After exiting the air-conditioned tranquility of my car, I stepped into a sulfuric hellscape of graffiti-ridden warehouses in the blighted heart of Los Angeles. I circled my vehicle and hopped over a trickling stream, its flotsam spilling unceremoniously into the yawning maw of a nearby storm drain, then took notice of several milling silhouettes that had materialized from the nearby encampment of slick tents.
Paying the parking meter with outward nonchalance, I vigilantly kept in my peripheral vision one of the dusty vagabonds haunting an abandoned sofa. He had leapt to his feet and taken a few cautious steps towards me, mumbling a scarcely comprehensible string of words that appeared helpful in their intent. I nodded, smiling, and walked away towards my destination a block down the street.
After passing a patchwork stained quilt of one-story buildings stitched together with varying degrees of crumbling ruin, like the vertebrae of a hunchbacked leviathan half-melted into the asphalt, I came upon a well-maintained edifice and its finely-wrought door, letting myself in.
As if stepping through the looking glass, I waltzed into a veritable wonderland of dreamlike furnishings, chandeliers, nightclub-ready rooms with luxurious fixtures and a vast chamber boasting enough switchblade choose-your-own-adventure sets, props, knickknacks, lighting equipment and cameras to bring just about any director’s vision to stark life.
A dozen black-clad Vixen Media Group crew members eyed me with some suspicion until I introduced myself, and after hopping over several iron rods and boxes, I waved to Maitland Ward in the distance. Ever radiant, the scarlet-maned and statuesque superstar who recently made XBIZ history as the first-ever performer to grace our entire magazine cover solo was no less charismatic than the last time I had seen her, when we supped on a delectable lunch for a sprawling three-hour interview at the Beverly Hills Hotel months prior.
She smiled and ducked into the makeup room to start getting dolled up, so I seized on the opportunity to ask her about the upcoming grand finale on tap that day for “Muse 2,” the sequel to her 2021 XBIZ Award-winning feature. The new installment, again helmed by thrice-crowned director of the year Kayden Kross, was to be released as an episodic season on the carnal canvas of Deeper.com.
“We are filming my first-ever gangbang,” Ward teased, smiling mischievously as she rattled off the names of the four co-stars who would later ravish her: Danny Mountain, Will Pounder, Rob Piper and Alex Jones comprised the lucky posse of penises. Later, all four would tell me how incredibly excited they were to perform with Ward.
“This is going to be a very elaborate scene,” she said. “I’m going to this underground sex club because my character is frustrated and I need to get my sexual aggravation and aggression out. A lot of emotional things have happened to me by this point in the storyline, as I’m being sued by a student of mine who accuses me of things I am not guilty of. But the public perceives that I am guilty. They’re trying to bring me down.”
In true Ward fashion, she extrapolated upon how the storyline exemplifies broader societal dynamics, for she and Kross adore infusing their hardcore sexcapades with equally hard-hitting truths about the gritty underbelly, hidden desires and darkly slithering impulses that writhe beneath superficial moralism.
“I love how the story’s conflict is representative of society at large, the way it tries to bring sex workers down, and this is done in such a brilliant, fantastical way,” she elucidated. “It’s just really cool, and my character is famous for — well, she’s a sexual psychologist. She’s famous for writing books on feminism and sex and all of that.”
As a continuation of the previous “Muse” storyline, Ward explained, season two picks up right where the previous one left off. Of course, for any readers concerned about having the finer points of the plotline spoiled, be assured that specifics will be kept to a minimum throughout this behind-the-scenes recounting.
“That’s another thing in the storyline: I’m very frustrated with my relationship [with Manuel Ferrara’s character],” Ward elaborated. “I have this twisted thing where we’re in love, we’re good for each other in moments — but then, we break each other’s hearts as well with all of our sexual escapades. Just not being able to commit to each other. It’s very complicated, but it’s very real and cool — and it’s given a lot of emotional moments.
