Sinn Sage Interview: Capturing ‘Authentic Desire’
Sinn Sage is a performer of many sides, as her distinctive Twitter bio indicates: “optimistic nihilistic existentialist stoic socialist.” We chatted with the 2015 AVN All-Girl Performer of the Year about her career and latest projects, including Sinn’s Trans Lesbian Lovers.
Tell us a little bit about your background. How did you get into the industry?
I had wanted to be a performer of some type my entire life. So when I was old enough to do so, I went looking for it. I started dancing in strip clubs at 19, I found photographers looking for adult models in the back of LA Weekly, I went to my first AVN convention in 2003 with business cards and made some contacts, and that’s pretty much how it all started! Everything just grew from there.
How did you choose your stage name?
I was really goth in high school and I just loved the idea of a dark name like Sinn (but had to add the extra “n” to make it unique, of course!). I chose my last name for a variety of reasons: I grew up on Sage road, it was in a desert with lots of sage bushes, and I also have, indicate, or show profound wisdom. 😉
How would you sum up your overall stylistic approach to pornography?
If it was in one word, it would be authenticity. It’s how I want to perform, it’s what I believe people want to see, and it’s a philosophy I carry with me through my entire life, not just the porn I make. I want the camera to catch my authentic desire in my performances, and if I’m directing other people, that realism is what I’m looking for.
Tell us a little bit about your Sinn’s Trans Lesbian Lovers.
It’s truly such a thrill for me. I had worked with trans women before for other companies, but just never really had the access to be able to shoot with them for my own company. Then I moved to Vegas, and I had access to so many more people! And to a big trans community, so I just started reaching out to performers on Twitter and setting up shoots with them. It’s been truly amazing and I have loved exploring and working with different styles of women’s bodies. It has always been my dream to represent different areas of the queer community with my brand and my company, and with this movie I think I’ve accomplished that! I’m already thinking about what I want to do for a part two!
Trouble Films has emphasized queer inclusivity. What are the biggest misconceptions about queer pornography?
You know, it would be hard for me to even answer that. The one thing I guess that stands out in my mind is the latent homophobia/transphobia that still can exist in the mainstream porn industry with some performers believing it’s still somehow unsafe to work with people who engage in queer and straight porn. . . it’s exactly as safe to work with a fully tested queer performer as it is to work with a straight-only performer. The testing protocol is the same, so I really cannot see why someone would think that’s not the case. But this is a touchy subject and to fully explain it I’d have to pretty much write an essay and I’m not in the mood right now 😉
What’s the most important ingredient to a successful collaborative experience in porn?
For me, it’s zero stress, no time limit, full discussion of everything before hand, and enthusiasm! The best collabs are when people show up and have ideas they are excited about! (I’m not always practicing what I preach with that statement, by the way.) When things are relaxed and the goal is sexy fun, that’s when the best stuff comes out. Also open personalities and good communication!
Over the course of your career, what change to the industry have you most welcomed? In contrast, what change have you found the most troubling?
I’d say the changes I at first felt to be the most troubling, turned out to have a silver lining and led to the most welcomed changes. The Pornhub revolution really fucked the industry over for a while, and we were all hurt by it. I went to school for massage therapy during that time so that i would have another option or skill to fall back on if/when needed. (I graduated and I love doing therapeutic massage.) But from that downfall, I had to learn to adapt. I bought a Handycam and an editing program and a light. I started making custom videos. From there, I grew my own studio! Upgraded all my equipment, etc. So now, instead of only getting paid to labor for others to profit, I OWN most of the products I make, and I make the profit. Thanks to clip stores and fan sites, we performers are now the owners of our content, and that can actually set up a future for yourself in a way that 15 years ago we didn’t have easy access to that stuff. Being able to be more independent and not have to rely on waiting for producers to book me and living in LA has given us all so much freedom. We can live wherever we want and make our own products and sell them ourselves! I’ve found that most things that appear bad at first always tend to have a positive spin eventually, or if you can see it with a different perspective.
What has been your most interesting or challenging character role?
Honestly, I don’t feel like i get offered interesting or challenging character roles too often! Which is a shame because I adore acting and took theater and drama all growing up. Some fun ones I’ve had would be Saving Humanity where i played a scientist in the future. And Girls Of Wrestling for Ricky Greenwood/Sweetheart Video was also a fun role where I got to use my wrestling skills AND have sex with Ariel X in a FIERY scene. I accidentally got a black eye but it was worth it 😉
In 2009, you suffered a snowboarding accident. How, if at all, did that brush with mortality impact your perspective on your life and career?
