Everyone has unique life stories to share…one of mine happened to be with Jenna Jameson…
Jenna Jameson In The News!
Arguably the world’s most famous adult film star has been in the media lately – and the stories have not always been flattering…
I wanted to go back to a simpler time, before the headlines…one of my most unique trips ever happened to be the time when I got to work with Jenna on an E! shoot – and we hung out with some of the biggest stars in the world at the time….
Jenna was fun, upbeat, genuine, professional and just a terrific person to work with…so here is how I ended up in Singapore and Bangkok with Jenna, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis…
My Jenna Jameson “Wild On” Adventure!
This is a picture of me with Jenna Jameson from 1998. We were in Singapore. Why you ask? Well, what began as a series of appearances on E!’s “Wild ON…” series turned into an opportunity for Jenna to host the show…
First, a bit about Jenna:
Jenna Jameson (born Jenna Marie Massoli; April 9, 1974), is the world’s most famous adult-entertainers. My wife Alex and I met her while we were filming one year at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition to E!’s annual Cannes coverage, we also produced “Wild On The Riviera”, which was the “un-official” film festival. At the time, Jenna was the new star for Wicked Pictures…
The Wicked Pictures folks were really good to work with, and Jenna filmed a few stories about attending Cannes for E!’s “Sex On The Riviera” special. Over the next few years, Jenna hosted a number of segments for this show, and was always great to work with –
Jenna was a lot of fun to work with, engaging on camera, personable and funny…over the next few years, we continued to film with her for the “Wild On…” travel series that I created for E! At the same time, I had been to a number of Planet Hollywood openings, including New York, London, Las Vegas and Mall of America…these specials also aired on E!, and after a few years, we wanted to find a way to make them different….
So, when we decided to cover the opening of two new Planet Hollywood restaurants in Singapore and Bangkok, I thought: why not have Jenna be our Host?
So that’s how I found myself sitting next to Jenna in Bangkok – as our entire production team met for a dinner to celebrate the beginning of our Thailand adventure!
Fast Forward To Bangkok And Singapore!
So here we are at dinner, a great group of E! staff in Bangkok, filming the opening of Planet Hollywood restaurants in both cities…as you will soon see, there were some BIG BIG stars in attendance…
Cue The Lifestyle Segments!
When I ran “Wild On…”, each episode had segments on local culture, so of course, the first thing we did was put Jenna in a boat and take her down Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River!
First we had to negotiate the cost of a boat to take us out for filming – our Director of Photography was the legendary Carl Allman – and it was up to him to determine ho wmany boats we’d need for filming.
We determined who would sit where – how we would film the tour – and what we wanted Jenna to talk about during the trip…
And I got to go on the boat as well…as you can tell, I never look all that busy in these pictures, do I?
The water was fairly calm, but these boats were very shallow, so we rocked around a bit, especially when crossing the larger part of the river, where there were more industrial boats around us…
After filming a number of short sequences, we re-grouped to discuss the next part of the tour – a trip some some of the smaller branches of the river – a more “residential” part of Bangkok…
As we explored the river, we found a number of houses perched right over the water – people literally lived “on” the water…
We didn’t scout this location at all, we were just going downstream and looking for fun stuff to film – so we pulled up to one home – situated right on the river…
Jenna jumped out and we grabbed a pic of her…
Then we found a home along the river where a family lived…and lots of kids were playing…
The young boys were jumping off their homes into the river, and Jenna interviewed them! Well, “interview” is a loose term as they didn’t speak a word of english, but we had a fun time nonetheless!
Back on dry land, we also explored many of Bangkok’s street markets – the city was very crowded, a bit chaotic, but friendly at the same time…
Welcome To Bangkok’s Chinatown!
The Chinatown district was full of street markets and vendors – a crowded mix of people, stalls, cars, bikes and motorcycles – all crammed into a very small area…
In fact, Chinatown was so crowded that, at one point, sirens went off and the streets were blocked off to cars – in order to let the pollution in the air clear up! You could actually see a blue haze developing in the alleys and streets – pure pollution…
Of course, we didn’t let that slow us down, we just kept filming – and I kept taking behind-the-scenes pictures – and kept having them taken of me as well…
We had a great day filming: Jenna bought a bunch of products from street vendors, always haggling for the best price…
Jenna’s Shopping Spree!
