The new kids on the block, they come in and actually whine about being on a feature set for more than a few hours of their day. I always laugh at them and say, “We pay you for [being here] all day. That’s your day rate. That means, you’re here until we’re done with you.” You’re not doing gonzo when you work for Wicked. You’re not in there and out in an hour. This is a movie. There’s some downtime, so bring a book!

SH: When it comes to gonzo versus features, you have the features guys such as yourself, Evan Stone, Stephen St. Croix, Barret Blade, etc. Then you have the gonzo guys. Why didn’t you do more gonzo in the past? Is there a stigma where if you’re known as a feature guy, if you do a gonzo, you may not be taken seriously as a feature guy?

Spears: Not necessarily. I think there’s a very distinct and separation between gonzo guys and feature guys. For me, there’s enough feature work that I didn’t have to do gonzo. So the feature companies were always calling me for work, so it kept me busy. I did do gonzo, I have done some, certainly. I have no problem with that. But I think the newer generation of guys that have come into our business, they’re not real good actors. Nor do they want to be. I’ve touched on that before. They’re actually irritated of the fact that they have to come in and spend 19 hours on a set when they’re used to going in for almost the same pay, going in, knocking out a gonzo scene, and be in and out of there in two hours. They have the rest of their day open.

SH: How do you personally feel about gonzo? Do you watch gonzo yourself?

Spears: I actually don’t watch a lot of porno, period. I watch the stuff that we do at Wicked, of course. I watch some of the competition. I keep an eye out on what Paul Thomas does over at Vivid, and some of the bigger directors in regard to their feature stuff because that’s just more interesting to me to view. Some of the gonzo stuff is downright repulsive. I really find myself scratching my head going, “What is this, a competition to see who can shock the audience better?” Nine guys fucking a chick in the ass then sticking her in a goddamn garbage bin out in the alley after they’re done with her, is not erotic to me at all. But that’s just me. There will always be a market for the quadruple anal scene, but that’s not the world I live in. There’s nothing wrong with that. If that’s their expression of their art, then so be it. To me, I think it’s way more difficult to tell an interesting story, mixed in with erotic sex, than to just have a little handheld camera in your hand and have some girl gagging on nine guys’ dicks. I can shoot that with my head in my ass.