Interview: Sherman Wayze
Editor: Gavyn Glass
To learn more about Lexi Luna, find and follow her at iWantLexi.com. Twitter / X: @Lexilunaxoxo.
Sherman Wayze: Tell me about “With Love, Lexi.” How did this series come about?
Lexi Luna: Bree Mills approached me late last year and asked what I would do if the budget were not an issue. I came up with ideas for scenes that I know my fans love and that are part of my performer personality. We called them love letters to my fans, hence “With Love Lexi.” The scenes are broken down into my main niches. The first scene coming out is a foot fetish-focused scene, which has been with me since the beginning of my career when I started in dungeons. It’s exciting to share these scenes because we had a big budget to get the proper locations, crews, and talent to bring these visions to life.
Sherman Wayze: Before this series, had you had any thoughts about directing?
Lexi Luna: I’ve always considered it in the back of my mind as a natural progression for performers. But through doing this series, I’ve realized it’s not for me. I love performing and coming up with ideas, but having all the pressure fall on me is something I’m not into. I was an elementary school teacher, so I had all the responsibility then. Now, I enjoy focusing on the performance part of my career.
Sherman Wayze: When you decide to direct, do you focus on your fantasies or what you think would sell?
Lexi Luna: It’s a little bit of both. I share a lot of my fantasies with my fans, and I know many of their fantasies about me. The second scene coming out features my ultimate fantasy — the sex the way I want it, with the settings, moods, and lighting I desire. But it’s also something I know my fans will love, which will be marketable. I only do things I find hot in my work, so there’s not much separation between what makes money and what I’m into.
Sherman Wayze: What are some of the pressures of directing?
Lexi Luna: Staying on budget, staying on time, trying to get what you want out of performers — all of that and more. If we forget to film something or overlook a piece, bringing everybody back is expensive. I worked with great talent and got to choose who I worked with, but I know that’s only sometimes the case on set. It’s a lot of pressure, and I realized directing isn’t for me, but doing fun projects and having input is definitely for me.
Sherman Wayze: From being a performer, were there specific shots or ways you wanted to make sure to include in your own project?
Lexi Luna: Absolutely. I enjoyed creating idea boards, searching for different moods online, and showing exactly what the lighting should be. I knew the crew I was working with was professional, so I didn’t need to micromanage. Being able to do all that pre-planning with Bree was a great lesson in how to increase the value of my productions through more planning and structuring.
Sherman Wayze: What can you tell people about working with Bree Mills?
Lexi Luna: Working with Bree is fantastic. She’s so positive, and her favorite thing to say is “Yes.” It’s really rewarding to come up with something that someone of her caliber thinks is exciting. She supported me the whole way, which made me feel very qualified. It was incredible to see it all come together.
Sherman Wayze: From the original concept to the finished product, how much of your vision did you get in the finished product?
Lexi Luna: For the ones we’ve shot so far, the vision has been 100%. The long, extensive planning process with Bree before shooting was vital. She fully understood what was important to me and each scene’s main points. She could relay that to her crews and teams, ensuring the vision was being upheld as much as possible on set or from the office.
Sherman Wayze: When you go into directing, do you take it from a woman’s perspective? Do you make it prettier? Is it a guy’s porn or a girl’s porn?
Lexi Luna: The beautiful thing about it is that it’s both. I’m very sensual, and many fans watch me with their partners. I enjoy being able to share the level of intimacy that can happen on these sets. I love to continue the storyline throughout my scenes, not just abandon it once the sex starts. I need to bring the fans into the environment we’re trying to create for each scene.
Sherman Wayze: You mentioned the feet thing. Is there a particular way you like your feet played with? And does that come across while on camera?
Lexi Luna: There are a lot of up-close, up-to-the-toe shots. I love having my feet rubbed and bitten and having the wetness of the tongue flowing through the toes. We showcased all of that. But part of Adult Time’s brand is doing porn differently, so during the scene, I’m very much asking my scene partner to do the things I want to see done or checking in with him. We’re heavily building the consent piece around this as well.