Even with all of the great locations and fun shoots we did, here is what I remember most about Jenna in Bangkok: after we filmed on Patpong Street, an adult entertainment area full of bars, go go clubs and street vendors, Jenna went a bit “shopping crazy” with the Channel V Host – by the time she was done, Jenna ended up shipping home three new suitcases full of stuff!
Bangkok’s Fertility Shrine!
One of the funniest shoots involves a sequence with Jenna at Bangkok’s fertility shrine, but for some reason, I never got a picture of Jenna there! Instead, I got our terrific field Producer Jill Weiser…posing among the hundreds of fertility symbols: yes, penises…
Yes, this was a very sacred place! Bangkok has many shrines all over the city, and couples would come to this one to pray for fertility…as evidenced by the phallic nature of the shrine itself. The best part was, when we filmed this, the shrine was located in a Hilton Hotel parking lot! Shrines are all over Bangkok, and businesses must build around them, as they are sacred and cannot be moved…
We had the legendary Director of Photography Carl Allman with us, so of course it all looked beautiful…and Carl is so much fun to film with as well!
Bruce Willis Entertains Jenna!
After dinner, we were off to the opening of Planet Hollywood Bangkok, and that meant interviews with the arriving celebrities, like Jackie Chan, Cindy Crawford, Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, and a performance by Bruce Willis and his band!
Here’s a picture of Bruce Willis performing at the restaurant – with Jenna and thousands of fans watching and cheering wildly:
Then Jenna got the chance to interview Bruce. I will always remember that, when he saw her, the first thing Bruce said was:
“You are my favorite E! Host!”
And she was: Jenna was so much fun to work with: she was a total professional, eager to explore Bangkok with us, working all day and night…and it was a long day – filming the lifestyle segments in the daytime, then covering the big party at night…
Jenna also got a lot of attention as well – her she is being interviewed by the former Miss Thailand, who was a Host for Channel V in Thailand…
This Channel V Host hung out with us for hours, and we ended the night at her Dad’s blues bar in a fun Bangkok neighborhood…
At 2am, we finished filming, and Carl picked up one of the bar’s bass guitars and played us some blues while we sipped whiskey! It was a memorable end to a fun day!
Time For A Singapore Sling!
After Bangkok, it was off to Singapore, where Jenna explored many of the city’s unique sights!
That also meant taking a very high cable car over the river and down to Singapore’s park…
Jenna WASN’T a fan of riding in a cable car high over the city…turns out she was afraid of heights! We didn’t know it until she pointed it out and hid her eyes…
But she hung in there and was a complete pro – doing an interview with our local guide and even checking out the view – albeit just for a moment!!
We had a great time in Singpore’s Merlion Park, named after a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, used as a mascot and national personification of Singapore.
The fish body represents Singapore’s origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means “sea town” in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore’s original name — Singapura — meaning “lion city” or “kota singa”.
Jenna Hangs Out With Sylvester Stallone!
After a day of filming around Singapore, it was time to head over to Planet Hollywood for the opening of the restaurant – Jenna wrote about this trip in her autobiography – her version is not EXACTLY the same way I remember it, but the facts of the trip are basically the same – she was the Host of our Planet Hollywood coverage, and just like in Bangkok, the stars LOVED talking to her!
Jenna got to hang out with Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Wesley Snipes, Jackie Chan and Cindy Crawford in Singapore, a beautiful city that showed us the utmost hospitality!
Once we got back to the US, it was decided that Jenna shouldn’t host the entire special, but we did air the interviews and all of these segments in Bangkok and Singapore on “E! Explores Planet Hollywood Bangkok” – and she was great!
I’m not sure where Jenna is headed with her career – she just published a book, and it was announced that she is going to do more “adult” work – but regardless of her personal and professional issues right now, she was a pleasure to work with, a great person, and a terrific on-air Talent for us!
