Interview With the Phenom: Tori Black

CHATSWORTH, Calif.—She is, beyond debate, a star the likes of which adult has simply never seen. She's got the looks of a supermodel, the eloquence of a polished spokeswoman and the perverseness of a gutter whore. And on Jan. 8, Tori Black cemented her untouched standing in the annals of porn via the astonishing coup d'état of a first-ever repeat crowning as AVN's Female Performer of the Year during a ceremony she was also co-hosting ... and which saw her or a movie she headlined reap an additional five wins. AVN met up with Black once the dust had settled to probe her thoughts about the events of that night, being the biggest thing in XXX, and what plans she's got percolating for the future. AVN: Where to begin? Tori Black: I don' t know ... my life kind of feels like a whirlwind right now, it's kind of hard to start anywhere. Well, you're the only girl who's ever won Female Performer of the Year twice... That's absolutely astounding. It's an honor. I mean, I'm just like anybody else, so the fact that I got this honor, that's amazing. Would you have imagined two years ago, when you were up for Best New Starlet, that you'd be sitting here now with the number of trophies you've racked up since then? No, definitely, but I think the fact that every day is a new day for me, I don't expect or anticipate at all, I think that kind of helped me out. I dream big, but this is not the kind of arena that I allow myself to dream in, because if you dream about this sort of thing, frequently you get left empty-handed. And I find the things that I dream about are, I want to shoot a scene like this, and I want to have a company at some point. Those are the things that I dream about, as opposed to, I want to have this level of appreciation or respect in this industry. You can't really dream like that because it changes who you are as a person, it changes your personality, and I don't want to be that kind of person. Would you attribute your success to having that kind of grounded mindset? I think I attribute it to a few other things. One is my hunger—I have a hunger for life in general, whether that's work or it's play or, in my situation, work and play come together. My job is fun for me; I mean, it's a lot of people's dreams come true. But I also decided a long time ago, I said, I don't want to look like I'm faking it. I want to be me all the time. So what I decided to do was I decided to take my personal life to another level, I expanded my own personal sexuality and watched my own reactions: How do I cum? How do I move? What are the things I really say? And I took that and did it at work. Now, fortunately for me, the better I got, the more they put me with people I like to work with, so I didn't have to fake anything. Now I'm just kind of like a fuck doll, you move me around, and people seem to think that's amazing. And I'm like, man, I just came really hard, and if that's what you want to see, then shoot, I can give it to you! Would you say you've had any concrete strategy for your career the past couple years? No. We've kind of said, this is what feels right; this is an offer from a company that feels right, this time in my life it feels right. For example, the d.p. [in Mason's Tori Black Is Pretty Filthy 2 from Elegant Angel], it's funny because she called me last minute, she finally decided that she wanted to do this movie, and it was kind of an immediate decision. It had been a “no” for so long, I didn't want to do it, because I had never done it. It wasn't something that I had experienced before. But at that point it just felt right, and I said, “Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it now before I change my fucking mind!” But no, I don't plan it; I wait until the time is right, and when the time is right, it happens right. Anybody that watches that d.p., they're gonna say, “The time was right for her!” How was your experience hosting the awards? I was very, very nervous. Everybody always says, you're great on stage and you've got good presence or whatever—but sure, as soon as you start to realize how many people are going to watch this on TV and you actually have to take those steps out on stage, and you've made all these preparations thinking about the dress you're going to wear and how you want your makeup, then of course inevitably something always goes wrong. OK ... in my hotel before I came out for the red carpet, the people I was with sent the wrong dress to be pressed. So the dress I didn't need to be pressed was being pressed and the dress I needed pressed was still laying on my bed. And the dress that I needed pressed was going to be my on-stage one, and the other one was my red carpet. Finally, literally 10 minutes before I'm on the carpet, I'm throwing my dress on because I finally got it back from the dry cleaners, so I'm all flustered and whatever. That's life. It's inevitable that when you have a big moment, something is going to break, and it's going to test you. It's going to say, “What's really important in this moment?” Fortunately for me, I had somebody backstage who said to me, “What's important in this moment? You're here, you're put together, you're beautiful, you are who you are. You're going to go out there and