Sherman Wayze: When you’re filming something, and you’ve got great energy and chemistry, but you’re shooting something that gets along the borders of maybe they can’t show or do, do you stop it and then pick it up again, or do you just cut it out later?
Lexi Luna: Typically, because we perform so much in the general sense of porn, we’re very responsible for making sure we’re not crossing boundaries or showing things that are against the terms of service. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, something might slip, and that’s an easy place where, in editing, they can cut it down. They have their compliance that they have to adhere to as well. For the most part, I chose performers who know the type of performer I am and vibe with that. I do everything sensually and slowly, and it’s more romantic than intense.
Sherman Wayze: How difficult is it for Lexi to direct Lexi?
Lexi Luna: It’s the most challenging thing in the world. They turn the monitors around so I can see while we’re in positions getting ready to start, and it’s wild because I see it, and it’s so different from what it feels like. It was really fun to see it in real-time because it might feel one way, but depending on the camera angle, I might not be able to think about the spatial rotation of my body.
Sherman Wayze: As a beautiful woman and a director, if you see something on camera that maybe you don’t think looks gorgeous, do you stop that and say, “No, can you maybe put the camera here because I think I look better,” or do you just trust your crew and just go?
Lexi Luna: It’s a little bit of both. I have somebody on the set who knows my preferences, like how my bangs have to be a certain way or that I prefer a 45-degree angle over a profile. Having somebody on set who knows these things and can relay them is important because I can’t see what’s happening while I’m performing. I need an advocate who understands my brand to ensure the angles I envisioned and captured.
Sherman Wayze: How do you handle situations where performers might not be as professional as you’d like?
Lexi Luna: I always try to meet people where they are. They might have had a rough morning before coming to set, so I give them space. I’m fortunate that I can pick exactly who I want to work with. The performers in these scenes are people I’ve worked with over my eight years in the industry, so I know their level of professionalism. That’s why I picked them and set myself up for success.
Sherman Wayze: Did any of the episodes end up someplace completely different from your initial idea?
Lexi Luna: Definitely. A girl-girl scene with Reagan Foxx ended up different from my initial idea. I had envisioned the male talent watching us from closer proximity, but he ended up being seated farther away, more like in the living room across the bedroom style. It worked out better because we could give him good glances, and it made more sense when we looked at him across the room. It’s about being flexible and doing what looks and feels better on the day.
Sherman Wayze: Can you walk me through your first day of shooting as a director?
Lexi Luna: I arrived at the location, which turned out to be a place I’ve shot at before for foot content. It felt fitting and gave me a little boost of confidence. Bree showed up and helped calm my nerves. She took over some decisions I needed more time to prepare for, like what filters to use on the cameras. Once we got into the workflow, things went smoothly. When the male talent, Nathan Bronson, arrived, I felt comfortable because we’d worked together many times. We did the consent checklists and intros, and then it was off to the races. The sex part was the easiest for me because that’s what I know best.
Sherman Wayze: As a first-time director, did you find yourself interrupting shots or asking for changes?
Lexi Luna: I had a sidebar with Bree and told her I felt anxious. I trusted she knew the vision and felt confident letting her take charge while I focused on performing. I wanted to see the expectations for the following scenes we’d film. A lot of the work happens before we get on set, so everyone already knows what is happening. It was more about clarification than explanation on set.
Sherman Wayze: How did you approach the photos for the project?
Lexi Luna: Many photos were taken as we performed, so they’re live-action shots. We did a little series by the window for the first scene, where I’m in my purple robe to get some safe-for-work promo material. We took about 50 photos that we could choose from for various promotional purposes.
Sherman Wayze: Is your directing style more about giving an idea and letting the performers create as they go along?
Lexi Luna: Pretty much. There was a lot of explaining at the beginning and setting parameters, especially for the foot scene. I wanted to be clear about the type of scene we were going for, whether it was hardcore BDSM style or soft, sensual footplay. I emphasized to my scene partner, Nathan, that I wanted him to act like he wasn’t scared or shy but not 100% sure what to do so he’d keep checking in and asking if I liked what he was doing.
