Julie Strain: The Mr. Skin Interview

What's your favorite way of killing?
God... you know, there's so many different ways to kill people. In my Troma movie, Julie Strain's Tales from the Crapper, I kill probably at least thirty people. I poked out eyes and I pulled out hearts and I ripped out intestines and I head butted people and I bit necks. I don't even know how to pick a favorite. I love to head butt people. They usually don't die from that, but that's one of my favorite moves.

What treats are in store in your latest movie?
My sister Lizzy Strain and I just did Delta Delta Die! (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5) , which is kind of a horror movie, cannibalism, sorority-house thing. Brinke Stevens is in it as well. I get to grind up young boys in a blender and eat 'em and drink 'em .

Is it fun working with meat?
Oh yeah! There was a lot of meat in there, and the sweet blood stuff. There was one scene where I had to bite somebody's tongue off and spit it back in their face. I had to pretend to drink the blood, and I was almost throwing up just having to tug on the meat before I pulled it out.

Given the low budget of these films, do you ever cook the meat and eat it after shooting?
No, not really, 'cause they might keep it around for a couple days. By the last filming day there was a lot of rotten stuff floating around mixed with the fake blood. You wouldn't want to ingest it. But it would be a nice idea.

You must be a fan of classic pinups.
Definitely. Bettie Page (Picture: 1) , Mamie Van Doren (Picture: 1) , and actresses like Ursula Andress (Picture: 1) , Raquel Welch (Picture: 1) , Sophia Loren (Picture: 1) . The big hair and eyeliner, the crazy broads that dated men who gambled and drank red wine and went to Monte Carlo.

Do you feel you're carrying on the grand pinup tradition?
Yeah, I think the responsibility is a little bit on my shoulders right now, especially since so many people market me, and I have to do a good job of it. There's a lot of phony-baloney stuff out there, and I want people to look at me and go, "That's a real pinup." Bettie Page wrote for me in one of her books, "It's you who keeps the flame of pinup beauty alive today," so that's like a passing of the torch right there.

Given the current state of hardcore, it's nice that there's still this alternative to depictions of female sexuality that isn't just women gagging on an enormous johnsons.
I definitely agree. People like to be stimulated, but there's a certain point that's like, where do you go from there? If you had a son and he was starting off in his own little fantasy world, you would want him to start at the smallest level of all and work his way up. There's a sweet little innocence to it. There's the playfulness, the boots that lace up and the whip in the hand and the little facial expressions going, "Oh! Am I naughty or not? You tell me!" And even though I do full nudes, the funny thing is I've grown such a caveman bush that nobody could see my genitalia if they tried!

Do you feel you're providing a public service?
Exactly. There're handicapped people or unattractive people who will never have the chance to be with a beautiful woman, and why should they suffer and feel alienated when they can open up their mailbox and here comes Julie Strain or some other hot woman? They can open up the pages and find out about that person's life and get to see a body that God created that might be a little more special than someone else's body.

What's going through your head when you do a shoot?
You know, even though I do the nudes and it looks sexy, I'm not thinking sexual and I'm not thinking jerk-off material while I'm making it. I'm thinking like, the fans respect me so much they almost don't jerk off to my pictures! That's kind of how I see it, like I'm their friend. I'm available, you know what I mean? They read about me and they know how I talk and they go to my website and they read my diary and it's real, not a lot of phony bullshit.

What's your new book like?
It's called Nightmare on Pinup Street. It's one thousand new images, and there's a special section on my sister and one on Mamie Van Doren--I'm her personal photographer, and she's one of my best friends. The nightmare part is that when I wake up, I write down my dreams, so they're sprinkled in with the photographs. There's much more sex and drugs in my dreams than in real life; just be aware of that.

So you've branched out into photography?
I've always been kind of addicted to images; when I see something I have to shoot it. I still drive around and shoot the sunrise every morning, and car accidents. Around the time of the website boom, I was a little factory, churning out photographs, then I injured my back and I had to cut it out pretty much. I'll still shoot a celebrity job or an album cover, but I can't be grinding my discs down for every bad boob-job girl in town.

Do you want to work with mainstream directors?
When they need me they'll find me. They'll realize there's this six-foot-one Amazon person with hair down to my butt and a pair of tits that match who can do a little fighting.