Castings 3: Lost Virginity Review

CASTINGS 3
Private
Directed by Pierre Woodman
Starring: Nikky Andersson, Vally Verdi, Lolita, Valeria, Betty, Diana, Pierre Woodman and others

This is one of the big ones in the Castings series, featuring the alleged onscreen deflowering of a virginal Hungarian beauty many porn fans have come to know and love as a star called Nikki Anderson. But that's not all - there's another insight into how Woodman recruits his talent, though this is obviously the "official" version and far from the whole story, and besides there are more girls to delight you in this collection of crudely shot casting interview sessions (of pretty much amateur quality) backed up with on-set photo shoot footage and occasional all-out hardcore scenes.

Vally Verdi
In an interview as unremarkable as her looks, pleasant French girl Vally is perfectly happy to show off her outstanding tits. She's perfectly calm about the prospect of entering the porn business and Woodman's attempts to call her bluff fail - apart from his bullshitting her about how to disguise the taste of come, to ease her worry about taking sperm in her mouth.

This is followed by coverage of a photoshoot (as for the other girls, the photoshoot shown in the movie is supplied in stills form on the DVD, a nice touch) at a delightful hillside location. Once more Private's stardust has been liberally sprinkled on an ordinary lass, and now glamorous Vally is with three guys and the action includes anal and DP, but as with most of the photo shoot clips, the erotic appeal is limited by the fact that they have to stop and pose for the photos.

I actually paid more attention to the fact that David Perry is a) very young, and b) has longish curly hair, which I suspected he once had but this was from the days before I knew who he was - the scary thing is that due to his ubiquitous presence in European pornography, I have regrettably seen his bare ass more often than any favourite female porn star. Yes, this shoot was quite some time ago, and there's another clip from the Seychelles, from the same time as the movie Beauties in Paradise, where Vally and Dave's daft barnet are seen in a shoot with a cute black girl.
Interview: France, March 1993. Photoshoots: Pirate magazine 21, Private magazine 120.

Betty
Blonde 20-year-old Betty is evidently a student at a gymnastic school and this is apparent in her great body. Like Vally, she's pretty relaxed about getting into porn, and Woodman's magazines and questions barely faze her. I have probably omitted to make apparent during previous reviews of this series that many interviews are conducted through a Hungarian or Russian interpreter, and so with overdubbed dialogue - which I suspect isn't always accurate - there's a potential for some annoying cross-talk and confusion. Subtitles please!

Anyway, lovely Betty looks tremendous during a couple of photo shoots - you can see why more than a few Private aficionados of this period still hold a candle for her today. The first one sees her taken in a group with three of the usual suspects (Soine, Deloin and Versace) and the second has some nice footage of Betty and then Woodman himself being flown by microlight to the location in a mountain valley. Again, Betty shows a little star quality as Woodman snaps away and Soine thanks the gods of porn for letting him go up Betty's tight ass - and be paid for doing it!
Interview: Hungary, July 1994. Photoshoots: Private 126 & 127.

Lolita
Introducing herself as Irina, this stunning young Russian is perhaps the epitome of the kind of unfeasibly beautiful young women that Woodman so successfully discovered in this period when his forays into Eastern Europe and Russia were into virgin territory in more ways than one. Tall, slender and with the most incredible eyes and dazzling smile, long sandy blonde hair and tiny boobs, Lolita is gorgeous and I am sure she knows it. Though fascinated by Pierre's collection of mucky mags, she knows less about this nasty sex business, but that's OK.

Woodman must have been laughing up his sleeve at how readily she complies - to let one as gorgeous as this slip away would have been a sin, but she is so easily reeled in. There's no need for his insistent, pressurised questioning. Lolita is only too happy to share her body with us. Though again the overdubbed sound is annoying and the translations are lacking, I urge all lovers of beautiful women who are perhaps unfamiliar with her to at the very least rent this movie just to admire her sparkling beauty. The great thing is that between the photo shoot that follows and her appearance in Castings 2 (an excerpt from Golden Triangle) her doubts about anal sex and girl-girl sex will be brushed aside in glorious fashion. She doesn't always seem too overjoyed about the experience during the shoot, which naturally includes anal, DP and come facials, but she's a natural in front of a camera, and so beautiful it hurts.
Interview: Russia, April 1993. Photoshoot: Private 119.

Valeria
Despite her somewhat coy responses to Woodman's usual questions, something tells me attractive curly-haired blonde Valeria knows more than she's letting on, an idea that's borne out by her performance in the subsequent "on set" look at a photoshoot in which she most skilfully slurps the genitals of her male co-stars. She appears to be in her element, and as expected she has to experience anal and double penetration too. There are some lighthearted moments to enjoy as well, before the lads positively drench her perfectly made-up, smiling face in come.
Interview: Russia, May 1993. Photoshoot: Pirate 21.