“And so, at this point, I’m frustrated because he’s with a lot of other women — and I’m not getting what I need from him,” she continued. “The main thing I’m looking for is love. I was looking for it in the last movie too. This takes it to a whole new level. I’ve been so emotional, so pushed in so many ways, acting-wise, to really explore such a different kind of character than I’d played before.”
Ward underscored that she often plays very dominant and self-disciplined characters, like her role in the “Mistress Maitland” series, which she describes as intense, devious, diabolical and controlling. In “Muse,” however, she has to channel a blend of strength and brokenness, for while her role is that of a powerful, successful, highly intelligent woman, the character still has difficulty finding love and validation from others.
Asked whether anyone can actually fulfill her in the way that she needs, Ward believes there is no definitive answer.
“That’s a great question, and I think that’s one that we’re really exploring in the film — and one that she’s exploring as a character,” Ward offered. “And I’ll just say that it ends on a cliffhanger about where I’m going in life and my journey.”
As for the sex club finale, Ward describes it as a cathartic and crazy moment, not only due to the sex but also the emotions she is exorcising in the midst of strobing lights, undulating bodies and neon wildness.
“I just get down to this animalistic base that I need to act out and I need to feel,” she said. “It’s definitely this primal unleashing. And it brings me to a place afterwards where I discover what I want for my future and what I truly need — it sends me down another path of discovering myself in a new way. I get the confusion fucked out of me, basically, haha.”
She drew a contrast to one of her earliest features, “Drive,” where she served as a sort of sexual guide for Angela White’s character, leading her to find her sexuality. Now, Ward is the one taking the journey.
“I’m the one being sexually crazy, but this is more like I’m finding who I am as a person,” she noted. “I’m sexually open and everything, but I need other things in my life too. I love it. I really got into some amazing, deep moments and the monologue that Kayden wrote for me is very personal.”
Given their close friendship offscreen, not to mention Ward’s status as Deeper.com’s frontwoman and Vixen Media Group exclusive extraordinaire, Kross can expertly craft roles suited for Ward in ways that play to her acting range with symphonic results.
“She’s really taken me to places that aren’t safe at all,” Ward said. “And I like that. I like that feeling.”
She believes the script was long enough to qualify as the longest ever in porn, and indeed, the project’s over-14-day shoot is testament to its massive ambitions.
Reflecting on “Muse 2” scenes she shot earlier, Ward said, “We had this cool library set that we built and we also filmed this great paparazzi scene, where all these reporters and flashbulbs were just coming at me. We did some classroom scenes. I’m a sexual professor, but I get very deep into all these philosophical conversations and stuff.”
Joining the adult star were several mainstream actors lending their acting chops in a non-sex-role capacity, whom Ward found to be very responsive to her on set.
“It shows that mainstream actors really do want to do things like this — really quality projects that are wonderfully scripted,” she noted. “They didn’t feel like it was taboo when they were coming in here. And that’s great. They were so excited.”
Ward also expressed how low-maintenance it is to be guided by Kross during shoots, thanks to dozens of scenes under her belt with Kross serving as both director and collaborator. While Kross is very hands-on with specific guidance for intensive segments and the overarching vibe of each scene, she also provides plenty of creative freedom to explore.
“I love how she just lets me play with words,” Ward enthused, as the makeup artist carefully outlined her eyes. “Because I really feel like she writes the words for me, and they’re wonderful. And that gives me a feeling that she knows me and trusts me. I would say that Kayden and I have a very trusting relationship. We’re very close, and we’ve grown to really trust each other and rely on each other in ways that are very special and very unique in this industry — or in any industry. So, our dynamic is very much one of trust and caring for each other.”
As the discussion turned back to her work as Mistress Maitland and the differences between that character and her “Muse 2” persona, Ward noted of the former, “She is sadistic, she’s a domme and she enjoys manipulating people, whereas the ‘Muse’ character doesn’t enjoy manipulating people. She’s actually very vulnerable. I’ve done these emotional scenes in this movie that Mistress Maitland would never do.”
Lest the shoot be delayed by the interview, Ward and the makeup artist carried on with her darkly seductive transformation as I made my way through the latest cast arrivals to find Kross.
