Crime & Entertainment Podcast Interviews Hall of Famer Ivan

The veteran adult & horror director chatted with host Hollywood Wade about his childhood during the ‘70s Cold War, immigrating to the U.S. from Russia as a child, and his ascent into the world of filmmaking and wrestling over the past two decades.

“When you come here as a Russian person, kids pick on you… you’re the enemy, you’re the evil one, kind of how it is now,” jokes Ivan of moving to the States, noting that he experienced serious culture shock as a child, particularly in the realm of films, such as horror.

“When I was a little boy and I saw the movie Jaws, I was afraid to take a bath! You’re coming to a whole different culture and you’ve never seen anything like that… for a while I was really scared of horror movies… the first movie I worked on was a horror film and it just kind of snowballed from there; I fell in love with the genre… it has conventions and the filmmakers look out for each other.”

He stated that the reason he produces films, podcasts, and live wrestling scenarios for fans is because of “the personalities that create the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the everything else… to express our eccentric minds and realities and the way we dress and tattoos.”

Ivan launched his adult career after meeting Rob Black, who offered him the opportunity to shoot wrestling footage before he was asked to try his hand in porn. “I came in as a Behind-the-Scenes guy, and let me tell you, back then none of them knew what they were doing… so one day I just asked my boss if I could direct… I started shooting individual scenes… I did a movie called Texas Asshole Massacre and that movie put me on the map in a big way!”

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Fans can find and follow Ivan on his own podcast at KingSlivan.com, YouTube channel Slivan.TV, Instagram @iamslivan, and Twitter handle @iamivanxxx.