I sure did, I had fallen backwards and hit my head so hard I got a traumatic brain injury. I was induced into a coma, where I stayed for about nine days. After that I remained in the hospital in Vancouver for two more weeks.
It took about a year for me to feel like I was back to my normal self. It was a miracle I even survived, much less made a full recovery. I felt as though some epiphany was supposed to hit me like a truck, but that never happened. What I will say is that the realizations about existence that one might have from such an event were ones that I had already understood. And in the more than a decade since that happened, I’ve embraced even more the concept that life can end at ANY moment. My philosophy before the accident remains my philosophy after, perhaps just more refined: this is the only life I’m guaranteed, and I need to work hard and with urgency to make it something that brings me joy, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. I live my life for me, and not for what anyone else expects of me or thinks of me. I feel my purpose in this life is to inspire others to recognize the same. I also follow a mix of philosophies but Stoicism is what brings me the most peace, like anything else training one’s thinking takes practice, and I try to remember to practice gratitude and Stoic thinking every day.
Dani Daniels: Dare includes one of your most famous and popular scenes. What are your recollections of shooting that movie?
First of all, I was honored that Dani asked me to be her partner for the g/g scene in her showcase movie. The day was pretty casual, which I think helped to add fire to the scene. After we shot the very sexy intro, [director] Mason just let us go for it. i had already worked with Dani three or four times before that, and it was always great, but that day it was like something new had been unleashed inside of her. It was so passionate and so intense, so sexy and so fun. As soon as we were finished, I remember saying out loud, “If any scene I’ve ever been in deserved to win an AVN award, it was that fucking scene.” I still truly didn’t believe in my heart that they’d ever give me one, because it seemed to me that they just didn’t give those types of awards to girls like me. So when the moment actually came at the AVN awards, I wasn’t even in the room! Hence why I came running down the aisles up to the stage all flustered because I wasn’t expecting it AT ALL. But I must say that it felt really, really nice to have my work recognized by my industry.
You once told AVN, “I try to make everything as real as possible.” What’s the biggest challenge in capturing such authenticity in a porn movie?
Ha, I don’t remember that, but it sounds like something I might have said! I think the biggest challenge for that would just sometimes be whoever I’m working with. I do my best to cultivate authentic passion with whomever I’m paired with, but there are those times when the other person just isn’t having it. Some people are too used to going through the motions, or making the sounds they’ve heard in the porn they’ve watched too much of, or they’re in too much of a hurry to savor every moment . . . it just can be like that sometimes. So in those times, I just do my best to make eye contact and try to draw them in to the actual pleasure of what we’re doing. Sometimes it works, and i manage to open them up. Sometimes it doesn’t. But as long as the scene still looks hot to whomever is watching it, that’s really all that matters!
Do you have any fetishes or kinks that you haven’t been able to explore yet on camera?
Haha YES believe it or not, I’d love to do a gangbang with four or five dudes! As long as one of them is my husband Drake ManO’War, and I got to pick the talent, and I didn’t have to take it in the butt, it’s kind of a bucket-list thing I’d like to experience. Shocking, I know! Haha. I’m not really into dudes, but it’s a fantasy to have my body used in that way. I have dark fantasies, not sorry!
What movies, books, music, or TV shows have you been loving lately?
During quarantine I read Madame Bovary and The Awakening. Both were outstanding books, despite what I may have assumed. I absolutely LOVED Madame Bovary. So beautifully written — I highly recommend it. For movies, Bo Burnham’s INSIDE is my absolute favorite thing ever. I have watched it more than seven times and listen to the soundtrack constantly. It’s so funny and so insightful and so personal and so brilliant. It’s my favorite piece of media ever. Please watch it! Beyond that, anything horror. I’ve been watching all the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. And a lot of YouTube. And Rick and Morty somehow just keeps getting smarter.
What are your plans for the rest of 2021 and beyond?
Well, I try not to make too many plans too far ahead, but my partner and i are still refining and building out our travel van with the hopes of living van life on the road again soon. We did so from 2016 through 2018, and it was the most free either of us have felt. With that said, i plan to continue producing custom videos, making movies with Trouble Films, and I’m currently working on a new paid membership site as well, which will be at sinnsagexxx.com before the end of the year. Really just keep doing what I’m doing and living the dream! People can order custom videos from me at sinn-sage.com/customvideos. And join my fan site at onlyfans.com/sinnsage. And my clip stores are at SinnSage.manyvids.com and Sinnsagedreams.com
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