Porn company had permit to film at Coliseum
The company that filmed hard-core sex scenes at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum obtained a permit for the shoot, but the document does not describe the movie as pornographic and the stadium’s governing commission said Wednesday that it did not approve the production.
The Times reported Wednesday that Anabolic Video shot 40 minutes of group sex on the same Coliseum field where USC plays football and two Summer Olympics were staged.
The footage made up about half of a 2002 release titled “The Gangbang Girl #32.”
A permit issued by Film L.A., which handles shoots for the city and county, listed the Coliseum’s address as the location and the title of the movie as “Guns Brandished 33.” It describes the planned scenes as shots with “models against scenery” and a “re-enactment of [football] players in practice game.”
In the movie, about a dozen players have sex with a cheerleader.
The founder of Anabolic, whose professional name is Christopher Alexander, said in an email and interview Wednesday that he supervised the shoot and assumed Coliseum officials had authorized it.
“Obviously there was somebody there making things happen,” Alexander said. “As far as I knew at the time, everything was 100% completely legit.”
The attorney for the Coliseum Commission, Assistant Los Angeles County Counsel Thomas Faughnan, said in a statement that he did not become aware of the porn filming until earlier this month, in response to a media inquiry.
“The Commission had no record of the filming and the Commission did not authorize it,” Faughnan said.
He did not respond to follow-up questions.
Alexander said he considered postponing the shoot because it was a few days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — “out of respect for those who had lost their lives” — but decided to proceed because the permit and location fees had already been paid.
He estimated those costs at about $10,000 to $15,000.
The Coliseum was “an incredible location,” he said, adding that he had “certainly no disrespect and no intention to defame a national landmark.”
In addition to its rich sports history, the Coliseum hosted a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II and John F. Kennedy’s acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination.
Those condemning the filming, Alexander said, represent “the whole American puritanical view” of pornography.
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