RJ: I've made it to a certain plateau. Another thing is all the marketing with me on it. There are Ron Jeremy T-shirts all over the world. They just came out last week with Ron Jeremy rolling papers. I get people calling me up, saying, "I can't believe I'm smoking a joint with your face on it!"
PB: Do male porn stars get to hang out with Playmates?
RJ: Oh, I'm friends with a whole bunch. One of my best friends has dated two of them: Shae Marks and now Barbara Moore. They're both great girls with wonderful personalities. I did South Beach Academy with Julie Cialini. I've done a lot of projects with Julie McCullough. There was a Daily Show skit with us as conventioneers. I did another film with Ava Fabian, and I've dated a few. Not many, just a couple. I can't compare with James Caan.
PB: Do Playmates have to worry about you trying to get them to do porn?
RJ: No, but there have been some major names ready to do porn films. I directed John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut, and we sold 80,000 tapes. It was the biggest-selling porn tape of all time, until the Pamela and Tommy Lee video was released. LaToya Jackson was about to do porn after the Bobbitt tape. She was married to John Wayne Bobbitt's manager. The deal was that Bobbitt would be the first, and then LaToya would do a film, with her getting a big chunk of cash.
Then, right before we were about to shoot, she asked if she actually had to have sex. She wanted a stand-in. We had to say, "Well, that would be cheating." But that tape would've sold better than anything in the history of porn.
PB: Do you ever worry about turning into some kind of unapproachable porn diva?
RJ: No, I've always liked it when people come up and say hello. It doesn't take that long to sign an autograph. It's really terrible when you can't sign them. Recently, I was at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the WWF Smackdown. I entered the auditorium, and the entire audience started screaming my name. Everyone thought it was part of the show. The Rock and Will Smith were there, but everyone was yelling my name. I thought it was great, but then they all started coming at me for autographs. There was no way I could have signed them all. I was just asking people to please not be offended. But otherwise, I encourage stalking.
PB: Does having sex off-screen ever interfere with your work?
