Since her porn debut in 2016, Whitney Wright's feature performances proved she isn't just a pretty face; she's a genuinely convincing actress who knows how to bring her characters to life. This year marked the beginning of Whitney's crossover from performing to directing, and HotMovies is lucky enough to exclusively carry her latest project, Adelaide from MissaX. Whitney sat down with us for an in-depth conversation about the making of Adelaide, her writing and casting processes, and how she immerses herself in the minds and motivations of her characters. Below is a transcription of our talk.

What do you want our viewers to know about your movie, Adelaide?

It's the first feature for Missa I’ve directed, ever. It was, I believe, a three-day long shoot. And I wrote it, I cast it, I put a lot into it; it's like my child. [laughs] So I'm really proud of it. And I'm pushing it really hard for nominations and stuff. And the feedback that I've gotten from it has been really good.

Yeah, I watched a little bit yesterday and I was very impressed. So, I definitely hope you get AVN nominations, you definitely deserve it.

Oh, thank you.

Is the character of Addie based off of anyone in real life?

It's not really based off of anyone in real life. I didn't really have anyone in mind at first that I saw in the character, but I ended up casting Gianna for it, which was great because she was my first choice. And when she got the part and was in there and going through the motions and the attitude and everything, it was all very Gianna, if that makes sense. She has that kind of attitude to her. Not like a ruiner-of-lives, but... [laughs] Yeah, so she was perfect. I was really, really stoked to have her in that. And there were parts where she was doing the dialogue where I was just like, "This is amazing. This is exactly what I envisioned for the character." Especially the walk through the garden and everything, and then the cross-cut sequence in the bathtub that we ended up doing that I had wanted to try with something, but I didn't know what. And it worked for Adelaide, for the bathtub.

A lot of this movie takes place in a psychiatrist office and explores the mental health of its characters, and it's a really big subject to tackle. What kind of research or preparation went into writing your script?

I wanted everyone who was coming in there, even Codey and Khloe, the couple who had just moved, to have a past. It's established that they've moved to a new place for a new practice, but you don't really know why they've moved. It doesn't really say, but it just shows that they're really wanting to make this place work. And even in the dialogue, there's a line where Gianna's saying to Codey, “You moved across the country for her, and does she thank you? No, she doesn't.” Because Gianna has her own twisted way that she does things.

But Khloe is also struggling with the mental burden of not being able to have a child. And now she's here with her husband, who basically buries himself in his work and she's not getting that emotional support that she needs, and that's why she so easily succumbs to Gianna's charms, I guess. Or when she's talking to her in the living room, it was kind of tricky because I basically wanted her to take her down a few notches, because that's what Gianna's character does. But then she comes back and almost makes Khloe feel like she's sympathizing with her and that she's trying to give Khloe a little break from her every day life. There wasn't so much research into the field of psychiatry, or the happenings of their office, but I did want to make it very intimate and give everyone a backstory that would later play into their actions in the film.

What's a day on one of your sets like?

A day on one of my sets? [laughs] It's long, I will say that. Well, for features, it's long. But I get there and everyone is in a great mood. I always hire people who I know are going to be great to work with, have a great attitude, work hard, obviously. 'Cause I feel like if the effort isn't there, it can make or break a character. So I definitely try to get people who I like working with and who are gonna put in the effort. So everyone's already in a good mood. My crew is super fun. We usually get there and start setting up. I start setting up snacks, food, paperwork, everything. And then when the actors get there, I let them settle in, we pick out their outfits. And I like to go through a method with everyone that I learned when I was taking acting classes last year. I just basically sit them down and ask them a series of questions and have them answer as their characters. And then I get into a lot of detail. They've had to have read the script, of course, which they do, and then they answer as their character. And I'll ask them things that you think wouldn't matter, but it all plays very importantly into the story.

I'll say for example, "Is your character a virgin? Have they had sex before? How many partners have they had? Did they go to college? Did you grow up poor? Blue collar, white collar?" So on and so forth, "Were your parents divorced? Are they still married? And if they are, where do they live?" A lot of questions. And I've found it to be a very good exercise when I'm working with them, because it really makes them think and apply that to their character because I always say, "Well, if you're a person who kind of lived a little bit just barely above the poverty line, and you've never had sex, and you never got to go to college, and you walk into a room with all these people, you're going to carry yourself and talk and just be a different person than if you were coming from an entirely different life and you're a married woman with three kids and everything. It's gonna be a totally different character.

I really like to work with the character. And not just at the beginning, but halfway, or at certain important parts in the scripts, I like to touch base again with them and be like, "Okay, so here's your character at this point in the script. Here's how you've changed. And this is what has happened to cause you to change." I asked Khloe that after she found Gianna in her room and weird things were happening and stuff. "Do you feel comfortable in your own home? Do you feel safe? Do you feel this?" And there's no wrong answer, really. It's all probably Acting Workshop 101, but it's still always fun for me to talk about because I really do see a difference. And no one ever did that with me when I was doing features, and it was something I found, when I tried it, it really helped.

