The woman’s porn immortality is secure. In a career spanning decades, Erica McLean has gone from modeling to directing, shaping a creative vision that stands out from the hardcore pack. Still as ambitious and restless as ever, she’s now poised for a new leap into the unknown.
Erica McLean knows how to live. Home is a sprawling ranch in the sun-drenched hills north of Hollywood, a paradise she shares with ten dogs and five horses. When she’s not spending time with her beloved animals, she’s somewhere in L.A.’s urban sprawl, pitching projects, partying with friends or doing what she does best: directing balls-to-the-wall sex scenes.
Erica’s recent films are unlike anything you’ve ever seen in porn—or mainstream cinema for that matter. They’re raw and artsy, without ever skimping on the XXX.
In 2009, after cutting her chops on HUSTLER’s long-running Barely Legal series—developed over many years at the side of her late husband, Clive McLean—Erica embarked on the insanely ambitious Hardcore Circus. Produced through her own company, Cheeky Monkey Productions, the movie unfolds in a dream sequence inhabited by a bizarre conglomeration of clowns, stilt walkers, acrobats, fire-breathers and even a dwarf. “It was amazing,” Erica marvels. “I literally created a circus in my backyard!”
Thanks to her fearlessly experimental style, McLean has been compared to the likes of Federico Fellini, John Waters and Tim Burton. “I’m just trying to give back to the adult industry a little creative love, which they need and deserve.”
It’s difficult enough trying to break through the tired formulas of adult entertainment; it’s even tougher if you’re a woman. Porn may profit from feminine allure in front of the camera, but behind the scenes it’s still predominantly run by men.