Sherman Wayze: How do you approach shooting a commercial scene that’s focused on feet, as opposed to a standard porn scene?
Lexi Luna: The big thing for me is extended foreplay. We had a longer foot session at the beginning, highlighting that part of my body. After we had that intro piece, I was happy with the amount of time we spent panning the legs and giving the fans what they wanted to see, and then we could go however we wanted. There was no actual order of events after that.
Sherman Wayze: Do you find it’s better as a performer when the director lets you go with the flow because you’ve worked together before?
Lexi Luna: Somewhat. I like to know the timing because every scene requires a specific amount of time. When we don’t have a particular progression of sex positions, it’s easier for me to know how much time is left so I can pace the scene accordingly. I like to check in during breaks to see how much longer we need so I can plan to slow down, pace differently, or keep one position longer if necessary.
Sherman Wayze: In your scenes, is there a lot of exaggeration, or do you believe in keeping things authentic?
Lexi Luna: I think there’s a showcase of both in my scenes. Some scenes are over the top and warrant exaggerated expression, but for the most part, the things I’ve shot in the last couple of years have been more authentic. I can have an orgasm or not, but I can still be vocal about enjoying sex and the moment. Sometimes, it gets more intense, and I get carried away, but it’s an ebb and flow. I’m not trying to hit specific notes during the sex portion of the video.
Sherman Wayze: Can you tell me about the first three episodes of your series?
Lexi Luna: The first one is a foot fetish scene. The second one is a boy-girl scene with a sensual dance number. We’re dressed up – he’s in a suit, I’m in a sparkly dress gown. We start dancing on the dance floor and then move to the bed. It’s very classy, romantic, and authentic. It’s my fantasy scene. The third is a girl-girl scene with Reagan Foxx, where we’re having fun, and a guy is watching and encouraging his partner to have fun. It’s a scenario that many of my fans who watch with their partners might fantasize about.
Sherman Wayze: Is Charlotte Stokely involved in any of these episodes?
Lexi Luna: Yes, Charlotte is the cello player in our dance scene. When we came up with ideas, I wanted a sexy violinist or something similar. We decided on a cellist because the cello is the sexiest instrument that sits between your legs and has a sensual sound. When Bree approached Charlotte about it, she was excited to play the cello for the scene.
Sherman Wayze: When you do each episode, is there a conscious effort to vary the intensity or style?
Lexi Luna: Yes, there is. For example, there’s a threesome scene coming up where I’m helping my young neighbors have their first threesome. That one was higher energy and a bit more taboo. The mood changes with each scene, and we pay attention to lighting and time of day to set the right atmosphere.
Sherman Wayze: At this point, are you done with the series, or is it ongoing?
Lexi Luna: There’s one more episode to film, which we’re filming in August. We’ve got four out of five filmed and ready to go and launch.
Sherman Wayze: Has your perception of being a director in adult entertainment changed from doing it?
Lexi Luna: Absolutely. I have so much more respect for directors now. I see the amount of things that could go wrong, the stress they’re under, and things that are sometimes out of their control. I value their input and respect them so much because I could never accept the amount of responsibility that they have.
Sherman Wayze: From being a performer to becoming a producer, how do you handle situations where performers aren’t giving you exactly what you want?
Lexi Luna: I’m fortunate to work with people I know very well, so I can shake them up and show them precisely what I want. I do it with love, not criticism. It’s about giving them the exact example and practicing it several times before going for it.
Sherman Wayze: Of the four episodes you’ve shot, is there one that stands out as particularly good?
Lexi Luna: Yes, the next one is coming out. It’s my fantasy scene with John Strong, where we’re dancing with Charlotte playing the cello. The way it came together, the lighting, and the moods set with the two different tones of light on both of us is so beautiful. I think that’s one thing that’s missing in the industry – more beautiful porn that doesn’t always need to show everything fully blown out.
Sherman Wayze: After finishing this project, has your perception of performing changed?
