Jess lanai

Jecheon 제천

If you don’t yet know the story, I was in a film that was filmed nine years ago but came out one year ago.

Because of that one film I did I’ve gotten to go to a lot of film festivals.

And it does make me feel like a bit of an asshole. Because I’ll meet film makers that have struggled for years and years just to go to one film festival.

But because I auditioned for Abdellatif Kechiche I got to go to several film festivals before I even made the film.

And then after I made the film my part in the film didn’t even come out until nine years later and all that time I was going to film festivals almost every year.

And the only reason I was even able to audition for Abdellatif Kechiche was because he wanted to make a film about Marilyn chambers the porn actress.

And I did porn, so. I was permitted to audition along with several other porn stars.

I was selected to play Marilyn Chambers.

The Marilyn Chambers project was totally abandoned.

But then Abdellatif Kechiche decided he still wanted to cast me in a film.

So he sent me a script about a nun. A French nun.

A horny French nun.

Named Marguerite Porete who essentially wrote a book (in French) that said a lot of controversial things. One such controversy had to do with how nuns should have sex. Or something to that effect.

I should reread her book. It’s called, the mirror of simple souls.

Porete was burned at the stake because she refused to take back what she said in her book.

I think for about six months to a year I studied being a nun.

Which was kind of cool.

But like Marilyn Chambers, Marguerite Porete was also abandoned by Abdellatif Kechiche.

It was some year or so later when I happened to be in Paris that I reached out to Abdellatif Kechiche. He told me to come immediately to audition for an entirely new film.

My part in that film was small. Most of the time I spent in Europe for it I was sitting on my ass having a European vacation.

I wasn’t even in the first two films.

And after the intermezzo controversy the last film that I was in got buried. For eight years.

Throughout those eight years I was still enjoying my status as an Abdellatif Kechiche actor and I got to enjoy all the festivals.

But I didn’t actually expect my film to ever come out.

Now it has. And now I’m in jecheon Korea to present it.

I’ve found Korea to be incredibly welcoming and accommodating. The locals are very helpful and patient with my complete lack of Korean.

They’re also quite friendly. I’ve had several miming conversations. One Korean older gentleman did speak English and he laughed at the way I was eating my coconut.

Another Korean gentleman introduced his two year old granddaughter to me. I don’t know why. He just walked up to me with his granddaughter and held her out to me so she could look at me.

The people working on the jecheon film and music festival have been incredible. I’ve never witnessed such efficiency.

They are a bit too accommodating though. If I or any guest look even slightly unhappy they swarm and offer a million solutions even if there is no problem. And they are all operating on zero sleep and constant work. It’s very impressive. I could never keep up with a Korean.

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Jess lanai

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18 responses to “Jecheon 제천”

  1. This sounds? Like an absolutely incredible experience and something I can only imagine makes its way into your writing later on. You always have such an incredible energy about different places that I relate to.

    The story of how you came to be apart of the film in itself is amazing and a story of its own. 6 months to a year or studying being a nun? Damn.

    You seriously deserve this, for your work you did put in still for the film. But all the work you’ve put in to the universe and yourself. You’ve earned this for yourself.

    I love seeing the W’s and need to know more about your food, coffee and other adventures you get to take part in there. Also, it’s super interesting getting to talk to you as you experience all of this.

    Be safe and but go have some fun lol

    – J

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    • Sorry, it’s been crazy since I found out I was going to Korea.

      This is all very nice to say. I got crazy lucky with doing this film. I was never supposed to be in it and then it was never going to even come out at all. Not to mention my scenes actually being used so I was even significant enough to be invited anywhere.

      There were a lot of other people in the film that spent a lot of time and effort shooting scenes for years and their scenes didn’t make it into the film. And they even had their careers riding on this film.

      So I certainly don’t take it for granted that I got to do so much and so much worked out for me.

      So you know the best parts about Korea for me personally was number one, their coffee. They had so many different kinds of coffee it was almost overwhelming. Korean desserts are very different and very good. How modern Seoul is was super awesome. It’s very clean in Korea, very low crime. And lastly it was nice how much Koreans loved Americans.

      I was with the film people. Film people hate Americans even if they are American. They try very hard to be very left leaning in film no matter what country they are from. (Everyone was from a different country. But mostly Europe.) the left leaning loves to hate America.

      Koreans however love America. So getting the love was nice after all the hate.

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      • No worries Jess!!!
        I’m super happy to hear, and that’s so amazing. You really are deserving of this. The right person is the person who appreciates it the most sometimes too.

        The coffee!? Tell me more, I’m intrigued. I had never heard about their coffee, nor their desserts but it looks like I’ll need to take a trip too.

