SHOOTING STAR
Florian Klein is a gay porn actor better known as Hans Berlin. He’s taken his porn industry experiences and turned them into a stage musical, Shooting Star which has premiered in LA and garnered rave reviews in both the gay and mainstream press.
Florian Klein is a gay porn actor better known as Hans Berlin. He’s turned his experiences into a hit stage musical, Shooting Star.
DNA: Do you remember the moment you had the bright idea to write a musical about the gay porn industry?
Florian: Yes, it was in the fall of 2012, a few months after I got into the adult industry. I’d just shot one of my first scenes with Jessy Ares, who is a singing porn star, and we were joking about a musical porn scene with singing and sex. When I went home that night the idea took shape in my head – why not write a porn musical? At first I wasn’t sure about the tone of the show and called it Porn – The Musical. But once I outlined the story it became clear I wanted to create a sincere and honest, yet magical, portrayal of the gay porn world and not a camp-and-corny porn musical.
Why did you change the title?
Because Porn – The Musical sounds like a camp-and-corny show with dancing dildos and priests singing, “We love porn!” and that’s exactly what Shooting Star is not.
How did the creative team come together for the premiere season in LA?
My fabulous director Michael Bello (assistant director of the Tony Award-winning Summer: The Donna Summer Musical) came highly recommended. Michael brought Jim Cooney, our choreographer, with him. I’m very fortunate to be friends with the fabulous Angela Wendt, who was the original costume designer of worldwide phenomenon RENT: The Musical. She tells me we actually have more costumes than RENT – a total of 96 – and I thought I wrote a small show!
Your day job is porn star, and your porn persona is Hans Berlin. What would Hans make of Shooting Star?
That’s a funny question. Hans and Florian are not that different. Florian is blown away by what my creative team made of Shooting Star. And Hans loves it, too [laughs].
Was there any subject matter that was off limits in the script?
I didn’t want the show to date so we don’t talk about condom use, PrEP or HIV/AIDS. Not that I want to say HIV/AIDS are not worth mentioning anymore, quite the opposite. I’m an HIV activist promoting safer-sex options and breaking HIV stigma, but with Shooting Star it was also my intention to show issues a general audience could relate to. I wanted to show the LGBT community has other universal issues like finding love, finding oneself and a family of friends. It doesn’t matter if you’re gay, straight, bi, transgender, black, brown, white, yellow, a porn star or a Wall Street broker, you’ll see parts of yourself in the characters that populate Shooting Star. But there is still plenty about the gay porn world in it.
I didn’t want to be too specific when it came to gay or porn issues. Without censoring my own writing, I kept in mind that my ultimate
I wanted to create an honest portrayal of the gay porn world… not a camp-and-corny porn musical.
goal was to create something that speaks to everyone. By making the setting the gay adult film world, that’s already asking a lot for many audience members.
Why a musical and not a play?
I’m gay and I love musicals [laughs]. Sometimes in the fantasy of my own world I break out into song while I’m cleaning the house. A musical also gave me the possibility to show the emotional world of my protagonists a lot better than just a play. Composer Thomas Zaufke and lyricist Erik Ransom created beautiful songs that will make you laugh, cry, dance and not forget them long after you’ve left the show. What are some of your favourite musicals? RENT has definitely been a major inspiration because it’s also set in a very specific world but deals with basic human needs. Kinky Boots is another show that always makes me feel good and leaves me with that warm, fuzzy feeling you want when you go to the theatre or movies. Does Shooting Star follow in Kinky Boots’ footsteps?
My favourite kind of entertainment is a show or movie that also teaches me something… has a message. Kinky Boots changed the theatre world with its message of acceptance. Audiences who see Shooting Star will never look at porn the same way they used to, sorry folks [laughs]. Is gay porn now mainstream enough that straight audiences get the jokes? Yes, but we also put some jokes in there that only gay audiences will understand. “Do what you must, to keep up your hygiene. Nothing quite kills the lust like a guy who’s not clean!” And we don’t mean, “Please shower” [laughs]. What’s the plan with the musical after the LA premiere? Bringing Shooting Star to New York for a full OffBroadway production, but I don’t believe Broadway is ready for us yet. It took Hedwig And The Angry Inch 20 years to conquer Broadway. Maybe we just have to be patient. There are already talks about taking the show to London for next Pride season. Will there be a cast album… and merchandise?
I’m currently raising money to make a cast album possible. And merchandise? Yes, working on that, too. #AStarIsPorn #PartyLikeAPornstar How come you’re not starring in the production?
I realised my talents are more in writing than acting and singing [laughs].
You don’t plan to do a walk-on cameo?
Great idea. I’ll think about it.
You’ve been a porn star for a long time now. How have you managed to not let it make you go mad?
That’s exactly why I felt the urge to create Shooting Star; to break with common misconceptions like this one. Why should I go
mad? Porn is a job for me like any other job, or like every other job in the entertainment industry. The only thing that drives me mad is the judgment from society, but as long as my friends and, above all else, my family loves me the way I am I’m okay.
What are some of the things you’ve learned from being in this industry?
How hypocritical our society is. There’s sex everywhere around us, but, when you work as a sex worker, you’re immediately labelled a bad person. It took me quite some time to tell my parents about my job. But why? I didn’t harm anyone, I wasn’t a serial killer or a drug dealer. All I did was start doing something that is judged by our society, just because. Once again, I had misjudged my parents. They continued loving me without limitations.
Has making porn changed a lot over the years? Oh my God, yes! So much that we even have a song about it in the show when the older porn star has his Norma Desmond moment singing about Those Golden Days of gay porn.
Have PrEP and barebacking completely changed the gay porn biz?
Everyone who watches porn can answer that question. Barebacking is possible because of PrEP and the knowledge of U=U [undetectable viral load means HIV is untransmittable]. That’s why more and more studios shoot condomless now. It took me a few years to shoot my first bareback scene. I felt it wasn’t a good example to set, encouraging my fans into unsafe sexual behaviour that could potentially harm them. That’s why I became an HIV activist. As it is, with many things in life, education is the key, as well as the access to medication and prophylaxis.
On a personal note, how’s your love life?
I’m a super nice guy, some people think I’m hot, and I have a lot of sex but, sometimes, I’m like Taylor, the protagonist in Shooting Star, who’s trying to find the love in all the lovers he’s had. That means I’m still on the lookout for a husband.
Describe your perfect guy.
I’ll let you know when I know [laughs].
If any readers think they are “the one” where should they send their résumés?
I’m on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter – write me there and please say hello when you see me out and about. I’m a really nice guy and I don’t bite most of the time!
You must be proud of what you’ve achieved with Shooting Star?
I still can’t believe that all of this came out of this little head of mine, well, not that little. It’s going to take me some time to fully wrap my head around the fact that Shooting Star is really happening. It’s a real show, with music, actors, musicians and audiences and the biggest little show Los Angeles has to offer this summer.
You also have the backing of Falcon Studios. One of our biggest sponsors is Falcon Studios, one of the leading gay porn studios. They saw we’re not bashing the porn industry but helping take the adult film industry out of the shadows and into the spotlight where it belongs. We’re done hiding. Thanks to Falcon, we’re a musical now. So, how much actual sex is on stage in Shooting Star?
[Laughs]. Not one single bit of actual sex is in the show. Yes, we do have tasteful nudity that drives the story along, but that’s it. If anyone wants to watch porn, do it on your computer or phone in the privacy of your own room. You won’t see porn in my show, but there’s a lot of sexiness on stage.
There’s sex everywhere around us, but… sex workers are labelled bad. How hypocritical our society is.