Francois Sagat, the internationally renowned gay porn star with the tattooed scalp and killer bod, has recently stepped out of the hot house and into the art house.
Since his cinematic (and sodomistic) adventure with director Bruce LaBruce in 2010's LA Zombie, he hasn't been able to resist the world of independent film--and we're reaping the rewards.
New York's Museum of Arts and Design is devoting three days to the handsome moving picture darling and will be showcasing, in addition to a few of his adult films, two of his feature films as well as the U.S. premiere of Sagat: The Documentary. And as if they hadn't packed enough of Francois into the lineup, the man himself will be hosting a master class on (what else?) himself.
But don't think that his mainstream film forays are keeping him away from his porn career. In December he'll release Incubus, a new adult film from Titan in which he both stars and directs.
WATCH OUR BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO WITH SAGAT FROM OUR FASHION SHOOT.
Out caught up with Sagat to find out about what he'll do at the museum, how he's preparing his master class and just what his future in porn will be.
So, as an international porn star, what have you done all day?
Today I woke up very late because I went to bed very late, and I was filming an interview for a German designer who's doing some photo shoot for male personalities. It's for an AIDS foundation so I did an interview for that. I had to speak about God and stuff like that. It was a really... different interview.
Do you have any crazy things planned for your time in New York?
I'll only be there for three days, so it's very short. I have to do a commercial for Slick It Up, the fetish ware designer, and he's a friend of mine so each time I'm in New York I'm always hanging out with him and we're always doing some photo shoots and stuff like that. It's work and it's vacation at the same time. For the museum, I'm going to have to do a master class and that's going to take a lot of time and I still haven't really prepared anything. I just put some notes on some paper. I don't really have a structure right now.
Did they give you a structure that they'd like you to go by?
I'm basically supposed to speak about my career and about porn, generally speaking, and porn through my life. I'll speak, maybe, about my childhood and all of my inspirations. It's still very blurry right now.
As far as other films of yours go, how's work coming on your new adult film, Incubus?
I watched today the rough cut of the movie. They just sent it to me today so I had to check the editing out because since I had to leave at the end of September I couldn't take care of the editing myself. But I directed, and I played in the movie--I've been gently asked to be in the movie--and it's not a big problem, you know?
Are there any other film projects on the horizon?
No. I had requests from people but the project was kind of embarrassing so I declined. Someone gave me a script, and it was kind of ... it was not porn, but it was very gay. I'm not very interested in doing gay stuff except if it's a porn movie, of course. But if it always has be related to gay life and gay people, I don't like it, unless it's extremely good.
Well, your character in Man at Bath was gay. What was that like?
It was nice because it was a different world. Our director was completely outside of my world and vice versa, and it was interesting to do. It was really, really far from what I am. The experience was amazing.
How do you feel about the gay direction that mainstream film and television shows are moving in?
I think it's better to have a general feature shedding some light on the gay life, but for me it has to be mixed with some straight life... some general life. Even if I'm playing general or gay, gay will be different for me. It doesn't really involve me. I don't like to call a movie a gay movie. I don't want to watch any gay stuff--maybe I'm missing good things, but I'm not very tolerant. Maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned.
Tell us about the schedule of events at the Museum of Art and Design.
I think they're showing some porn movies, [just] one or two regular ones. I mean, regular porn ones. I won't be at the screenings for all the movies. At least I hope not. There's also the documentary--this is the most interesting thing, I think. It's more... not surprising, but more interesting to show that than trying to show the fiction. It's a new angle of my image. I'm still overwhelmed that I've been invited.
Do you find that you have a new audience now that you're concerning yourself with different projects?
Lately I haven't really met most of the people from this 'new audience,' because I haven't done many festivals. I guess there are always new people, but I'm aging. I'm 32 and I'm not 25 anymore and the audience is changing very fast now with the Internet, and people are forgetting about people faster than before. I guess I disappeared for some people.
A lot of porn stars try breaking into new careers and leave porn behind forever. Since you're pursuing roles in non-pornographic films at the moment, do you think your involvement in the porn industry will lessen?
I don't think so. There's some stuff that I'm not gonna do in the future because of that and I'm aware of that and it's fine. I'm very careful of what I'm doing and the way I'm doing it, and if it's porn I'm always very careful and picky about it.
VIEW OUR FASHION SLIDESHOW WITH SAGAT.
