The Golden Age of Porn and David Simon's new HBO series 'The Deuce' (Official Trailer)
The trailer for HBO's new drama puts you front and center in a world of sex, crime, high times, and violence and porn.
“Misogyny isn’t the currency. It’s what the show is about. That’s what the product was and we don’t sell beer or a Lincoln Continental (nowadays) without sexual imagery.”
That show is HBO's The Deuce, which marks the return of acclaimed writer and creator David Simon and frequent collaborator (Treme/The Wire) George Pelecanos, which tells the story of the legalization and rise of the porn industry during 1970's New York. Simon told writers at July's TCA panel the product examines the stories of pioneers within the burgeoning industry “Everyone realized (at the time) that the money about to be made was going to be real. So what happened to those people who were the pioneers? I was much less interested in whether porn was good or bad, just like on The Wire I wasn’t concerned whether drugs were bad or good.”
The title for The Deuce comes from New York slang for 42nd Street, which in the '70s was the center of the newly legal big business. Simon's new series is said to be a faithful representation of the birth of the golden age of porn based on The Rialto Report, whom both Simon and Pelecano's consulted with for the show's creation.
Simon says he chose 1971 as a starting point because that's when it became legal to make and distribute sex films. "The product is really human flesh, it's objectified women, and in making it into a billion-dollar industry, there's something really telling in who gets paid and who gets left out. … It was waiting for us. This is what we consume as a society."
The first season will consist of eight episodes and stars James Franco as twin brothers - a bartender and gambler who wind up fronting a mob - and Maggie Gyllenhaal who plays a veteran prostitute turned would-be filmmaker for the porn industry. The Deuce also features fellow alum from The Wire (Chris Bauer, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) and Treme (Chris Coy, Anwan Glover) along with standout actors Margarita Levieva and Emily Meade.
The series premieres September 10, 2017 on HBO. Check out the trailer and share your thoughts about David Simon's new series!
