Vaniity Never Really Got A Chance To Star In A Mainstream Movie
When it comes to adult entertainers, it can be a difficult road if they want to try to go mainstream. It's not impossible, and there have been success stories. Jenna Jameson managed to get roles in various projects, for example.
It's understandable that after some time performing in adult situations in front of a camera, some of the stars might wonder if they could embrace their acting abilities. I like the idea of the men and women of adult entertainment being able to have these mainstream acting opportunities.
When it comes to women in the transsexual adult entertainment industry, the odds can be even greater. One performer, in my opinion, stood head and shoulders above the rest. She went by the name Vaniity, and she broke barriers for her genre as an AVN Hall Of Fame member.
Transsexuals were once seen as a special kind of fetish, but Vaniity did more than any of them to push the whole genre more into mainstream.
Many men who enjoyed cisgender adult movies might have included Vaniity's movies among their collection. She was that special kind of beauty who "looked cisgender" and therefore made it "okay" for them to admit their attraction to her.
Vaniity was also the first transsexual performer to get an AVN award. She was one of the top sellers in her genre and also won Lifetime Achievement and Hall of Fame awards in her illustrious career.
At around the decade point of her career, she started expressing an interest in doing something mainstream.
This is where I'm a bit disappointed in the lack of opportunities given to her. If you watched her adult movies, there was just something playful and enjoyable about her. She made it more fun.
You could see the entertainer in her that went beyond performing sex scenes in a movie. I believed then that if you gave her a good role, she could act. That was my assessment as I began following her on social media.
She wanted the opportunities, but they never really came to her. About a decade ago, a couple of independent movie makers did come calling on her.
The first was Brittany Blackmon. An assistant on Britney's project, I'm still here, was Kerri Cecil. For this project, they didn't have much a budget
In fact, the equipment was such that they couldn't record dialogue. The movie relied on Vaniity herself to convey the story. She was a woman mourning the loss of the man she loved.
You see her wandering sadly as she thought about him. Looking on from a distance was the teddy bear he gave her, as if to say, "I'm still here."
One of my favorite scenes was when the teddy bear was given to her. Vaniity had a look at pure joy on her face.
Admittedly, it wasn't the best production, but Vaniity made the most of it. However, the movie didn't get much play. You can barely find it on YouTube these days.
Vaniity - I'm Still Here
Karri Cecil did a movie called The Journey as part of her film school project at USC. In this one, we see a prostitute struggling with drug addiction.
Sadly, there are many in the trans community who end up being thrown out of their homes and in some cases end up addicted to drugs and working the streets as prostitutes.
Vanity appears as the mother of the prostitute, taunting her daughter that she is going to hell. Eventually, the daughter dies and is reunited with her mother with open arms.
They are together in the afterlife and all is forgiven. I thought she did a good job in this role, and you can see that she enjoyed it.
The Journey
Cecil wanted to take things up another notch with the WiFi Killer. This would require a bigger budget. You have to invest money to make something with better quality.
Unfortunately, there were some people critiquing her for the $10,000 Indiegogo goal she had, and the money was never raised. Vaniity ended up leaving the project, and Cecil abandoned it not too long afterwards.
Vaniity (left) in a promo picture for The WiFi Killer
This is where the opportunities stopped for Vaniity, and I think it's a shame. My personal opinion, having met her, is she's got the charisma and the personality to act. Give her a good role, and she'll show you what she can do.
Good opportunities and roles weren't available for women in adult entertainment as it was, so giving a transsexual adult entertainer a role, even in a B Movie, might have been deemed problematic.
Because there are more ways to put a movie out there as an independent creator, opportunities are opening up again.
While I wonder what could happen with Vaniity if given the chance to perform in something, Mia Moore and her crew are putting together a movie called Again Again.
This is kind of a different spin on the Groundhog Day movie idea. What happens when you finally break out of the time loop to discover that things just don't feel the same?
Mia is asking for $80,000, which is because she's shooting on location in Washington and has to provide housing for the crew and pay for the equipment needed to make a good film.
$80,000, when you think about it, is still a reasonable fee for a movie, and they've raised over 25% of their goal as of this writing.
Indiegogo Campaign For Again Again
It still brings me back to the topic of Vaniity. I have to wonder if there's an opportunity out there for her yet. As she's moved on from the adult entertainment industry, she's indicated an interest in working in a project if given the right material.
I can only hope she gets at least one shot at a decent story. I have no doubt that she would do an amazing job.