Many of the scantily yet elegantly clad extras would later fill the designated dance hall with festive merrymaking, sexcapades, kissing, licking, humping and all manner of writhing, in a scene where Ward parts that sea of flesh in a disoriented blur before succumbing to temptation.
Spying an adorable furry critter darting into the more cavernous recesses of the warehouse funhouse, I followed it to Kross, who often brings the velvet-soft bundle of purebred canine cuteness to the set with her for companionship. After bantering for a bit with the director as she leafed through several pages of script and her well-laid plans for the day, I brought up one of her many ambitious works, the 2019 XBIZ Awards-sweeping “Abigail,” which showcased Abigail Mac in her full glory. With its dozen or so days of shooting, that film had flown past the average shoot for even the most big-budget of adult features in today’s consolidated studio biz.
Kross estimated that “Abigail” was 45 pages of script, while “Muse 2” was a staggering 75 pages. I asked if this was the longest script she had ever written, to which Kross replied, “I think it’s the longest script ever made in adult.” She detailed that Ward has 750 lines of dialogue — because of course, master of detail that she is, Kross had the number at hand to rattle off.
As with Ward, I had the distinct privilege of penning a career-spanning cover story on Kross this year, so I was already intimately acquainted with her inspiring journey from indie-style ambitious projects for TrenchcoatX.com to her initiation into the Vixen Media Group universe via the once brand-synonymous Greg Lansky, before she slowly became the leading lady of the entire outfit. One of the topics we had explored in our previous interview was how, even when she coaxed the Deeper.com brand into existence with no small degree of negotiating, since it was an as-yet-untested site she did not get to draw upon the full might of the Vixen cadre of producers, editors and office support.
Now, with the numbers she and Ward bring in on the regular, they are happy to back her up fully.
Musing on “Muse 2” with a bemused blend of nostalgia and pride, Kross observed, “It’s funny. This is the first time I am working with the full Vixen Media Group crew. I have a producer. There’s a line producer. There’s an art department; I’ve never had an art department. They’re building us up right now. We’ve done set builds in a way we’ve never done. I also have extra PAs — just extra everything. Our crew and our headcount, I would say, is 50% larger than it was on ‘Muse’ — which was already 50% larger than it was on ‘Drive.’ So, the bodies involved in creating are exponentially more numerous.”
She then checked the actual word count of the script on her nearby laptop and shared that the five scenes that make up “Muse 2” totaled 17,298 words. Kross also estimated that throughout the film, there is roughly 20 to 30 minutes of story between sex scenes.
When it came to casting, besides Ward, Kross brought back Lena Paul to reprise her role from the first movie.
“I really loved her story,” Kross said. “So, I wanted to have a lot of established characters from the previous scene, because I’m treating it like a TV season. I want their storylines to continue. Lena’s last season was one of my favorites because she’s really nuanced. She played it really well. And the story itself was very personal to me when I wrote it. But she made it more than it was and really took it to heart this season.”
Kross also brought back Manuel Ferrara’s character, to further explore onscreen his chaotic relationship with Ward, while introducing storylines for Avery Cristy, Ivy Wolfe, Lulu Chu and Jessie Saint.
“So, it’s a new class, new semester and just, new problems,” Kross summarized. “And the story’s dealing with the cycle of harm. Aubrey Kate was also fantastic; she and Mona Wales came in with this really fun storyline. When I say fun — it was a really fucked-up storyline. The characters are all basically grappling with feeling like they’re getting harmed by circumstances outside of their control — and then, the kind of retaliation that comes from that.
“And Aubrey has this beautiful line in the beginning of the movie where she says, ‘It’s best not to begin the cycle of harm at all because how on Earth will you ever finish it?’” Kross continued. “And we’re exploring about a month of time in the lives of these characters. There’s just this domino effect of one person’s hurt, and the hurt coloring everything. It was just visually stunning and well-acted. There was so much nuance in the way everyone did their performance.”
