The sometimes shy, always intriguing Scott J. Gill was first on the list. While sipping a beer in a quiet lounge at "Schatzi on Main" in Venice, Scott opened up about pornography, sandwiches and the nature of both the adult and mainstream film industries.

Daily Radar: Out of all the people in the world, why did you decide to document the life of Ron Jeremy?

Scott J. Gill: I never thought I would make a movie about Ron. I'm not a porn connoisseur. I was never a porn guy, but one night I met Ron at a club in LA. He was surrounded by all these people, all these kids -- teenage girls were just glomming onto the guy. I noticed there were these big movie stars that were worth millions and millions of dollars, and all they wanted was this one guy's autograph. I just started talking to my producer friends, we milled the idea over in our heads, and realized no one had ever done a documentary on this guy -- Ron Jeremy. We just kind of fell in love with it at that point, and it took us about three months to convince Ron to go along with it.

DR: What were your impressions of the industry behind the scenes, on the beat with Ron?

SJG: I guess the biggest thing that stands out is that people are naked and having sex in front of cameras. But seriously, there is a degree of professionalism in porn that I think people may not have a perception of -- at least the sets that I've been on with Ron.

There was a change in my attitude from before I started the film to the end. In the beginning I was a little repulsed by the whole thing; I thought, "Oh, this is going to be kind of painful." It wasn't though. It wasn't very sexually arousing, either. But the people were professionals, they did their job, it's a business. There were some scenes on set where I felt sorry for the cameramen involved. They kind of have to go take a shower after they shot some of those scenes.

DR: Did you get to party with lots of hotties making this movie? Any crazy parties?

SJG: Sometimes you'd go to these porn parties, you'd walk into this room and there would be a girl, totally naked, sitting there, some guy taking pictures of her, she's spreading her privates. You're just kind of like, "whoa" for a moment. But you adjust. I think porn parties are different because people are naked, a lot. They're showing their body parts, a lot -- to each other, to cameras.

There are quite a few women that I remember from shooting this film. The one I remember the most wasn't a porn actress. In Indiana at the nudist colony, there was this girl who was about 19, eating a sandwich across from me. I never forgot that image. There were all these people everywhere, and here is this beautiful, naked girl -- with her legs spread -- eating a sandwich. And for some reason that was the most erotic image I remember, I don't know why.

DR: Why do you think Ron has such a cult following?

SJG: Ron looks more like the average guy, actually he looks worse than the average guy. He's a fat, hairy Jewish guy. He's a cartoon. He looks like a character out of a Pink Panther movie. Which makes him famous because guys want to see the ugly guy get the girl. They like to see this atrocious guy screwing incredibly gorgeous women, because they know if the gorgeous women had a choice, they would rather have them over Ron. There is the fact, as well, that he happens to be well hung. And his personality. He's got that sort of loveable, big-hearted personality.

I suppose his personality is definitely his drive, the fact that he is actually a likeable guy. You know, I don't think people get that -- at least until they see this film -- they may not know that he is not a scumbag. He looks the part. Ron looks like the worst kind of pornographer you could imagine, and he's a paradox. He's got a master's degree, he used to teach the mentally retarded, he had to take care of his mother when he was a kid -- she had Parkinson's disease -- all these things contributed to the way his personality developed.

DR: Pornstar doesn't seem to make any qualms about the role that pornography plays in our society. Is this for a reason?

SJG: The moralizing of the porn industry plays a very little part in Pornstar, probably because I had seen it done so many times. It seems like every porn documentary wants to moralize and show you how twisted everyone is. The more I got to know Ron, I realized that this just wasn't a part of his life. He's got his problems like any person, mind you, but he doesn't smoke, he doesn't drink, he doesn't do drugs. He's addicted to food and he's addicted to money. He's also addicted to sex, but lesser so than the previous two.

But human sexuality is just part of who we are, and it's never going to go away. People want to deny that part of their existence: the fact that they get horny. It's denying who you are. The sex industry has actually probably helped encourage the freedom of sexual expression in western civilization.

DR: Why do you think Ron loves his celebrity contacts?

SJG: He's legitimizing his choice. Ron comes from a family that's full of doctors and lawyers and very successful people. The fact that he chose porn, which has a lot of repercussions, affects how he works. His mother was in the CIA. His father developed radar during WWI. And they just had this very strange child.

DR: Do you think Ron will ever find what he's looking for, or has his adult film star fame killed his chances at becoming a respected actor?

SJG: At first I was a little concerned whether the subject matter would make a good documentary. I was very nervous that the story arc of Ron Jeremy is not that strong. In a way he's only in the middle of his story. He's a guy who went into porn, to get into mainstream acting. It's about a guy trying to break through

In his own right, Ron Jeremy has already achieved that fame -- he's in a lot of mainstream movies. The average guy could see him walking down the street and know exactly who he is.

DR: Would you ever work in the porn industry?

SJG: Actually Ron asked me once, maybe twice, if I would shoot something for him. And I needed the money... no, I'm kidding, but I'll never say never. I would never act in the porn industry -- my mother would kill me. Second of all, I don't think I ever could work in the porn industry. Actually let me take that back, they'd love to have me in the porn industry! As far as directing porn or camera or editing, only if I was really hard up.

DR: Would you invent a different name for yourself?

SJG: Absolutely.