“[The demand has been] overwhelming,” Vivid national sales director David Peskin told XBIZ. “This is the most highly publicized Vivid-Alt title to date and based on the large number we just shipped out the door, it really seems to be an alt title that’s crossed over to the mainstream porn consumer.”
The Vivid-Alt auteur shot his version of “Debbie Does Dallas” at the same time that Vivid veteran director Paul Thomas was doing his remake, titled “Debbie Does Dallas… Again,” and both productions were featured in a Showtime documentary series that gave a candid glimpse into the world of Vivid Entertainment. The simultaneous remakes were green-lighted by Vivid founder Steven Hirsch, resulting in two very different big-budget adult movies.
Paul Thomas’ version, which was released in March, was shot on film and was the first adult title to be licensed by Sony, proprietor of Blu-ray technology, replicated by a licensed replicator and released on Blu-ray disc.
McKai’s “Debbie” is the first adult movie to be shot in high-definition, licensed by Sony and replicated by a licensed Blu-ray replicator.
“So, for anybody looking for a Blu-ray high-definition experience, this is it. This is the only title out there that’s like this,” McKai told XBIZ. “If you want to freak out on how great it looks in terms of sharpness of image, this is kind of your title. I’m a stickler for quality anyways, but on this one it almost got painful. So, that’s exciting.”
Taking the references of the original movie and tweaking them into contemporary pop culture themes, McKai’s version stars Vivid contract performer Cassidey as Debbie and Charlotte Stokely as Bambi (in tribute to the actress that originally played “Debbie,” Bambi Woods). Both girls compete to see who will hook up with the leader of a band named Dallas.
Other cast members include Monique Alexander, Dana Dearmond, Pixie Pearl, Tommy Pistol, James Deen, Alex Gonz, Julius Ceazeher and Icarus Corpse. Fred Lincoln makes a cameo appearance as Bambi's father, as well as a cameo appearance by Vivid-Alt director/photographer Dave Naz.
Always in the cultural vanguard, McKai also has infused the new "Debbie" with an original music score featuring bands like Driver of the Year, Hank IV, All Will Fall, PopiKoK and All Good Funk Alliance. An original song by Dallas, the band in the movie, is accompanied by a music video.
“We’re happy to see it shipping out in big numbers. This one is the crazy collaboration that I was thrown into with my new family, basically, and I get to share it with everybody, which is cool,” McKai said.
As far as alt porn becoming more accepted by mainstream adult audiences, McKai said that with “Debbie” he feels more established.
“With this one, I feel more acceptance,” he said. “People were very polarized about alt porn even a year ago, and it seems like that’s lightening up. I think people are happy to see [alt titles] on the shelf now, whereas before they were afraid that something was going to happen to their porn.”
“Of course, it’s still there — the pretty girls are still there, the sex is still there. It’s about girls and hot sex,” McKai said. “It’s a good date movie or a party movie. The kind of movie that you can sneak on at a party and it has lots of great music. I’m really proud of the work.”