As many of the brand’s avid subscribers are quite vocal, I inquired about how much the fans have enjoyed the “Muse” series. Kross answered that she was pleased by their responses. She noted that they really enjoyed the scale of the story and that Ward’s own following is particularly passionate, showing up in droves to anything she stars in for the brand.
“Just in general, I feel that the more context you give to sex, the better the sex really is,” she said. “So we’re building on something. We’re not cheating, necessarily, but we’re definitely benefiting from a whole season’s worth of storyline to build on.”
She then turned the conversation to focus on Ernest, a role reprised by A.J. and a character who became central to the whole story. His importance in the narrative was actually indirectly a result of Evil Angel founder John Stagliano’s feedback on Kross’s script for the first season. Given their mutual respect for one another, she ran the material past him, and he said that he wanted to see more of Ernest, given his incel-esque vibes.
“And so, he brought up Ernest a few times — and he kept saying, ‘There’s something interesting here,’” she said. “And what he really liked was that in the beginning of season one, Ernest has this paper — and he’s arguing over his grade, because he had written on something that wasn’t actually the assignment. And Maitland ultimately gave him the grade he asked for. She said, ‘I’m doing this not for the reasons you think.’ And he’s making this argument about how men are as harmed as women by the porn stereotypes in that they have no control over their behavior, and they’re just these heat-seeking missiles.”
So Kross decided to make Ernest the character who kicks off every other domino effect throughout the story. Her inspiration for the context surrounding him harkens back to when Kross herself was in college taking a class insex and sexuality. The first day of class, the professor told the story of a religious student who took the class and, when she played porn as part of the curriculum, sued her because he had an “involuntary erection.”
“And that story always stuck with me because it was insane that it happened,” Kross said, laughing at the absurdity of it, before growing serious. “Not only did it happen, the school hung her out to dry. They did not offer legal defense and she was just left on her own. And I’ve always held onto that story. I’ve always wanted to do something with it. It was taken seriously enough that it went through a civil courts process. But it’s also so ridiculous that someone could make their way to you like that.”
This real-life event made ideal fodder for a plotline in which Ward’s character must contend with her own opportunistic and conniving student-led lawsuit. In the movie, Ernest enrolls in her class, wants her knowledge and whatever other benefits he might gain by signing up.
Kross explained that this leads Ward to deliver a speech where she says, “They come to me. I don’t come to them. They go out of their way to get to me. So how have I trespassed on them? They came into my circle.” She then gave props to A.J. for playing the role “fantastically well.”
She then delved into several plot developments that occur in season two, but which will be omitted here to avoid spoiling the end results, which must be watched to be fully appreciated. Suffice to say, however, that a cycle of harm ensues and leads Ward to a desperate place emotionally and mentally, leading to the grand finale that unfolded on set that day.
“Maitland just goes on this binge because she can’t reconcile who she had to be with where she’s at,” Kross summarized, before standing up and corralling cast and crew for the magic at hand.
Shadowing her closely lest I accidentally be caught on camera, I observed Kross alternating between watching the monitor displaying the camera’s viewpoint, and walking through the shifting scene. Ward passed from the sex club entrance into its foyer of ribald dancers, then sashayed her way through elegant room after elegant room, with the camera at one point spinning to capture the dizzying effect of the carnal carnival.
Shot after shot from her tight-knit crew drank in the improvised-yet-controlled chaos of the non-sex extras getting very steamy with one another, from the blue-lit bathroom crawling with girl/girl and boy/girl and orgy-esque groupings to an open room with a massive soft bed. There, Ward is flanked by a mandala of beautiful bodies and rhythmically pulsing fornication, before Pounder, Piper, Jones and Mountain proceed to strip her bare and pound her every which way.
Spellbound, I watched as the sex proceeded uninterrupted for more than 30 minutes, organically twisting and morphing like a kaleidoscope of Bacchanalian, sweat-drenched, libertine lust. Ward seemed aflame with a rosy ardor to match the fiery hues of her own hair, its slick strands whipping as her breasts swayed, groped and brushed and squeezed, each man beaming with euphoria as he took her and she took them.
