James Deen Exclusive Interview: Adult-Film Star On 'The Canyons,’ ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey,’ And Why He Won’t Talk About Lindsay Lohan Again

IBT: What was your favorite part of filming “The Canyons?” 

James Deen: I liked bringing the story to life, and I was a big fan of the philosophy behind the movie. The reason they were doing the movie was they were sick of the Hollywood norm.

IBT: Would you say that was a motive to switch from doing adult movies to Hollywood acting?

Deen: Absolutely.

IBT: What do you find more fun/natural: acting or porn?

Deen: I don’t think they can be compared. Both things for me were comfortable, but I don’t base things on easier or difficult -- I base it on fun. I had just [as] great of time acting as I do performing [in adult films] and I imagine that, hopefully, my performance will reflect that, and it will be decent.

If more people wanted to hire me for mainstream acting, depending on the part and if I believed in the project and all -- I’m lucky that I’m afforded the luxury to pick and choose -- I would be happy to do it.

IBT: Is it true you’re interested in playing Christian Grey from “Fifty Shades of Grey”?

Deen: I think it would be really cool.

IBT: What do you find intriguing about the character?

Deen: I feel like I could easily play him because there is a lot of me in there.

One of the things about “The Canyons” is that I didn’t have anything to relate to the character. I was just building this imaginary character out of nothing, which was awesome.

But, with Christian Grey, I feel like I could take it further. He’s this normal guy, yet he has an untouchable side that this woman is attracted to, and they have this romantic relationship, but at the same time he has this dark nature.

I feel like I get [talked about in relation] to Christian Grey because I’m a fun-loving guy who has this dark passionate side. Plus, I dabble in BDSM [aka bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism] regularly, so I think I could really play that part well.

IBT: Is there a Hollywood celebrity you would love to work with?

Deen: Not really. There’s a lot of people that I admire that I think would be cool to work with like John Malkovich, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, or Al Pacino.

Even in the adult-film industry, people would ask if there’s anyone I wanted to work with, and I’d say, "Not really." There are a bunch of beautiful women that I’d love to work with, and when I did, it was very exciting for me, but I never felt like it would be a "dream come true."

IBT: What do you think about Giovanna Plowman, the girl who allegedly did something obscene with a feminine-hygiene product just to become famous?

Deen: I would give her a hug. Fame is useless. What do you get out of fame, a pat on the back? You can get so much more satisfaction from within. The desire to become famous has never driven me to do anything.

IBT: You recently tweeted that you didn’t want to talk about Lindsay Lohan anymore, so I wasn't going to ask you any questions about her. (Editor's note: It was reported that Lohan was a nightmare on the set of "The Canyons." Whenever reporters spoke to Deen, however, he had only positive things to say about his co-star, but recent headlines claimed he had essentially turned his back on her. He went on to explain the apparent discrepancy.)                      

Deen: I [was quoted as saying] the exact same [thing] on every single website, and most of time people were saying, "You’re a really nice guy, you were flattering to her." And now all of a sudden I’ve "lashed out" and "attacked her" when that never happened. If you look at it, I’m saying the exact same thing. If people are going to say that I’m "lashing out," then why bother? I don’t want to make anyone look bad.