        Clean and low crime? That’s great that they love Americans, truly I’m sure that made it that much more special.

        Of course they love to hate America, regardless of the American who they’re hating or whoever had given you hate.

        You should be extremely proud of yourself your this accomplishment and I’m always happy to hear back

        – J

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      • Yo!!! Sorry it’s been a while, things got a little crazy with dogs and DIY house remodeling and working a lot.

        Thank you for saying I should be proud. I have to remind myself that I did go through a lot to be in that film and I do deserve at least a degree of getting to travel.

        But yes Korea was very fun.

        How have you been? Feeling the divorced life? Or has it been rough?

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      • No worries Jess! I saw the newest additions to the family and that’s great! What remodels have you been getting to? I know you said you work a lot on the weekends so I’m sure you’ve been busy.

        And of course, you really should be. You’ve been through an incredible amount and even to have the role you did and keeping you head high when you have those people acting like sharks there too. Just all the bs you’ve put up with and the hard work you put in. It could even be said beyond the film, your passion and drive are extremely admirable and inspiring for me personally.

        Ive been really good actually, thank you for asking Divorce life has been really great, getting to be with myself and gain a sense of confidence back with just reinvesting into me, has been entirely necessary

        But legitimately? I do crave partnership and a girlfriend (then hopefully wife)
        It’s been rough when you want to share something or experience something with someone who you know would love it (not my ex but knowing that someone out there currently is that person)
        I’ve really fine tuned what I’ve been looking for in a woman and what specifics I’m looking for.

        How’re you? What’re the big plans for fall and winter? I’d love to see more fiction of yours

        I always look forward to seeing your name pop up on my notifications and getting read your stuff.

        – J

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  2. There are some advantages for being a westerner in Asia; it’s historical. Two hundred years ago, Europe and the US got very wealthy because of the industrial revolution. Asian countries were very backwards in comparison so when westerners went to Asia, the people there were in awe of the wealth and sophistication of the western people. Asians have been respecting and admiring westerners since then. And that admiration has been burned into Asian culture. So if you look like a white person, people in Asia treat you very well. Of course Asian culture is also classist, meaning that higher status Asian people also demand to be respected and to be given special treatment so the job of the common workers is to please the wealthy guests any way possible. That is how things generally work in Asia.

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    • Very interesting I did not know any of that. People have been insanely nice to me here. And there is like, zero crime as far as I can see and people have gone out of their way to help me. Like if I give too much money they give it back. They give me free sample of everything and anything, I don’t even ask for it. It’s actually crazy how nice everyone has been.
      I’ve met several older guys that exclaim how much they like America when I say I’m from America too

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      • The Korean war didn’t paused (they are technically still at war, no peace treaty has ever been signed) in 1953 and their economy didn’t take off until the 1980’s after political turmoil settled down so a lot of Korean people still remember the days when they were very poor. Now most people have much better lives so they are generally happy; happy people are nice to one another. Also in general, most places in Asia have a lot of surveillance cameras everywhere which help reduce crimes. For tourists, East Asia is a very safe and relaxing place to visit.

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      • I didn’t know any of that it’s very interesting. I definitely experienced Koreans loving America. A lot of them told me they loved America. They were also very nice and accommodating. How modern Seoul was was fun. I really liked that. The train and cafes and the bathrooms. Fantastic

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      • Not to be jingoistic but our country has been very good to the world in the last few decades. We demonstrated that when individuals are given the freedom to choose (how to live, what to do, etc.) great things can happen. And people all over the world love that and appreciate it

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  3. You had a couple of faulse starts, really interesting it took eight odd years to come out. I think your attitude about the whole thing is hilarious, you have a pretty chilled way of looking at things. Keep the blogs going I’m really enjoying your experiences vicariously. Thanks for sharing.

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    • Yes it was a very long and frustrating process but it did super pay off. Ive definitely learned it’s best to just be chill, do what you want in life and then see what happens because life is weird. It’s not so predictable.

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  4. Jess are you getting any of my comments on here ? Got a feeling they aren’t getting through. Just in case this gets through, thanks for sharing. Really funny.

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  6. Hope it’s not off topic but as far as I remember, you have always been to Asian culture ( specially Japan ) . I’m just wondering why you never had a single scene( during your Porn career ) with Asian dudes at all – concering the significant numbers of your interracial scenes . Was it something personal or it simply didn’t happen ?

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  7. I had lost track of your blog’s posts lately… very insteresting trivia about the Marilyn Chambers biopic (and the nun pic, too), is there any chance it will be resumed (with you as the protagonist)? And btw, has Abdel’s health improved? Could he go back to work?

    Happy for the Korean premiere of Canto Due.

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