Porn star Rocco Siffredi talks Netflix TV show ‘Supersex’ about life

Supersex, which premiered on Netflix on March 6, tells the story of Rocco Siffredi, who comes from the small coastal town of Ortona, Italy to become one of the most famous porn stars of all time. Born Rocco Tano in 1963, Siffredi has starred in more than 1,300 pornographic films since he began his career in 1986 with softcore. Bill D’Amour.

Supersex, created by veteran Italian screenwriter Francesca Manieri and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February, tells the story of Siffredi’s life, starting as a child whose world was turned upside down by the death of his brother, to discovering adult filmmaking, and eventually becoming a cinematographer. An international star whose first name has become synonymous with pornography. Winner of 40 Adult Video News Awards (often referred to as the “Oscars of Porn”), Siffredi, nicknamed the “Italian Stallion,” was photographed in Supersex By Italian actor Alessandro Borghi, who described the Netflix series as “the story of a man who takes seven episodes to say I love you.”

Siffredi sat with him Th rome To discuss the spread of porn, his struggles with sex addiction and why Supersex It benefits from being told from a female point of view.

How did you react when you first learned that a TV series would be based on your life?

Finally I realized I had done something beautiful and unique. Until now, no one in porn has been so fortunate, described as an icon, and accomplished such ambitious work while being considered someone who brought light to their world. Is it beautiful or dark, this light and this story, who knows, who can tell? But I think it’s because they looked to Rocco, away from Siffredi. They found my story unprecedented.

Porn has always been stigmatized. Did you ever think that your profession would become so mainstream?

Imagine, when I started I couldn’t believe I would get paid. How was it possible to have fun and make money too? It all started for me before my teens. From the tragedy of losing my brother when I was just six years old, the pain compounded by the catastrophic emotional impact the event had on my mother. She was always ill, having suffered a loss from which she could not recover.

I grew up very quickly – when I was eight I was cleaning beaches, without anyone knowing. The fact that this (porn) work was profitable, and that I could help at home with what I earned, was very important to me.

So this life, this career was born out of the tragedy of your brother’s death?

No, not exactly. I would even do it for free, because I was born to do porn. There is a passion deep inside me – it was my life’s choice; I did what I loved. I chose him when it wasn’t easy or comfortable, while everyone was calling me crazy.

Your name “Rocco” is synonymous with porn. To what extent is the show an opportunity to reveal more about yourself?

Two years ago I received a Lifetime Achievement Award, and when it was presented to me, I was introduced as “the guy whose first name is all you need to say.” You’ve opened up a good memory for me. I always knew I chose a job where you couldn’t take yourself too seriously. You can’t say, “Fuck, I’m a porn star” without expecting to laugh. I always know that in any presentation, or in an interview, compared to others, I start with a deficit. It’s part of my life to come to terms with this lack of consideration and fight to make people reconsider. It’s true that for 30 years, a lot of people have only watched my sex life, and my porn. I think about the ridiculous interviews I gave – which still embarrasses me – because I said in a serious voice: “We porn stars should also know how to act.” When I see those conversations again I wonder, “How did you say that before?”

So how hard is it to be Roku?

Today, after removing the mask that has been there for almost 40 years, after those two years when I lied that I was a model and not a hardcore actor, because of this very heavy prejudice, I can finally say that I have always been myself. I realize that it was right for me to come to terms with my choice and live with it in peace. this is me. Now, with maturity, I wanted to introduce myself more fully.

Do you feel more understood now?

To be fair, I was always myself and loyal, but almost no one cared. I see that many people turn up their noses and think that I have become bourgeois, that I am denying my past. But I chose this job since I was very young. It was a beautiful life even if everyone only liked to tell the dark side of this job and this road. The happy side is clear to everyone, in hundreds of movies, but I know what porn has become, and I’m saying it.

I want to tell this truth so others can make informed choices. This profession is suitable only for those who have a true calling. They need to know that this path is a spider’s web, and when you get into it, it’s not easy to get out. For me, staying was not difficult, being on set makes me feel more comfortable even than if I was at home. On set I forget about the problems, the depression that struck me several times, which was often caused by my desire to continue doing porn while part of me was asking to stop. The body and addiction say one thing and the head another. Now they call it “the devil,” but it’s an addiction like any other — a side effect to be dealt with, not a disaster.

Was there a desire to give up porn and try legitimate cinema?

