How To Make Porn For Women

By Maggie Gyllenhaal, star and producer of HBO’s The Deuce

- Carina Chocano

When I first started thinking about The Deuce, the scripts were brilliant, and I was drawn to the character of Candy. But I was concerned about playing a sex worker who wasn’t completely written yet—what were we trying to say? So I asked for a producing credit, which guaranteed me a place at the table in terms of talking about story and character. When I got that, I felt like I had what I needed to sign on.

In preparation, I met a lot of women who had been prostitutes or involved in the early days of the porn industry, many of whom are in their sixties now. One of them invited me to a porn set that she was working on at the time, and I went. I read books on the subject. I have not done real sex work—I’m an outsider using my imagination to make art—but my impression is that it’s very taxing work and you have to disassociate so much to keep your mind intact.