Sasha Grey

 The second major contradiction comes from the fact that she’s a product of a media-obsessed age. A time where it’s not “advertising,” it’s “marketing.” Where it’s not “marketing,” it’s “branding.” Sasha Grey may be exposing herself to the world, but it’s all rehearsed. Her answers seem genuine and honest unless you’ve read other interviews with her to prepare for speaking with her. If you did, you’d realize that she’s giving you the same things she’s given everyone else, regardless of the question. Part of this is my fault, but for my purpose here, here are the details about The Girlfriend Experience and Grey that you could glean from my talk with her or any other interview she’s done on the topic:

Screenwriter Brian Koppelman sought her out by sending her a myspace message. She only agreed to do the project because it was Soderbergh directing (she’s a big fan), and she assumed there would sex scenes involved (there aren’t).
“[Christine's] main goal is money” – The character that Grey plays in The Girlfriend Experience is first and foremost a business woman who is propelled by making the next dollar, not necessarily by her emotions.
“They are always looking for a bigger mirror” – Grey uses this phrase repeatedly in multiple interviews, describing the vanity of Christine and Christine’s boyfriend in the film, a personal trainer. She never describes that relationship any other way.
“It was great to play a non-eponymous character” – Grey uses this phrase three times during my talk with her and with every other interview I’ve read about her regarding this project. Basically, she’s expressing relief that she’s not playing herself in films or simply making cameos, but it comes off like a high school student who has learned a new word for the SATs. To list all the interviews where she uses this phrase would take too long – in fact, do a quick search for ‘non-eponymous character’ and the first items that come up are all Sasha Grey interviews.
The word-for-word repetition of these facts not only makes for boring interviews, it exposes another odd contradiction. She’s selling herself, but it feels fake. She speaks like a publicist-controlled version of herself even if she’s sharing what she really feels. As if she’s truthfully giving the fake version of her real self for public consumption. It’s likely that she really is being herself, but she’s so self-aware (and knowledgeable about framing her image) that it’s frustratingly false-seeming. I won’t even begin to dig into the mind-bending convolution of a person going by a stage name giving the real version of herself.

Talking to her reminds me of a piece Chuck Klosterman wrote about Britney Spears for Esquire Magazine. In it, he describes her as “the naughtiest good girl” and marvels at how either Spears was completely non-self-aware or the savviest marketer of all time or both. If that’s true, Grey is like the anti-Spears. While Spears was selling herself as the embodiment of a sexual virgin, Grey was being filmed getting punched in the stomach during oral sex. But talking to Grey, she seems like the most innocent naughty girl. It’s all par for the course for her – a woman that is not going to be shocked by anything.

Yet, in a major way, the two are the same because you’ll never have what they are selling. If Spears was being coy about her sexuality, Grey is doing the hide-in-plain sight camouflage version by showing you everything and giving you nothing.