You are so sensitive, as if you felt a deep need for me at this moment. On the set of Massimo Poldi’s film, Getting married in ParisI met David Sinise, the assistant director. He told me about a project he thought he could only do with me. He told me: “Only you can tell this pain, this addiction inside you. I need your authenticity. It’s an autobiographical film. This is crazy, because there are people who can look inside you and understand you, like you or him. I know one thing – how much I didn’t want Never quit porn. If I had done any other kind of filmmaking, I would have done it with the same seriousness and self-denial. I would have been a very good actor in another kind too, I can guarantee you that. Because I put my soul into everything I do and I do it for the audience , so that they feel satisfied. I never thought, “I’m Rocco Siffredi and everything I put out there is sold.” For me, the first goal is to give everything I have to the fans, to amaze them and never disappoint them.

What relationship have you formed with Alessandro Borghi, who plays you? Supersex?

I’ll start by telling you that no one else in Italy can play with me. I don’t say this because he did it, but because I believe there is a strong relationship between us. We share something very similar to my sexual problems. I immediately told him: “I feel like you want to do this project to understand something more about yourself.” I remember seeing him once at the David Di Donatello Awards and being blown away by how great he was. His features also resemble me a lot, especially in my youth.

His intense curiosity is one of the qualities that makes him a great actor. And then, obviously, he must have grown up as one of those kids who watched my films and also wanted to know who I was on the inside. I believe in Supersex He searched for some answers for himself, because the world of porn is like a magician’s hat, revealing amazing things over and over again. The brain starts imagining, then thinking about big issues like culture, religion, and where we go wrong. Porn, contrary to what many people think, is a clean place because just as Porgy can be a plucky, flawless hero one time and a ferocious bad boy the next, so in the hard core you can live out even the most extreme fantasies safely, in a place where no… Someone is judging you. …You can go where you can’t go out of that context and do it without fear, without hurting anyone.

It was not a given that he would accept this role – to portray an icon who is still alive and a topic of controversy for the general public.

I have to thank Porgy because he took a lot of heat. Actually twice. The first is that he made an effort to understand me, even though I didn’t know who Rocco Siffredi really was. The second is the enormous amount of pain he went through. He’s one of the best actors in Italy, and he could have decided not to do it, avoiding all the prejudices I’ve faced firsthand for years. And I’ve felt those indignities when, behind the scenes, presenters announce that they’re huge fans of your work, even quote your films, and then, while on air, distance themselves from you. We represent the most private and hidden side of men and women – the side that everyone wants to lock in a drawer once they’re done trying it. Once the porn movie is over, we leave the attic or basement. Alessandro is a free actor and doesn’t care what people think. I appreciate that more than his amazing performance.

How have women’s attitudes towards porn changed?

My world has been male-centric for a very long time, on set and behind the scenes. However, the audience is now not exclusively or overwhelmingly male. We haven’t reached 50-50 yet, but the number of women who like and watch pornography has increased dramatically, and as a result, desire, the female gaze, is beginning to emerge as well. But the male gaze is difficult to eradicate. Everyone envies me, but no one acknowledges that it takes courage to put myself out there every day, naked, defenseless. This mentality in Italy is worse. Men should be muscular, without weakness, and we all like our women to be wives and saints. Bad girls can be anyone except your partner and your mother. So these women who live their freedom suffer much more. Their desires and ambitions require much more effort and cause more pain than men’s.

It is interesting that Supersex It is told from the points of view of two women.

surprising. (Director) Francesca Mazzolini is a striker, she has a great mind and also a way of looking at things that I really love. Then screenwriter Francesca Manieri. I’ll admit I was scared at first. It wasn’t easy at first, and not because of her. The bias was mine! She thought she couldn’t accept Siffredi’s masculinity, and instead we found each other, slowly understood each other and realized that we wanted to tell a human story. I have been doing this work since 1985, and feminist activists have often attacked me, because of the alleged exploitation of the female body in my films, because they considered some of the things we do offensive. I challenge them to find even one colleague who could say such a thing. In this sense, they, like many others, do not realize that I too was often pushed even brutally by directors to do certain things. But it was work. you know what? Sex and pornography can only be judged by those who practice them, otherwise they are theoretical.

May I confess the dream to you? Rocco Siffredi presents Sanremo (A popular music festival that often includes political discussions). He would tell everyone that this country needs to grow up and become less primitive and inadequate.

maybe. It’s a nice ambition to lead Sanremo, but I know it will never happen. Sanremo, or not Sanremo, I would like everyone to understand that sexuality should be experienced by all of us without feeling obligated to live it as others would like. If there are women who like to experiment every day, even with different men, then we need to change our judgments about them. Men and women should be on the same level. So I’ll tell you, on that stage there must be a porn actress standing there too.