you're going to kill it, doesn't matter what you wear. You could wear a potato sack, and people would think it was funny.” But it was a great experience. At the end of the night, I had an amazing night, I felt like I did a great job, I had a great time with Riley [Steele], the show was awesome, and I won some amazing awards. It was another accomplishment and something to be proud of. Speaking of being flustered, what was going through your mind in that moment when you had just won Performer of the Year and had to come right back out and do some hosting duties? In all honesty, I was just out of my mind, beside myself, in awe, like, “I can't believe what's going on.” You know when you're on a treadmill and you feel like the treadmill is moving too fast for you, and somehow your legs are moving but you don't know how, and you're like, “Wow ... something has got to give; I've got to relax and figure out what is going on right now.” So of course I don't get to do that right when I get off stage, because the first thing I have to do is turn right back around and come back out. But I think it kept me from—if I had another second before I had to go out, I might have burst into tears, and then that might be a little harder to get me back out on stage. After the show I think was the best part, though. I went right back to the room. Anybody who saw me in those Louis Vuitton boots at the end of the show, those boots are not comfortable at all. Hot as hell, but so uncomfortable. I literally crawled after I got off the elevator. I crawled from there on my hands and knees because my feet hurt so bad. I got in my sweatpants, I got in my Ugg boots, put on my wifebeater, and I was given a cigar because I won, [and] I'm walking down the corridor, smoking this cigar in sweatpants and Ugg boots, like, “Yeah, bitches!” I think that was the best part of the whole night. But I had a phenomenal time. It was an honor, I had a great night, and I really couldn't have asked for anything more. What would you say to the suggestion that you're the greatest ever? Well ... I wouldn't agree with that. I've had this new saying lately: “I like a full spice cabinet.” I think I was talking about races at the moment, but it kind of goes across the board. It goes for performing style, it goes for body type, it goes for personality, all of it. You want the full spectrum of life. And I'm one person. Another person could be just as awesome, but doing something entirely different. For example, Alexis Texas and I are really good friends, and she and I have talked about the feeling of competing and that sort of thing, and how sometimes people kind of want to pit us against each other. But we have different personalities, we have different ways we do things, so it's apples and oranges. I might be the best orange, but I'm not the best apple. You know what, I want to reverse that. I want to say I'm the best apple, because I'm from Washington, I want to represent. So I'm gonna be the best apple, and you can be the best orange. I do the best job I can at being me, and that's all I can say. The greatest ever ... I don't know if there ever will be. What's the next big thing you want to accomplish? I have a lot of very artistic ideas. I find a lot of the porn—not all, but a lot of the porn that we're shooting today—to be beneath what we could do. I know a lot of people that direct, and I see their creativity, and I see that you get stuck in a routine, the day in, day out; you have the lights set up like this, you're on a bed, you're in a kitchen, you're doing this, and it's just standard. And I know that they have more to offer. But at the same time, I know I do, as well. So I want to take the creative ideas that I have and really show sexuality in a different light. There are a lot of different things that I'm considering, and a lot of steps that I'm going to have to take to make Tori Black Productions, but that shit's going to pop off, and when it does, that's when I think the shit's going to hit the fan. Because I think my greatest asset is my dirty mind, and once I get a chance to really express what's in there, I think you're all doomed to jacking off every minute of every day for the rest of your life. Anything to add? I just want to say thank you to AVN. AVN's been way too good to me, and I can just say that I hope that I repay all the favors—favors as in the accolades and the friendliness and the support—I hope I can pay that back in doing the best performance I can and being the best me I can be, and hopefully one day I'll feel like I've paid back for everything AVN has said about me. Giving me the title two years running, that means I gotta make sure I maintain, and live up to what people see in me. My fans, AVN, the industry in itself ... people really see me at a certain level, and I just want to make sure that every day I bring everything I have—and I hope blow the fucking lid off this year, that's all I have to say. Otherwise, I'm going to be like, “Oh, damn. I did it really well, and then I sucked.” Photograph: Tori Black receiving Female Performer of the Year at the 2011 AVN Awards. Photograph courtesy Lee/EMMreport.com. See galleries on AVN.com for photographs of the AVN Award winners, the stage show and the red carpet.