A consummate and consistent leading man over the past 15 years, Seth Gamble has proven he can take on any role in business or in life. He brings passion, focus, and discipline to any project he works on. He once famously rented a studio, cameraman, gaffer, and costume just to audition for a role in Batman XXX for Axel Braun. Braun gave him his first big role for Star Wars XXX as Luke Skywalker, and the award-winning director is now producing Gamble’s directorial debut, The Red Room. It wasn’t always an easy road. Gamble talks openly about his battles with addiction, for which he was profiled in Men’s Health Magazine. Four years sober, he finds positivity in every challenge and approaches his life with that same intensity, focus, and discipline he uses in his business. While most people merely say they are “living their best life,” Seth Gamble is actively doing so every day.
HM: We are congratulating you on two major life changes. The Red Room is the first full-length feature you have directed, and you recently married fellow performer Kenzie Taylor! I saw the pictures and it looked like a very nice wedding. Were you able to have the wedding you wanted, or did you pare it down for COVID?
SG: Yes, we had the wedding we wanted. It happened to be during a period where they’d just lifted some of the restrictions in Hawaii. It was great, man. It wasn’t that big. It was like 30-40 people, but it was amazing. It was better than anything I could have expected.
You and Kenzie have been together for about five years, so you spent all of COVID lockdown together. How did that go for you two? Did you pick up any new hobbies or skills during that time?
I’ve always been an exercise guy, like I’ve always been someone that stayed in shape and kept a good physique to the best of my ability. So, I got together with a good friend of mine who lives in Florida—I consider him like my brother—and I said, “If you’re free once a day, why don’t we just get on FaceTime and do at-home workouts?” And we did. I worked out every single day for seven and a half months. I packed on about 25 pounds of muscle. You can see a big size difference between what I did in 2019 and 2020. Kenzie and I did it together, so we both came out of COVID in the best shape of our lives.
Were there any bad habits you developed?
No, I think I’ve gotten rid of those over the years, but it was challenging. Kenzie and I live a sober lifestyle, and as a person with an addictive personality we tend to need connection. The contrary action to addiction is connection. So, COVID made it harder to be sober in that environment because we had all of this free time and no connection. They had zoom meetings and I got deep into meditating, but what we wound up doing was just a lot of work on ourselves. We had all that time to not be distracted. At the end of the day, we experienced a lot of growth during that period. You know, I wouldn’t change it. As time went on, I realized this could be a really positive thing, you know?
The Red Room is the first feature film you directed. It’s produced by Axel Braun, whom you have worked with numerous time over the past decade. Why do you think you two collaborate so well?
The first time I ever ever shot for Axel Braun happened to be the Star Wars parody, one of the biggest, most expensive movies ever made. He gave me the lead role in that movie. The thing is, in our industry when you’re getting projects with that large of a budget, it’s really difficult to bet on a performer you’ve never used. You go with an actor you know is going to deliver. I have that reputation now; I didn’t back then. But, he saw something in me, and there were some people that had their doubts. I remember doing one scene with Tom Byron, where we were talking about how my character’s dad died. It had like seven pages of continuous dialogue, and we did it in one take. He was like, “Holy shit!” Over the years though, we just really got to know each other and find we care about the same things when it comes to this business. We are both very detail-oriented and for me it doesn’t matter whether it is a small project or a big project: it gets the same effort. To that note, he is one of the most awarded directors in the industry. I couldn’t ask for a better person to to learn from. In a nutshell, we’re just passionate people who care about what we’re doing. He has always believed in me, and I’m his biggest fan, and we are good friends. I’m lucky to have that, you know?
So, let’s go back to the scene you did with Tom Byron; you guys got it done in one take. I read how you studied the Meisner Method for acting. Was that why it worked so well?
No, actually. At that time I hadn’t gone to school yet. I studied Meisner Method about a year and a half after we did that movie. I also use Method acting. You can look at Perspective. That’s probably the most intense, dark project—heavy acting with undertones and layers—I have ever done. Angela White and I had so many layers to our characters. I went completely Method in that movie. I didn’t use Meisner at all. But I have the ability to use both and sometimes combine the two.
Did you always want to act? Or did you get in the business and discover acting?
As a kid, I always had a big personality. I was an athlete, but also a song, dance, and character man. Something that sticks out in my mind goes back to when I was in the third grade. I am in school and I see this kid on crutches. He is getting this special treatment and getting out of doing things and getting out of some classes. And like every kid, I want that too. So, I go home and pretend like I hurt my foot. I get taken to the doctor and he is looking at my foot and he can’t find anything wrong, but I’m playing it up, limping around, acting in pain. He says, “I can wrap it up before you go if it makes you feel better.” And so, he wraps it up. I jump off the table like I’m fine. He looks at me, “Wait, you’re fine?” And I say, “Yeah, can you just give me a pair of crutches? I just want to go to school with crutches.” I know it’s something so small, but I just think back to that; I was already playing a character in the third grade!
