In brief: Hope Fontaine: Stixxx, according to a release published by PVM Chicago on Oct. 2.
Some directors send a thank-you card after a good shoot. Richard Mann’s PR team sends out a press release quoting him calling his star “an absolute force of nature,” then puts her right back in front of his camera.
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French performer Hope Fontaine has returned to Mann’s set for his latest Evil Angel release, a three-performer scene co-starring Mann and fast-rising performer Mr. Stixxx, according to a release published by PVM Chicago on Oct. 2. The scene is available now on Evil Angel’s official site. The release describes Fontaine as “returning to set under the helm of Richard Mann,” so this is a reunion, not a first date.
Mann did not exactly play it cool. In the release, he said:
“Hope Fontaine is an absolute force of nature. She comes to set with an incredible passion, effortless elegance, and an energy that elevates everyone around her.”
He also called Mr. Stixxx his “tag-team partner” and said that combining “raw talent with pure, unadulterated direction” is how you “create instant classics.” Modesty, apparently, did not make the cast list.
The bigger story is the timing. The release frames this as “a monumental year” for Fontaine and calls her one of the “undeniable front-runners for Best New Starlet honors across the industry.” That’s a publicist’s claim, not a ballot count, but she is working like someone who believes it. Days later, XBIZ reported on Oct. 8 that she co-stars with Juliana Marie and Peter King in the latest installment of TeamSkeet’s “Brat Tamer” series.
Mann, for his part, used the moment to plug his own empire:
“My vision for Richard Mann’s World is growing bigger and bolder with every scene, and our work with Evil Angel is setting a standard that simply cannot be matched.”
Bold words in a business where every studio insists its standard simply cannot be matched. Still, our read is that Evil Angel ranks among the most established names in gonzo, and a newcomer earning a repeat booking there is not nothing.
Our read: a newcomer landing releases at Evil Angel and TeamSkeet within about a week of each other is exactly the kind of résumé that gets noticed when nomination season rolls around. Two major studios that close together looks less like a coincidence and more like a campaign.
Whether Fontaine actually walks away with hardware is a question for later. For now, she has a director who talks about her like a hype man and a release calendar that looks like a sprint. The French export appears to be settling into American sets just fine.