You said earlier that Gianna was your first choice for Adelaide. Was it the same with Khloe, Seth, and Codey, or did you have to go through a more involved casting process with them?

Codey and Seth, I was really always going to have, because they're just really great actors. So I had Codey, I had Seth, and now there's tons of amazing actresses in the industry that I could choose from. But my deciding factor was I wanted to find someone who looked young enough to play a convincing newlywed wife to Codey. I looked at a few girls in that range. And there were some girls that I liked, but I’d already used them. And then I believe that it was my partner that suggested Khloe to me, 'cause we hadn't really shot her for anything, and I didn't know her. And I looked at a few of her things, and she was really good. And even though I hadn't worked with her, I was like, "Well, she's really cute in the things that I'm seeing, she's doing some really convincing acting."

So I, of course, submitted the list to my boss, who I clear everything through just to make sure that I'm getting people that she wants to have on her site. And then she said, "Yeah, Khloe, she sounds great."

You wrote and directed a few shorter movies before this one. What did you learn from your earlier movies that helped you take on your first really big feature?

Time management, for sure. [laugh] So, time management. I definitely learned to be more vocal about things that I want. Because I'm not so much of a passive person, but I like to basically just give you the tools that you need and then just go. And I don't like to alter your character in any way, unless it's going totally against what I envisioned. Then I'll speak up. But usually, I would be like, "Okay, yeah, that's good." But now that I’m doing features, I’m like “Give me another take. Let's see... Do it again, but do it with more intention. And remember what your husband just said to you at this point in the script." And then I was saying the same thing to Codey.

And then art design. That's one of my big things that I love doing, I could do it all day. I did the whole wall for the last sequence. Her weird, creepy wall with the straitjacket and the pictures and the drawings. I was on a set a few days prior to that shoot, and I was shooting something for another company. And so I got to scope out the room that I wanted.. That's something I do now, too, because a lot of these locations are just ones that are used again and again. So, I like to scope out where I'm going to shoot something.

I'm glad you brought up your art direction, because some of your shots were really impressive. Like when Gianna's coming in through the garden, and then the scene in the bathtub that you mentioned earlier. I thought those were really beautifully filmed. Are there any filmmakers, or photographers, or artists, or movies, or anything that you were looking at, that you were pulling your ideas from?

I would regret it if I didn't give a lot of props to my videographers. I've got Stef Onzo and Curious Judas, they're both amazing and they basically helped every crazy idea of mine come to life. But the garden shot, I didn't really draw any inspiration from. Or maybe I have subconsciously. But to me, I always wanted the introductory shot of her to be like that's the first time we see her. We hear about her two o'clock appointment, but that's the first time we see her just coming through the garden, the speckle of light and everything. But it's not a dreamy sequence or anything. It could have been a pretty sequence, but it's more like, it was badass. And there she is just strolling down, and then she flicks the cigarette. So I didn't really get any inspiration for that. I always saw her entrance like that.

So, the bathtub sequence, there is this scene in Inception where they're doing a cross-cut sequence, and it's going back and forth from his dream to the other guy's dream. He's fighting a guy in a hotel and the hotel is turning upside-down, and they are running on the walls and ceilings and everything. And then it cross-cuts back to this thing where there's this guy driving in an armored van and he's being chased by this other car. But they line it up to where both shots meet at the end. And it's essentially the same thing and the same energy, but they just cross-cut it back-and-forth. I love that shot. I’m trying to self-teach myself certain cuts and everything that people do in movies. 'Cause I could do passage of time all day, or do little cutawaysI wanted to do interesting cuts and really integrate them into something, just anything at the time. Because I think there's just so much potential.

I was just gonna sit down and look at the script think of something. And that's when I was like, "The bathtub sequence. It's gonna be that. It's going to be when Khloe is distraught and she just basically cheated on her husband with this horrible girl, a patient, right in front of him, and he caught her. And then he runs out, and that's when it really begins, when he steps through the gate and Gianna's looking at the mirror, very proud and sure of herself saying, 'Look what you've done.' And then Khloe being distraught and heartbroken and everything is just... She's saying to herself, 'Look what you've done. Basically, you've caused all of this,' in her mind, atop everything that she'd already been going through and dealing with in her own heart." So it basically carries all the way through... I kind of did it to where I didn't really kill Khloe's character off, but I also kind of did.

That's why Khloe was in the black nightie, the silk nightie, because you can't have anyone naked who "dies," even if it's off-camera, because it's romanticizing death, apparently. I learned that from my boss, who was like, "I loved the bathtub sequence, it sounds like a really good ending, and just a really interesting piece. But you have to put Khloe in a nightie because we can't romanticize death." So I did that, and I was wondering if it would turn out super weird, or like, "Why is she wearing a night robe?" But her acting and just the way she played everything, it came out so good.

