New Documentary Charts the History of Nudity in American Movies
Los Angeles (August 18th, 2020) – A new documentary, Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies, premieres today on VOD through Amazon, iTunes, Apple, Vudu, Fandango Now and others. Produced by Jim McBride (Mr. Skin) and Paul Fishbein (founder of AVN), the film begins with the silent movie era and runs through present day, examining the changes in morality that led to the use of nudity in films while emphasizing the political, sociological and artistic changes that shaped this rich history.
“I always wondered why no one had ever done a definitive history of movie nudity. Obviously it’s one of my passions,” Jim McBride said. “We live in the Golden Age of Documentaries, with great ones being made on every subject from The Last Dance to Tiger King, and I figured now was as good a time as any to do this.”
Skin delves into the gender bias concerning nudity in motion pictures and follows the revolution that has pushed for gender equality in feature films today.
Read on…
“Also there’s a deep discussion of pre-code Hollywood and its amoral roots, the censorship that ‘cleaned up’ Hollywood and how the MPAA was formed,” said Paul Fishbein, who produced and co-executive produced with McBride. “That leads into a discussion of how nudity changed cinematic culture through the decades and it culminates in a discussion of ‘what are nude scenes like in the age of the #METOO movement?’”
The documentary was directed by veteran Danny Wolf, who also produced this year’s three-part documentary Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time. Amongst the names who show up during the two-hour running time are Pam Grier, Malcolm McDowell, Sean Young, Mamie van Doren, Sybil Danning, Shannon Elizabeth, Diane Franklin, EG Daily, Cerina Vincent, Kristanna Loken, John Cameron Mitchell and Oscar-nominees Bruce Davison, Linda Blair, Mariel Hemingway, Eric Roberts and Sylvia Miles, for her final interview.
Watch The Trailer…
In addition, directors Peter Bogdanovich, Amy Heckerling, Joe Dante and Kevin Smith make appearances, as does the notorious Traci Lords and many critics and experts on film history.
“How nudity is used in feature films in the United States has changed over the decades, but we also wondered how it changed careers,” said director Danny Wolf. “For some, like Shannon Elizabeth, it bolstered them, but for others, such as Diane Franklin, they had to fight so that it wouldn’t define their lives.”
One such career change involved Erica Gavin who went to the premiere of her movie Vixen, and just by seeing herself naked on the big screen, became so critical of how she looked, that it caused her to experience an almost near fatal case of anorexia.
“In doing this documentary we wanted to make sure that we covered both the male and female perspectives, as well as every type of actor, from the 300-plus pound Ken Davitian of Borat fame to reluctant sex symbols, such as Mamie Van Doren,” Wolf continued. “And most importantly, having experts such as Tatiana Siegel from The Hollywood Reporter and intimacy coordinator Alicia Rodis discussing what nudes scenes look like in 2020, especially in light of the #MeToo movement, helped round the entire time-line of nudity in movies.”
Also of interest is a deep discussion with the MPAA, explaining how the adult industry absconded with the ‘X’ rating, after classic films like A Clockwork Orange and Midnight Cowboy, which won the best Picture Oscar, were awarded the X. That lead to the formation of the NC-17 rating, while adult producers grabbed X, XX and of course XXX.
For Jim McBride, Skin was an opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the hugely successful Mr. Skin website. “I was writing my memoir, Being Mr. Skin, when Paul Fishbein reached out to see if I wanted to collaborate on a bigger project, “ he explained. “I hosted his documentary of the greatest adult stars for Showtime, and he wanted to do something bigger and outside the mainstream adult industry. We discovered what we wanted to do together, almost instantaneously.”
Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies is available wherever you buy or rent your digital movies.
About the Filmmakers
JIM MCBRIDE (MR. SKIN) – Executive Producer
Jim McBride—aka “Mr. Skin”—has long reigned as The World’s Foremost Authority on Celebrity Nudity. He is the creator and CEO of MrSkin.com, the #1 online resource naked Hollywood facts and figures that, since its 1999 launch, has amused and amazed fans as a pop culture juggernaut.
McBride is also regular on The Howard Stern Show and the author of three best-selling books, including Being Mr. Skin: 20 Years of Nip-Slips, Cheeks Peeks, and Fast-Forwarding to the Good Parts (Post Hill, 2019). In 2014, McBride expanded his Skinpire to include Mr. Man, an all-male counterpart to Mr. Skin. He’s also a movie star, sort of—Mr. Skin was a central plot point of Judd Apatow’s beloved comedy blockbuster, Knocked Up.
Now Jim McBride has now moved into making movies as the Executive Producer of the acclaimed new documentary, Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies. He’s a great interview and the guy you want to talk to.
PAUL FISHBEIN – Co-Executive Producer/Producer/Co-Writer
Paul Fishbein is the Executive Producer, Producer, and Writer for Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies. He is also known for his work on the documentary series Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time, which traces the history of the cult films from midnight screenings through the streaming revolution.
Fishbein also produced the successful documentary X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All-Time, The Sex Awards, and the original series Sex with Sunny Megatron (with the Jay & Tony Show), broadcast on Showtime Networks.
Plausible Films’ first scripted series, Submission, directed by Jacky St. James, premiered in May 2016 on Showtime. In addition, 2017 saw the release of The Greatest Adult Stars of All-Time, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Steven Soderbergh, Jenna Jameson, Rob Zombie and many more.
Fishbein, the founder of the AVN Media Network in 1983 while working at Movies Unlimited, one of the America’s first video superstore (pre-Blockbuster), created the adult industry’s leading trade publication and the annual AVN Awards Show in Las Vegas. He sold the company in 2010 to pursue his life-long dream of producing movies and television.
DANNY WOLF – Director/Writer
Alongside directing and writing Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies, Wolf is best known for directing and writing the three-part documentary series Time Warp: The Greatest Cult films of All-Time, a deep dive history of cult movies from their birth at midnight screenings through today.
Wolf has served as a director, executive producer and show runner for several television series since 1990, beginning with directing and producing Candid Camera Specials on CBS for legendary television host Allen Funt. He produced and directed When Good Times Go Bad and the hugely successful Busted on The Job: Caught on Tape for Fox Television.
He also produced and directed several documentary/reality series including VH1’s Music Behind Bars and FUSE’s Live Through This. He directed and produced all four seasons of Showtime’s Family Business, TBS’ Minding the Store with Pauly Shore, MTV’s Mis Videos Locos with Paul Rodriguez, and Vidiots with SNL’s Dean Edwards for TVOne.
More recently he was co-executive producer and show runner on Showtime’s Gigolos. Other notable productions he has directed and produced include Busted & Disgusted for Fox Reality Channel, The Chelsea Handler Show for E1, Funniest Mom in America for Nick-At-Night and Surviving Nugent for VH1.
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