Porn to be mild

Channel 4 screened Scott Gill's documentary film 'Pornstar: The Legend Of Ron Jeremy' again last night, and what a fascinating portrait of the man it is, as well as being a pretty revealing insight into the porn industry. Of course, there's the obligatory acres of bare flesh, gurning open-mouthed faces and whooping beered-up fratboy apes clamouring to meet their idol, along with some truly memorable lines: one porn director and friend refers to Ron as "a competent woodsman" and one of his female admirers confesses her attraction to "that pizzeria owner look"...

But underneath the baby-oil-slick surface there's so much more going on. Beneath the glamour lies the reality of the monthly HIV test , and even though he's obviously been through it countless times before Ron is clearly shown to be on-edge and absolutely petrified. At times he seems rather non-plussed and reticent to talk about sex and what he does, referring coyly to his "devirgination". The opening sequence shows Ron bumbling around the corridors of an airport, utterly directionless and lost. It's a perfect metaphor: he seems to have stumbled into porn in the first place, and indeed he still doggedly harbours ambitions to make it into the real mainstream. He talks soberly about the dramatic theory of Stanislavsky and his own attempts to immerse himself completely in characterclearly feels he has much to offer as a serious actor, even if his background in porn makes some film companies edgy about casting in their mainstream productions. What mainstream films he has appeared in he is fiercely proud of, even if that's a non-speaking role in 'Killing Zoe' that lasts for two seconds before he's shot. When he's shown going through the photos he's had taken with the great and the good of Hollywood he comes across as nothing so much as a starstruck fanboy eager for any chance he can get to meet his heroes, even if more often than not they're somewhat reluctant to be photographed with him.

And there's the irony: one of the most recognisable and idolised faces in film - sweaty, moustachioed - and yet at times he's shown to be lonely and unhappy, desperately in need of love.