It's been such a long time since I blogged about anything and/or did a book review, but after DEVOURING this book I had to put some words out into the universe. I needed a good book to read while on vacation in Cancun, Mexico and my good friend Lisa Ann recommended Filthy! - The Rise and (Pending) Death of Vic Lagina. I had only met the man a single time back in 2007 or 2008 when he came up to me at the AVN show to ask about filming for him. I said yes and he booked me with Nikki Benz. Then she said I was on her no list because I had done gay/trans porn, so he canceled me and never spoke to me or booked me again. Needless to say I wasn't mentioned in this book a single time whether in regards to Naughty America, Phoenix Marie, or trans porn. Our Venn diagram was huge but never intersected again after that.
So I went into this book knowing a few things were a certainty. He had an axe to grind at Brazzers, he was gonna paint himself as the best director/producer on the planet, and he would savage his enemies over the years. And I was 100 percent correct my friends! This book delivered on so many levels and I couldn't put it down while finishing it in less than 2 days. I am 49 years old and I have a BA in History, so I have always been a voracious reader, and I have collected literally every single book written about or by porn industry professionals. I might be the only porn person to read the book start to finish, I am gonna bet 99 percent of them skip to the parts where he mentions them or people they know and/or hate.
There were many things about Vic Lagina I didn't know, and this book expounded on much of his personal life pre during and post porn. He is the second porn person that I know of who attended Syracuse - Lexington Steele tells people he has a finance degree from there. I didn't know he was Jewish, I didn't know he started in Miami, and I didn't know he was such a huge dog lover. One of the best parts of his book are when he takes a break from the porn retelling and discusses his love for dogs, his pain at the death of his dogs, and how much he tried to get other people to rescue dogs. Honestly for that alone, he deserves my respect as I too am on my third rescue dog (albeit 4 pound senior chihuahuas not huge stinky German Shepherds lol).
I was also a director/producer for Naughty America from 2009-2011 and so I understand much of the minutiae that he talks about in terms of running a major porn production with all of the pitfalls and roadblocks. The main difference is the amount of higher up corporate interaction and orders he got as well as the interactions with other producers/directors within his own organization. I think one area that he fails to discuss is just how well compensated he was compared to similar directors for other companies/brands. He was literally at the top of the food chain and his compensation more than made up for the problems he faced. Trust me - all the other producers/directors of smaller companies would have KILLED to be in his shoes.
I totally get his obvious jealousy or professional loathing for Brett Brando. I felt it as well and I know full well just how arrogant Brett is and probably always will be. Watching someone like that get taken down a peg is ALWAYS very satisfying and outlasting him at Brazzers is a feather in Vic's cap.
He changed the names of his girlfriends and love interests off camera and I was befuddled bc I couldn't figure it out. I asked a few Brazzers insiders about it and they all acted like they had no fucking idea who any of them were. Jackie is Jackie Daniels I believe and Mason might be Mason Moore but Nikki, 3k, and Meridiana - no clue.
I didn't like the way he treated Kevin Moore in his book. Full disclosure I have been a friend of Kevin's for 20 years and consider him a fantastic human being who genuinely cares about people. Vic was fucking his wife behind his back and then turning around and making fun of him or giving out thinly veiled insults. This from a man who dated multiple porn girls and actively didn't want them fucking other people. I just didn't like the obliviousness of that section in the book. I get that Vic liked August and felt badly when she passed away, but slandering the name of her husband is pointless IMHO. But that's just me, I never liked fucking people's girlfriends or wives and tried to get out of it whenever I could.
He spends a large amount of time talking about his production staff and the day to day of it all. I don't think anyone in the world gives two shits to know how the sauce is made. I really don't. Reading his book and giving a shit about Huggy being a huge piece of shit (which was obviously to literally everyone in the business) doesn't make for great reading.
But he does tell some fantastic stories about being on set and the shenanigans that go along with filming 25 scenes every month. The male and female talent were always up to some shenanigans and keeping them in Vegas for a night outside of LA means even more! I was rather shocked to hear about just how many drugs Vic did throughout his career, that seems so silly and counterproductive. He was making huge money, paid on time unlike many other producers, and instead of treating it like a serious business, he was doing cocaine, mushrooms, drinking, and god knows what else. I guess that's how you vibe with the people you hire and maybe that's why I have never ever fit in to the porn mainstream in crowd. I am assuming he might be embellishing these tales bc I hope he saved the bulk of that money he earned and is on the road to retirement. For someone with a university degree to not understand that his job is based on quicksand and that its almost impossible to get a mainstream job after porn, not saving the bulk of your money is almost criminal.
I dated Phoenix Marie on and off from 2008-2012 and it was not a happy relationship. I had unrealistic expectations of her, her coworkers, and myself. She rarely talked about Vic and I don't ever remember asking. One thing I do remember is her doing the first live show while I was still working at Naughty America. So of course all of us paid to watch it together. And Phoenix knowing this - took a champagne bottle and jammed it in her pussy and ass for the camera. Classy, real classy of her. Surprised he didn't include that in the book bc he mentioned her many many times (they were DEFINITELY fucking).
I don't want to sound too negative about this book because it was extremely well written and told a great story. I think that anyone in porn would enjoy it, although I am not too sure anyone NOT in porn would care about 90 percent of it. Knowing the players involved in the stories makes a huge difference. I am happy that he received a golden parachute and reading about how he had to come to terms with not working for Brazzers brought up the same feelings I had when I stopped working for Naughty America after 8-9 years. He's exactly right - everyone forgets your number, stops talking to you, and pretends you died. When I was producing for Naughty America I once hosted a dinner where 28 people showed up. Afterwards I couldn't get 2 people to join me for lunch haha.
Another thing that Vic does very well is both memorialize and highlight the deaths during his time in the biz. Billy Glide, Shyla Stylez, Jessica Jaymes, Cody Lane, Jordan Ash, Candy Manson, Savannah Gold, Raven Bay, Bill Bailey, Daisy Monroe, and August Ames are all truthfully spoken about and given a nice writeup. He could have mentioned even more like Yurizan Beltran, Hunter Bryce, Crissy Moon, Lori Alexia, Hollie Stevens, Angel Rain, Amber Rayne, Alexis Grace, Natasha Vega, Loni Evans, Brandon Iron, Angela Stone, Saya Song, Kris Slater, Joey Ray, Dahlia Sky, Dakota Skye, and Riley Evans. I say all of these names because his book definitely highlights just how many porn people die premature deaths for a variety of reasons (suicide and overdoses being the main culprits). Its perhaps the worst part about the porn industry.
One last thing I think both he and anyone who reads this book will understand...that the favors you give people on their way up will never ever ever be reciprocated and thinking this might be the case is silly. It's every man or woman for themselves in this biz.
Finally, I highly recommend this book if you want to dive deep into the A to Z of the adult industry that is well crafted and fairly honest.