So you're based on the West Coast, but what's it like filming out at Missa's place in Wisconsin? Do you think the change of scenery influences your work at all?

Well, I've been out there twice, and I love it. The first time I came out there, it was summer. And then the second time I was out there, it was February. February or March, but I know there was a lot of snow on the ground. But I like it, it's so nice. I love living in LA, and I love shooting here and everything else. But just being out in the Wisconsin area, it really reminds me of my hometown in Oklahoma. So I... Yeah, I love it. It's really cool. They're so wonderful. They cooked lunch and dinner for us every day, and they give us one of their cars to take out and explore the town when we're not shooting. And I did that last time with Ryan McLane. I got to go out there and we found this one place that was open, I forget at what time. We went in there and there were just a bunch of country-ish guys, like burly Wisconsin men, playing pool and everything. And Ryan and I sat down and I was like, "I feel so out of place."

And there was country music playing, and we had the best time just looking at the menu and ordering the worst things imaginable, like fried cheese curds, and a giant cookie cake that I only ate... [laughs] I could only end up eating the scoop of vanilla ice cream that came with and one slice of the cookie, but... And I was like, "Do you have a kid's size?" And she was like, "No, just the whole cookie." And Ryan and I were just laughing the entire time; it was a really fucking fun time. Oh, and we also got to go sledding. Yeah, sledding down a hill, which was the first time I'd ever gotten to do that. So that was really cool, 'cause even being from Oklahoma, it does snow, but we don't have a lot of tall mountains or anything. So that was really cool to do. We tried to go ski, but I think we missed the time for that. But we definitely went out there, put our HotHand Warmers into our boots and mittens and everything. Which by the way, out of me, Ryan, and Carmen Caliente, I was the only one who thought to bring mittens, if that tells you how LA everyone was. That was the big joke the entire time. I'm like, "You guys didn't even bring mittens? That's the most LA thing." But I had bought a pack of three at the Target before I came, so I gave them mine. And I was like, "You're lucky I have three mittens." So it ended up working out, and we all sledded, and didn't get frostbite. So that was great. But it was fun.

So what kind of support or guidance does Missa provide? How involved is she in everything?

I'll send her the script, and I'll ask how she likes it. And sometimes she'll add in a little bit of dialogue. And she's an amazing, amazing writer. I just wrote a Halloween story that I'm going to do tomorrow, actually, now that I'm thinking about it. And she helps me with a little bit of the dialogue in the beginning, 'cause I was like, "Okay, well here's the outline of the story. Let me know if you like it. If not, I can write a different story. I just thought maybe something Halloween since we don't have anything coming up." And it'll be out before October 31st. 'Cause some stories, like the little one-off, like the stepmom/stepson, stepdad/stepdaughter, I just shell out really quickly. But I was like, "Here's the outline, let me know." And she was like, "Yeah, I like it. I added some dialogue here." Which was really great of her 'cause I had just finished shooting my second feature for them two days ago, and I was a little... Very tired. [laughs]

So yeah, she put some dialogue in there, just at the introduction. And I was just reading it and putting it into a script format last night to send to the people there, and I was amazed at how articulate and good she is at writing and doing a convincing story and convincing dialogue. It's so great. Then she'll send me recommendations of people that she wants to try and hire. And we both look at the site. There's a space for Missa customers and AllHerLuv customers to recommend actors. So we always look there for sure, just to make sure that we're hiring who the paying members want to see. She definitely helps me in times like that when I need it. And she's the best, she's so sweet.

I'm super stoked to hear that you're doing another feature, and a Halloween movie. Do you think you are ever going to be in any of your own movies and direct yourself?

I've played little cameo roles. In the one that I just did, it was about a bunch of girls at a conversion camp. And I just did that one at the same location that I did the Adelaide movie at. I did kind of the same thing in the sense that I gave everyone a backstory. But it's gonna be a really good one. It's with Joanna Angel, Serena Blair, Cadence Lux, Kenzie Reeves, Scarlett Sage, Kira Noir, and Daisy Taylor. I just finished shooting it two days ago. And I'm really excited, especially 'cause my crew was like, "This is the best thing you've ever written. It's even better than Adelaide." And I was like, "Don't say that." [laughs] Especially now that it's gonna be out in like October/November. But I am really proud of it, it is really cool. If you follow my Twitter, there's a lot of promo pictures and stuff of the girls that I retweeted. And I gave them all bonnets and floor-length, no cleavage, long-sleeve dresses.

Oh my gosh.

