To many of his slavering fans, porn pup Jeremy Hall is the face (and body, and dick) of Vancouver. The sporty stud grew to gorgeousness in our area, has starred in more than a dozen hardcore movies, launched his own website at ClubJeremyHall.com (“Real Jocks Fuck”), films for Manhunt’s web-porn enterprise OnTheHunt.com and even helmed a skinflick called Vancouver Nights. So who better to subject to a probing investigation for my first pulsing column?
Ed Woody: Tell me some fun and dirty stories of growing up gay in Vancouver.
Jeremy Hall: Well, my first sexual experience was with another guy on my hockey team when I was about 14. You know how hockey players, they’re really contact-heavy, slapping on the ass, gay innuendo — that’s how it started. I was with that guy for about two years but we were both closet cases. He remains a closet case to this day.
EW: What made you think of doing porn in the first place?
JH: My previous job was with a construction company, and I was pretty conservative, so I decided to do something completely opposite. I applied to the companies in San Francisco, and my first scene was a 10-man orgy. It was very scary and a bit overwhelming. But it definitely threw me out of the closet.
EW: Do you find it easy to perform on cue?
JH: There was a time when I got nervous, but not anymore. It’s simply a matter of being comfortable, and having no issues with what you’re doing. You can’t be worrying about if your mother’s going to see it.
EW: To quote ABBA, does your mother know?
JH: I think we have a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy. She knows I’m gay and in that kind of circle, just not how far I’ve taken it. My cover story is that I throw parties, which is why I travel around so much.
EW: Tell me some of your strangest experiences on set.
JH: OnTheHunt rented this house with about 20 guys to film scenes, and I was really flirting with this one guy. I convinced him to come to my bedroom, but he said, “Wait wait, I’m sorry, I can’t have sex with you, Mr Hall!” He called me Mr Hall! See, there was no sex allowed unless it was in front of a camera. So I ran out of the bedroom and I was yelling at the CEO of Manhunt for not letting me have sex with this boy.
Then another time there was this really big steroid muscle queen with a temper – the only ID he had was his prison ID. The other model took forever to turn up, and he was getting annoyed, he had escorting gigs to get to. Finally the other guy shows up and we start getting into it, and then the lights blow out the circuits for the hotel room. So we’re sitting there in the dark and I’m trying to explain things to the hotel staff, and I can just see this guy getting angrier. The day just got worse and worse.
EW: The argument about straight guys in gay porn is constant and unending. Have you worked with gay-for-pay models?
JH: I work with them a lot and what I’ve found is that, of course they’re not really straight. But it’s the strangest things because, honestly, I think they’ve convinced themselves that they are actually straight and they’re doing this for the money. There’s a very interesting psychology behind it. They’re in such denial. Because the thing is, if you really need money, there are other things you can do but take a big dick in your ass.
EW: Would you go straight-for-pay, like gay porn star Blake Riley did recently?
JH: I thought about it, but it’s not a direction I want to go in. I occasionally am into a girl, but it’s rare, and it doesn’t happen enough that I think I would do it on video.
EW: Have you ever had to film a scene with someone you really didn’t like?
JH: I’ve had sex with guys I’m not into; that happens quite often. But some of those have actually turned out to be hot scenes, because you’re focusing on giving a good performance. Whereas if you’re really into the guy, you’re like, “I just wanna fuck!” But someone I flat-out hate? No.
EW: And the opposite – have you ever fallen in love on set?
JH: Oh sure, yeah. There’ve been boys I hired as models who I was texting days later, little crushes that go away. But I’m not in a relationship mindset right now.
EW: Do you find that guys want to sleep with you just because you’re a porn star?
JH: Absolutely, so they can say they had sex with me, as a trophy. I’m not complaining — I don’t turn them down if they’re hot enough! But other people do write me off. I’m careful about who I tell.
EW: How do you handle the more extreme fans — haters or stalkers?
JH: I’ve had email stalkers, people who keep contacting me repeatedly over the years. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, and I’ll try to respond, but you should be polite with it. I get some emails that are two- or three-page stories about people’s lives. But it gets really bad sometimes. I don’t know if it’s the gay community, or being in the spotlight in general, but I do get really hateful emails from some people. They’ve put so much thought into it, and their intention is to really hurt you. I’m out there getting naked in front of the world, and they’re hiding behind this fake identity and yet they’re able to reach out and attack me. The worst thing you can do is respond to it. I think they’re not happy in their own lives, so they get off on hurting someone else.
EW: Tell me about your movie Vancouver Nights.
JH: I connected with a guy in Los Angeles who was starting up his own company, Fierce Dog. I convinced him to let me produce and direct his next movie. I got a bunch of my friends together, including Pierre Fitch and Brent Everett. It was all filmed here, with local boys; there was a sex scene in Celebrities nightclub and cruising in Stanley Park. But because of distribution laws in British Columbia, we couldn’t actually sell the movie in stores in Vancouver itself. You can only order it online.
EW: Were production and videography always in your mind from the beginning, or did that come later?
JH: I went into this business not thinking that it was a short term thing, I wanted to make a real career, something worthwhile. It definitely hasn’t turned out the way I expected though, because the business has changed so much since I went into it, which is only about three-and-a-half years. The market for DVDs has plummeted — these “tube” sites are really cutting into it. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The hunger for fresh meat is so great that people don’t care about story or production values.
I ran into [Hot House Video boss] Steven Scarborough, who as far as directors go is my hero. I told him I just shot 42 scenes in four days for OnTheHunt.com, and he couldn’t believe it. It would take him four days to do two scenes, because that’s the care and the money he puts into it. So there is a market for that, but it’s shrinking all the time. Maybe it’ll go back to that eventually when people get tired of the Xtube thing, but I think the industry is going to settle on the pro-am thing. Just some simple principles of photography and lighting are enough to get you by.
EW: So that’s the direction you went yourself basically.
JH: Yes, it is. I’m 27 now, and I plan to be done with modelling by 30, then focus on producing and directing. I’m going to school in D.C. for website management. And I’m also starting a whole new line called Jeremy’s Home Movies, which will be basically me in my bedroom with a webcam — and maybe the occasional boy I’ll bring home to fuck!
EW: Since I moved to town, I’ve definitely noticed what I’ve dubbed “the Vancouver packet.” Bulges as far as the eye can see! Are all the guys here as hung as you?
JH: [Laughs] No, I don’t think so. Maybe it’s all just the thermal underwear!
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