Lexi Luna: A little bit. I’ve always given directors a lot of grace on set and tried to be helpful. Now I understand them more in terms of the logistics, like when bookings have to be changed or dates adjusted. I’m more patient when I don’t hear back immediately because I understand they deal with a lot.
Sherman Wayze: Would you be interested in producing in the future?
Lexi Luna: That’s more my speed – having the final say and paying for the project. I do that in my productions, where I’m paying male talent to shoot a scene with me that only I will own.
Sherman Wayze: You mentioned starting in the industry at 26. Should performers wait until 21 to enter the business, or is 18 still okay?
Lexi Luna: That’s tricky. Some 18-year-olds are mature beyond their years, while others won’t be mature by 30. This industry can chew you up and spit you out, and someone younger might not realize what’s happening until it’s too late. People whose brains aren’t fully developed shouldn’t be making these decisions and putting themselves in front of billions of people without fully understanding the potential consequences.
Sherman Wayze: Would you have been mature enough at 18 to get into this business?
Lexi Luna: No. I’m thankful I grew up in a time when nobody could record your every move and see all your mistakes. Just because you’re 18 doesn’t necessarily mean you’re an adult, and life experience is crucial.
Sherman Wayze: There have been several performer deaths in recent years. Do you think the industry puts that much stress on performers, or are there pre-existing issues?
Lexi Luna: In the past, there hasn’t been much emphasis or acceptance of mental health in the industry. We’re starting to move in a better direction now, but unfortunately, some of the friends we’ve lost might have been casualties of that old mindset. It’s not the industry itself — people have all types of demons, and we don’t know that when they start.
Sherman Wayze: As a director and producer now, how would you handle a situation where a performer shows up on set and isn’t in the right state of mind?
Lexi Luna: You have an obligation to shoot consensual sex. If somebody’s not all there, they cannot consent—end of discussion. The shoot is over, even if it means losing the location fee. The ethics of it are very important. It’s not worth shooting with someone who isn’t coherent or able to make decisions for themselves.
Sherman Wayze: Do you think the recent legal case involving Nicole Doshi and agent fees will significantly impact the industry?
Lexi Luna: Probably not because new naive girls are coming in every month who don’t know that case happened and don’t know or have anybody to tell them. And even if they did, what are they going to do? That’s returning to your earlier question about agents telling girls they must do everything. When you hold all the keys as an agent, and the girl doesn’t know anything, she will pay you 10%, and you will collect the fee from the company. And until the subsequent lawsuit comes, if one comes, you know, because obviously, she’s paying money to litigate this. And that’s not everybody’s position. Only some people have the wherewithal, funds, or desire to do that. So, how will the agencies’ work stay the same going forward if there’s some kind of oversight or something like that that doesn’t exist?
Sherman Wayze: Is there anyone part of this journey that generally surprises you?
Lexi Luna: Hmm. I was most pleasantly surprised by all the individual personalities of the crews. Each director has an ecosystem that they build within their people. And that has been probably the most pleasant surprise, just like being able to work with people in quick succession and seeing all the different cultures on the various sets of how the directors bring their people together, how they motivate them, how they get them to, you know, give them a great day. Everybody stays smiling throughout the whole day. So being able to see that and feel the camaraderie and kind of dip into like, oh, on Monday I’m shooting with this crew, on Tuesday I’m shooting with another crew, and on Wednesday it’s a different crew. It gave me a happy sense of being part of all these little communities every time I got to be on set. It was pleasantly surprising that all those directors had cultivated those communities and ways of life in their sets.
Sherman Wayze: Before getting into business, had you any preconceived notions about the adult entertainment industry?
