Rocco Reed to Make Directorial Debut for Penthouse
LOS ANGELES — Rocco Reed will make his directorial debut this month for Penthouse Video with a movie called “10 Things I Hate About Valentine’s Day.”
A native of Columbia, S.C., who is in his fifth year in the adult industry, Reed said he “jumped” at the opportunity when it presented itself.
He regularly works for Penthouse as a performer, averaging four to five scenes a month for the feature-oriented studio. Reed said he has built a strong rapport with Penthouse Studios president Kelly Holland and director of production Cisco Guerra, and while he’s on set he always asks questions about the technical side of filmmaking.
“I basically drive them crazy,” he joked. “They have a lot of stuff going on with their studio and with their distribution deal in Europe. So they have a lot on their plate and more work opportunities are presenting themselves. I’m always willing to learn and do anything, so when they pulled me aside and asked me if I’d be interested in directing, I was speechless.
“This is something I’ve been working toward since the beginning.”
Reed, who also wrote the script for his first movie, told XBIZ that “10 Things I Hate About Valentine’s Day” is a romantic comedy based on the mainstream film “Valentine’s Day.” He cast Nikki Benz as the lead playing a florist shop owner “who doesn’t believe in love.”
“She just likes to go through life experiencing things and tries not to get too close to anyone,” Reed explained. “She enjoys making other people happy. She gives people advice and she’s happy and carefree and not worried about commitment
“Throughout the movie she sees her friends in love, and then one Valentine’s Day she gets lonely. Her best friend is played by Danny Mountain. And there some sparks there. That’s the small gist of it.”
Reed hand-picked the cast that also includes Kristina Rose, Gracie Glam, Allie Haze, Dana DeArmond, Kiara Diane, Mick Blue, Christian XXX and Bill Bailey.
“The girls were all no-brainers I think,” Reed said. “I wanted there to be a girl/girl [scene] in there. I just feel like it will be a well-rounded movie with one in there and Dana DeArmond is a phenomenal girl/girl performer. And Allie Haze I’m in love with, I had to put her in the movie. In my opinion Gracie Glam is the next ‘it’ girl. Kristina Rose is probably one of my favorite girls to work with, and Nikki is a star.”
He added, “Kiara is one of the most gorgeous girls in the business. I wanted really pretty girls that had acting ability that really love sex, and I’m good friends with all of them and I want to work with people that.”
Reed is a 2011 XBIZ Award nominee for Male Performer of the Year as well as Acting Performance of the Year for his role in Wicked Pictures’ “Mad Love.” He did a whopping 302 sex scenes in 2010, his most prolific year to date.
A former full-time print and runway model, Reed originally moved to Los Angeles to continue his modeling career and pursue mainstream acting.
“I made a living modeling, and I did some theatre and some improv — I did anything I could get my hands on,” Reed said. “I really wanted to be an actor. In college I studied psychology and theatre. I have a degree in psychology.”
Reed also played basketball for the University of South Carolina after receiving a partial scholarship. Even though he started working as a model when he was 15, Reed said he actually had his sights set on playing basketball for a long time.
“That was my plan,” he said. “I liked modeling, it was extra money. I was really into fashion. I wanted to own my own brand, but I thought, ‘I’m going to play basketball.’
“Reality set in when I was in college. I’m barely 6-2. I was good enough to be there, but not play in the NBA. I started taking improv classes and really got into theatre and I loved it, and I fell in love with acting. I still do things. I’ll take days off and do it for free. And I love writing.”
When Reed got to L.A. he was like many aspiring actors.
“I was hungry, I wanted to do things,” he recalled. “The opportunity came up to shoot for Playgirl, and I did that. When I did do that, it didn’t ruin my [mainstream] career, but it started to limit it. My agent had a big problem with it. We argued about it and I ended up doing it.”
Reed continued, “I really liked the adult business, always did. I was very intrigued by it. So I looked into it further and further. I was friends with [former adult performers] Cassidy and Kylie King. They said we can introduce you to a man by the name of Derek Hay [LA Direct Models owner]. So they took me over there, and the next thing I know I haven’t done less than 20 scenes a month since I started. I’ve already done close to 1200 scenes.”
Reed’s modeling career took him all over the world. He lived in Milan, Italy, for two summers and also traveled to Sydney, Australia, and Zimbabwe. He has appeared in catalogs for Abercrombie & Fitch and Gap, and in print campaigns and runway shows for designers such as Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein and Prada. As a teenager, Reed was a contract model for Structure, which is now the Express men’s clothing line.
“I’ve worked for eight of the 12 top designers,” Reed said. “It was a lot of fun and good times.”
Reed will begin shooting “10 Things I Hate About Valentine’s Day” on Feb. 22.