Of course, I’ve always been a movie buff as well. It’s something I always loved. Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando. I remember watching Daniel Day Lewis and thinking, “This is amazing.” But I have to say back then I had no idea what I wanted to be. I was really good in school. I got straight As and I was an athlete. I think I wanted to be a gangster at one point. I lived in a tough neighborhood on the east coast and the way things were, I had to learn a lot of things on my own. I had to take care of myself. So, I identified with those types of guys too.
But, in this business, I’ve always wanted to learn from the guys that came before me as a performer. Mark Davis really helped me out earlier in my career. I watched him and guys like Manuel Ferrara, and I think they are a couple of the greatest peformers ever. I felt like I had a natural talent for acting, but I wanted to learn from them so I could add to it and get more into the craft of it.
Getting back to The Red Room, how did you select the female performers you were going to work with in the movie?
They were all women I had worked with before, and I felt like we’ve always delivered high-quality scenes together. I wanted girls with high sexuality and confidence; that was important to me. Through the years I’ve worked with all four actresses, and I felt like they all delivered that. The first one I was able to know for sure was going to be in the movie was Emily Willis.
Then we looked at the rest of the schedules and dates and Aidra Fox, Kenna James, and Lena Paul matched up, and I thought, “Oh, this is going to be great.” I did get to pick who I wanted, and I wanted legit stars, you know.
I noticed that the music in the movie is very deliberate. It isn’t just background. It seems to set the tone and cadence to push the narrative.
Yes, I selected the music specifically. It wasn’t made specifically for the movie, but I spent hours searching for the right music. I have a database. I actually had two databases. I have my own and I have a friend who does music for mainstream movies and TV, and he was kind enough to allow me to use some from his as well. I find the scoring to be one of the most important aspects of a movie, and that will continue to be an important part of my future projects.
You didn’t just direct The Red Room, the whole movie was your concept. How did that come to be?
A few years back, I actually pitched a similar idea to someone else. As a performer, I’ve worked on feature movies, gonzo, vignettes, clip scenes… you name it. There is a difference from the audience standpoint. For feature movies, there is more of a voyeuristic aspect; the audience is watching characters on a screen. There is a slow build to the sex, with a lot of mid and wide shots, and a few close-ups. And then with gonzo, it’s fairly visceral. It is in your face—a lot of close-ups. The viewer feels connected to the scene. It’s more prone to masturbation, in my opinion. So, in The Red Room, I wanted to combine the two things. It’s good we talked about the music, because I wanted the music to allow me and the female performer to build the tension in the storyline. Then, when the sex starts, we break the fourth wall. I wanted the ability to have a somewhat-short storyline, so there’s a reason for it, but then also look at the viewer and say, “Hey, come join us.” I wanted to give them the best of both worlds.
At the end of the day, I’m trying to give the viewers what they want—to an extent—as much as I can. Some of the best creators in this industry are very sexual-thinking kind of people, obviously, especially if they’re creating the project themselves.
As a director, are you more focused on the actors or more on the technical aspects?
Every aspect of it, if my name is on it, I want to be involved from beginning to end with a great team around me for every aspect of it.
What part of directing did you find most challenging?
Pre-production, all of the unknowns… I connect to visual things. I’m a very visual person.
Do you have any new directing projects coming up? What is a “dream movie” you would you like to make?
My next one is a three-scene feature and then after that I have a feature coming up as well. I’m sure something will come up in middle hopefully, but as of right now the next projects.
I’m just one of those people where I start to create as the opportunity comes along. But generally speaking, I would want to create the highest form of acting and sex that the business has ever seen. Like, is this an actual mainstream movie with hardcore sex in it?
What would you say is the biggest improvement within the industry that you’ve seen performing since 2008?
Obviously, the technology has gotten better. Better cameras and equipment makes it much easier to shoot than in the days when you had to shoot on film. I also think it is great that performers now have their own platforms. Back in the day, I was doing forty scenes a month. That’s how I made a living, and my living was based on how many days I worked and how many scenes I did. Performers have a higher value now because they have their own platform.
The industry is also becoming more inclusive for all walks of life, and that is beautiful. There used to be a lot more separation. Everybody is beginning to be accepted for the way they are and who they are, and we’re thriving. Some people are behind the times and they need to catch up, ’cause in the end, we’re all human.
Watch Seth Gamble’s directorial debut, The Red Room, exclusively on HotMovies!