Very Mennonite. [laughs] And for the nighttime scenes, I gave them all white, long gowns. And when I was looking on the Amazon reviews for the white gowns, there was a bunch of Mormon people on the reviews saying, "This is perfect for temple if you just wear a slip underneath it." And I was just reading that, and I was like, "Perfect." [laughs] So, yeah, it's a lot of sneaking around. It's a lot of secrets and corruption within the facility, and that's really exciting.

But back to, I guess, the question that you originally asked, which is about me putting myself in them. Maybe in the future, but I feel like it's a thing where I mainly like to focus on the directing aspect. It's funny, I played two roles in the thing that I just did. I played the part of Mallory. I played a girl named Mallory, where I got in trouble for wearing red lipstick, and I got dragged into the headmistress's office and she made me wipe off all my makeup with a little wipe while she cut my hair. Which I had a wig, a red wig. But she cut my hair and berated me for parading myself around like some godless Jezebel in her facility. But then I completely... I kind of spaced and I forgot that I had written a part for Mallory in the second scene too, which was just a quick little dialogue piece.

The wig had been cut, there's no going back. [laughs] So I brought a blond wig and I played Valerie, [chuckle] which was Mallory's sister. I just had a few lines to Cadence about sleeping pills, and then I think I snuck in a line somewhere there like, "Has anyone seen Mallory? We're sisters." 'Cause even though I wore glasses and a bonnet over my blonde wig, I figured you're gonna see the face, and anyone is gonna think, “Whitney is two people?” I think the whole sisters thing played into it really well. Especially, 'cause I was like, "Well, the wig has been cut, there's no going back." And plus, I wanted to put as many people there. 'Cause I had the girls that I had, but then you wanna make it look like a real facility with a lot of girls there. So I thought, "This works. This will work."

Even at that point, just playing those quick little cameos where I got my hair cut and then where I was doing the little segments with the blonde wig where we were just sitting at the coffee table, all paintings, crosses, and stuff, it was a little difficult being away from the monitor and then having to be the one to yell, "Cut" and "Action," and I can't see the shot. I think when I'm directing, I'll still do a few cameo roles now and then for the sake of saving $300-$500 on an extra, if I'm an appropriate fit for the role. If it's a mom, or a doctor, or dad, I can't be everything. But yeah, little cameo roles are fine, but to do a whole scene, maybe in the future, but I don't think I'm really there yet.

Do you there could be a sequel to Adelaide one day?

Oh, definitely. Even in the story that I'm writing for Halloween, Kyle Mason is the stepson to Dana DeArmond, and they're gonna have a scene. But there's a sequence where the dad's getting ready to go to a Halloween party and he's wearing slacks and a white button-up. And his son is wearing the same thing 'cause he just back from an interview, but the dad and mom are getting ready to go to a costume party. And the dad gets a call last minute when Dana is getting ready, and he's giving his son a pep talk when the call comes. He has to go in 'cause a patient of his is being taken to OR, and he's like, "Okay, go there. Find Doctor Schultz. He's going to be at Doctor Roman's party. You remember Doctor Roman from the psych ward, right?" And that's Codey's character. So we tried to incorporate a little bit of that in there, in the stories, which I think is cool. So yeah, I definitely think that there could be a sequel because we still have Adelaide causing all of her chaos. And Codey is still there, and Seth could definitely make a comeback as well. Not Khloe, but yeah, any of them...

But then again, the way I left it, it's kind of up to interpretation. The last we saw of her was her take the bottle of pills into the bathtub, and then when we see the bath mat, we see Gianna's feet get out, but we never see Khloe's feet come out. But there could always be a sequence where Khloe did survive and she didn't end up dying, and yeah... she could be back. [laughs]

So you've mentioned your conversion camp movie and your Halloween movie. What else do you have coming up next that we should keep an eye out for?

Well, I just had a lot of things get released on AllHerLuv. I did a movie about Ana Foxxx and a bunch of girls at a sorority, and it's pledge night. And it's a really great one. I did that with her, Abigail Mac, Julia Ann, Cadence Lux, Daisy Taylor, and a couple other people. But yeah, that was a good one. It was just like a two-scene thing, and yeah, it was pretty good. I would definitely say the Halloween movie and the conversion camp feature, that's going to be on AllHerLuv. And it's called the Path to Forgiveness, and that's gonna be a really big one. It was five days, four sex scenes, so it's like a whole thing. I'm having a lot come out throughout the rest of the year.

So last question: Any final words for your fans at HotMovies?

Thank you for those who have seen the movie, and who have supported me, and who've been loyal MissaX and AllHerLuv customers. It's a really important project of mine. We made it with a tiny crew for a smaller budget, but I feel that it stands up against any big-budget movie out there. And everyone believed in the project, and they came and they worked hard and they put so much into it. So just to see it out, it's a really big deal for me. And thank you everyone for the support.

Watch Whitney Wright's latest directorial feature, Adelaide, exclusively on HotMovies!

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