L.A. Confidential

In Los Angeles, the drive from the valley to Hollywood can be hellish. Just ask porn stars trying desperately to shift gears over the hill and into mainstream media.

But lately, adult stars like Jenna Jameson and Katie Morgan are facing an easier commute. According to The Los Angeles Times, high-profile filmmakers are no longer shying away from hard-core film stars. Famed directors like Steven Soderbergh, who cast 20-year-old porn star Sasha Grey in his upcoming The Girlfriend Experience, and Kevin Smith, who chose veteran adult film stars Traci Lords and Katie Morgan for his recently-released Zack and Miri Make a Porno - are lending their R-rated flicks some X-rated faces.

The Times also notes the rising mainstream popularity of Jenna Jameson and the normalizing effect of celebrity sex tapes. Remember Paris Hilton's en flagrante video imbroglio, which threatened to ruin the young socialite's "career"? (Let's apply that term loosely.) Yeah, not so much.

To be fair, most of these porn princesses are being cast as, well, porn princesses.

"To be honest, those two characters don't have heavy lifting to do dialogue-wise," Smith tells the Times, adding, "there's no sort of, ‘Gee, shucks, can you take your top off?'"

I know I may have to turn in my NOW badge for saying this, but I'm kind of thrilled for these women. You have to be incredibly hard working and extremely business savvy to make it in Hollywood. These ladies have all the cards stacked against them, yet defied the odds to land a legit role. That's no easy feat, especially for ladies who aren't often on their feet.

What do you think about porn actresses appearing in mainstream films?

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