Lexi Luna: I didn’t know anything about it because I wasn’t thinking in those terms. I wasn’t, you know, I didn’t follow anybody on Twitter per se. It wasn’t fully advertised to me. I didn’t watch porn. I’d seen porn, but I wasn’t like looking things up. Mostly, I grew up when porn spam took over your screen. And you had no choice but to watch the pop-up, right? That was like the hard times. And now it’s more just, you know, Instagram models very quickly skirt the rules of being Instagram versus OnlyFans. And I think that was always there, but now there’s a place to monetize it. So I might’ve been seeing those types of pictures and seeing those types of expressions of yourself, but not really like thinking about what this industry is as a whole, more just like, oh, that’s a hot photo, but not thinking about the business side of any of this. So, no, I didn’t have any preconceived notions. I think there are a lot of people who might think that it’s unsafe or that, you know, people are being treated poorly. And you know, porn inherently is safe because if it weren’t safe and consensual, it wouldn’t be called porn, it would be called abuse. And so that’s just the thing that it comes down to is if you’re in a situation that is not what is considered consensual, then you’re not in a porn set, you’re in an abuse location. And so that’s the hard part is I think a lot of people like to lump us with the bad things, and it’s much easier just to say, oh, porn is bad, because who couldn’t agree that porn is bad for the children, right? And we also all agree with that. We just don’t want to be forced into legislation that makes it impossible for us to comply to be able to verify ages and all that kind of stuff that’s happening in the media right now.
Sherman Wayze: All the children’s stuff and all that stuff aside, as a community, can our community implement changes in our lifetime where we get rid of them? I hate saying bad agents, but people who take advantage of people who take advantage of people in general.
Lexi Luna: I think in any industry, there is an undercurrent of some kind of people who are taking advantage. And it just so happens that everybody’s so interested in it with porn because it feels like sexual abuse. But really, this happens in any job. Every, I mean, think about, let’s just think about like attorneys, for example. There’s some abuse of power going on there. And so I guess we won’t ever be entirely rid of the bad actors because new ones always pop up. But through social media, we have been able to warn each other a little bit better and to put these people, to call these people out and to put their names out there so that people can be safer and can find, you know, oh, this person asked me to do content with them, but they haven’t been tested in a month. And now they’re telling me, well, I don’t want to get tested, it’s too expensive. You know, red flags and just giving each other more information, keeping each other safe in that regard, too. The companies do a pretty decent job of showing us consent checklists and having consent talks that are recorded before doing the sex part of the scenes. And so I think that, you know, there are small strides that are being made to oust the people who are not interested in consent in particular and are very abusive in that sense. And, you know, a lot of that happened during the pandemic along with the world, right? The world was also purging bad actors. And we were kind of doing it alongside Hollywood.
Sherman Wayze: Anything you want to say to all of your fans?
Lexi Luna: I fucking love you guys. And I would not exist without you. So truly, from the bottom of my heart, I hope you love everything I’m about to give you and that you remain my fans. And I’m very thankful that I have such loyal fans.
ABOUT LEXI LUNA:
Lexi Luna is a fascinating study in contrasts: as one of the adult industry’s most sought-after MILFs with a voracious taste for sexual adventure, this buxom brunette with the ‘Best Fake Boobs in the Biz’ is a romantic at heart, the ‘Gentleman’s Pornstar’ where smartly-attired elegance and confidence worn with style is at the top of her ‘to-do’ list.
Growing up in Indiana, Luna followed the traditional path of academic excellence and pursued a career as an elementary school teacher after college graduation. However, after five frustrating years, Luna realized that professional fulfillment and financial security were waiting for her elsewhere.
The adult film industry came calling, and Luna, who lived in Florida at the time, took a chance on an exciting new opportunity and shot her first scene, “Fuzzy Peach,” for Reality Kings in early 2016. Luckily for her (and the many thousands of fans who now follow her work), she was a natural-born performer who has since blossomed into a charismatic and compelling MILF superstar with an incredible body of work that spans nearly 400 studio titles.
These days, Luna is sitting pretty among the top names in the business, boasting 411 million views on Pornhub, thousands of die-hard subscribers on LoyalFans and her very own Lexi Luna Doll for fans to enjoy while chatting with her on SextPanther. In her spare time, Luna enjoys quiet pursuits such as gardening, gaming, jigsaw puzzles and building miniature house models. To learn more about Lexi Luna, visit iWantLexi.com.
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