Diana & Galina
A fairly standard chat and strip with Galina is followed by what appears to be a truly amateur strip video with Diana - there's no explanation given, and no translation of what she's saying. The two sweet brunette girls then take part in a sex scene of almost equally amateur picture quality. It's from a Private Video Magazine, and the action is okay even if the quality is abysmal. The two girls get into a wholly unconvincing lesbian clinch while trying on some lingerie, and then four ruffians come through to the bedroom and crudely make use of the fair maidens. Anal and DP are mandatory, but the come shots are weak.
Interview: Russia, February 1993. Sex scene: Private Video Magazine 5, Budapest, 1993.

Nikky Andersson
This is the embodiment of the kind of scene that tends to raise doubts the veracity of these interviews, though I personally like to go along with Woodman's little games. It's more fun that way, but one does tend to raise an eyebrow at the thought that a girl with Nikki's blonde good looks and heavenly body is really a virgin - though she has already been doing soft glamour modelling - and goes from flat out refusal to having Woodman's head between her legs in as much time as it took to shoot this scene. Yeah, I can believe she's never had sex - but to lose her cherry on camera given the attitudes she expresses during the interview?

A nice ego-trip for Woodman, to be sure - so his powers of persuasion are tested to the max, but it's his skills as a woodsman (pun intended) that tip the scales. Nothing to do with the bribery of trips to Egypt or the huge off-screen cash money offer that one tends to imagine had a good deal more to do with it (aside from a general mention of paying her well, the subject of hard cash is suspiciously absent from the castings I have seen). And that's if you even believe that she really needed to be persuaded and the whole thing wasn't a put-up, which you can quite believe when she nearly laughs during supposedly serious questioning. But then again I would guess the translations are occasionally lacking and she does have this sullen, icy manner that often sneaks in among the smiles so what do I know?

I suppose I can criticise Woodman as much as I like, because the bottom line is that he's the man with the wherewithal to turn a glimmer of potential into cock sucking, ass fucking reality. An awesome responsibility in a way, but a great opportunity too, when a girl Nikki walks into your hotel room and into the palm of your hands, knowing that a potential star could be lost to the world if you fuck it up. And yes, a huge boost to the ego if you succeed - or make it look that way.

No doubt Pierre Woodman would like fans and indeed every porn stud who's had the privilege of using her heavenly bottom, who's had her long legs wrapped round his body, or her nails raking their backs as they drive into her, to be thankful to him rather than whatever fates kept her in the room when she so very nearly walked out (or was that just a kid-on?). Fortunately for Pierre and the viewing public, his masterful display of hard shagging in this scene set Nikki on the right path (initially stiff as a board, soon she's clawing the sheets in ecstasy), and we've been enjoying her beauty and sexuality ever since. Even with its extremely rudimentary camera angles - from a tripod - it's arguable that this is Nikki's hottest scene, whether you believe the "virginity" angle or not. I am not sure that I have seen her reacting quite in this way!
Interview & initiation: Budapest, February 1996.

Nora
Another of the ones who got away, this is a very short interview and strip from a pretty brunette whose lovely happy smile sadly fades after she removes her clothes - for some totally unjustified reason, she doesn't seem very proud of her body.
Interview: Moscow, February 1993 (onscreen date given as December 1992).

Overall
Whether you buy into the concept of this as the real deal of the Woodman casting approach, or whether you tend to dismiss it as part of a myth-making process with Pierre Woodman as the subject, I still feel that Castings 3 makes for some entertaining viewing regardless. Me? I think it's a mixture of both. There are little things that hint at genuineness - little things like girls wearing uncoordinated underwear or Nikki's obvious lack of knowledge of how to move during sex. I doubt many of these girls are good enough actors to really pull off a completely pretend set-up, but then I can equally believe that they've already agreed to make the movies or do the photos before the casting camera rolls. The interviews, the rude questions and those oh-so-shocking magazines are perhaps just the window dressing for an engaging little charade that I am perfectly happy to play along with. Why not try playing along yourself? The delights of Nikki and Lolita await you…

DVD Comments
Well, once again I have to warn you that the castings footage may be of amateur grade, but the one sex scene excerpted from Private video magazine is extremely poor and generally there are a lot of blips all over the place on the source footage. Not enough to spoil my enjoyment, but certainly something to be wary of. The sound is not bad, but the overdubbed translations are neither accurate (I suspect) nor satisfactory. Again, I call for accurate subtitle translations. The French audio track - one of many language and subtitle options - is mainly the live sound if you speak that language. The menus and extras are extremely well done however, with full notes, the photoshoots as depicted in the movie, and trailers, DVD catalogue (DVD ROM only) and so on.