuff came to the Valley and has a look. It's like at some point in the '80s, Peter North went to the mirror to comb his hair and it stayed like that for ever.
Eros Zine: That switch is sort of dramatized in Boogie Nights in a not very complimentary way, when you see the hot-tub make out scene as they switch to video.
Eon McKai: Yeah, but Boogie Nights is BS. It was not always in Los Angeles. It's a great film, but it was illegal to make porn in Los Angeles and that was not in the film. A weird oversight.
Eros Zine: Do you like the softcore stuff or mostly hardcore?
Eon McKai: I like hardcore, boy/girl. But the more I work with this stuff, I get tired of the tight hardcore shot. Seems like the '90s really killed that. I was really lucky coming into VCA at a time when FJ Lincoln was there -- FJ Lincoln, Jim Malibu, Jim Holliday. FJ fucked in the '60s and now directs. Jim Malibu was a projectionist in '71 and was a director, and Jim Holladay was a legend, and pretty nuts.
Eros Zine: So, it sounds like there's a real old-guard crew at VCA?
Eon McKai: Was.
Eros Zine: What happened?
Eon McKai: Then LFP bought it, put a stake in the heart of Holliday, chased out all the old guard. I kinda did my thing for them. I still call Veronica Hart, and Jim Malibu for advice all the time. I even put FJ in a movie. He is a great actor. Veronica is in Neu Wave Hookers. It's important to know where all this came from. It's so funny, I get flack from some in this biz...they think I have no respect. They have no idea how I worked my way in.
Eros Zine: Speaking of which, Wikipedia tells me "McKai's work has generally been well received by altporn fans, but has also been criticized by those who feel that he is appropriating the aesthetic of alternative subcultures for use in pornography, or who question his credibility and connection to alternative subcultures. After leaving the porn industry, one of the actresses in his films, Keiko, referred to McKai as 'edgy as a butter knife.' Others, such as porn reviewers Roger Pipe and Scott McGowan, denounce McKai for what they see as his artistic pretensions, with McGowan stating 'If people jack off to your art, you're not the artist you think you are.'"
Eon McKai: [laughs] Controversy is good for a guy like me.
Eros Zine: Have you encouraged it or does it just happen?
Eon McKai: It just happened.
Eros Zine: And do you get more shit from the alternative people or from the porn people?
Eon McKai: Porn mainstream. They don't like rock 'n' roll. That's all.
Eros Zine: You said before, "we all have to learn from gonzo" -- what did you mean?
Eon McKai: The camera. The gonzo camera is God. For good JO material. Good gonzo shooting is the cutting edge we all need to keep an eye on.
Eros Zine: OK... so you mean technically?
Eon McKai: For hot sex.
Eros Zine: Some people say your stuff isn't gonzo, but I read Kill Girl Kill as total gonzo, though obviously Neu Wave Hookers is not.
Eon McKai: It's pretty gonzo, with a bit of a set. The budget was that of a gonzo. We just busted our ass.
Eros Zine: Who are your favorite directors?
Eon McKai: Richard Linklater, Jon Jost, Steve Hanft, and Todd Solondz.
Eros Zine: What's your advice for people who want to learn the history of porn?
Eon McKai: The history of porn starts with Muybrige, and has to do with the fact that every new recording device will be used for porn. Legal porn starts in the '70s, but I think we are cutting the history short if you only look there.
Eros Zine: At Vivid Alt, you've released DVDs from Winkytiki and Dave Naz, plus your upcoming Girls Lie -- are other directors upcoming as well?
Eon McKai: Yeah, Vena Virago's East Side Story; Kimberly Kane is shooing for me right now; Dana DeArmond is finishing up a movie all about her. Octavio has another one that is amazing that will be out next year. He is on fire. His new one is Man's Ruin -- he is finishing it now, and I'm getting him to do another one. He can't be stopped. Such good energy from him.
Eros Zine: Other projects you want to get going for the future?
Eon McKai: My new one is called The Doll Underground. It's about these girls who run away from the suburbs. They're a leftist group based on the Weathermen. They build bombs and blow up buildings in the night. They're against urban sprawl and dress Lolita Goth. I'm going off the deep end with that one.
Eros Zine: Thanks, Eon! Readers can learn more about Eon McKai at EonMcKai.com.
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