Andrew Blake takes you Behind the Scenes: The filming of PARIS CHIC

In the autumn of 1996, I traveled to Paris, France to begin the production of my film,  “Paris Chic“. This was the second time I shot a film in Paris, the first being “Private Property”. When I arrived I met my production manager, Gregory, who was recommended to me by my French Distributor. I hired him because of his knowledge of the French talent pool and his experience in the French film industry.

I had a list of girls I thought I would like to shoot among them Lea Martini with her perfect breasts and the exotic brunette Coralie.  We set up a meeting with them to discuss the dates and their fees. They both eagerly stripped naked for me. I was not disappointed. I also brought into the mix the 20-year-old Anita Blond, who had a magnificent pair of legs and great breasts that I never tired of photographing as well as Ava Falk who was an explicit exhibitionist and the statuesque Tanya La Riviere, all popular French actresses.

With casting completed we moved on to finding locations. A location management company was hired as is the practice in most large filmmaking centers. We went to the agency in the former Les Halles section of Paris, climbed the ancient spiral staircase, and arrived in their office. They had a wide range of available spaces to rent. We asked each if shooting sex was a problem. Fortunately for me, they all agreed to the terms including a famous French Hotelier who had a small modern art-filled apartment. Next, we hired a vintage Rolls Royce convertible for a series of exterior scenes.

On the first day of the shoot, Coralie arrived for make-up with a terrible sore throat. This would pose a problem as there were several kissing scenes with Lea planned. Fortunately, Gregory found a ‘doctor on wheels’ who came and treated her. My wardrobe stylist and key makeup artist who both happened to be French and who I had worked with extensively before, flew in from Los Angeles, staying at our hotel near the Eiffel Tower.

The first location was a classical French apartment on the Avenue Rapp which was filled with period fabrics and authentic 18th-century furniture. We shot the first scene in the movie with Coralie playing a film director and Lea an aspiring model from Rome. Coralie wore a tiny mini skirt and see-thru blouse. We dressed Lea in a Marie Antoinette wig and corset. Her real-life boyfriend, Bruno Assix, played her blindfolded lover with Tanya La Riviere as the attendant. This sex scene was highly arousing playing out beautifully with Lea and Coralie ending in a standing nude kiss.

We shot several more scenes in this apartment then moved on to the second day of filming. We started with some exterior scenes with the Rolls Royce at the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel just beyond the Musee du Louvre. Coralie gives Lea a ‘gift’ of a collar and chain, then leads Lea around with the leash. Both girls wore very short dresses. While in the car their skirts rode up to reveal their lack of underwear. We then traveled to the Place de la Concorde and shot several scenes of Lea and Coralie kissing and fondling their pussies in the Rolls convertible. Just as we were setting up this shot a bus filled with Japanese tourists arrived behind us, pointing their cameras at us. They were very surprised and happy to say the least!

Next, we went to a very sexy Hôtel located on Avenue Kléber in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. During the German occupation of Paris, the hotel was the principal place for senior officers of the SS, Gestapo, and Wehrmacht. We took an elegant suite that I had reserved the previous day, and I spent the night there, meeting the crew the following day for the filming of Lea and Coralie making love.

Working out of sequence, we filmed the final scene of “Paris Chic” as Lea drove down the Champs-Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe while I sat in the back seat of the Rolls with my Bolex S16 film camera shooting Anita who was now Lea’s sex slave.

The third day of filming was at a ‘French Moderne’ apartment in the heart of the city. First up was a boy/girl scene with Anita Blond and Hervé-Pierre Gustave (HPG) The scene started out with Lea in corset and stockings masturbating while watching the couple. I shot an extended view of the nude Anita in reverse cowgirl position with HPG photographed in slow motion ending with his orgasm over her breasts. After a Vietnamese lunch catered by Gregory, we set up another boy/girl scene with Anita and David Perry. It also featured Coralie, Lea, and Tanya La Riviere. Coralie was training Lea to hold her orgasm until she was given permission. After a blow-job, Anita was penetrated by David in standing positions.

On the fourth and final day of filming, we arrived at a small contemporary art-filled apartment owned by a prominent Parisian hotelier. He ran two hotels, one an ornate bordello style stage set on the exclusive Rue Saint Honore and another very contemporary property near the Champs-Elysees. The full cast arrived and the day began.

My distributor arranged for French Premiere Magazine (covering the French Film scene) and Canal+ a subscription TV service which aired French porn films on the weekends to be present. They both shot video and stills of my cast in action. We filmed a scene with Ava Falk sitting on a chair that had a dildo attached to the seat and another girl/girl scene with Anita. My stylist found a large magnifying glass that I placed in front of Lea’s pussy, enlarging it as she masturbated. After Lea watches a film of Coralie fucking David Perry, she quits the relationship, inheriting the apartment, Rolls, and Anita as her slave. As the day ended my video distributor brought some Champagne on set and made a toast to us!

PARIS CHIC went on to gain 3 AVN Award Nominations.

The categories were Best Director – Film, Best All-Sex Film, and Best Packaging – Film.