Sasha Grey announces at AEE that she’s engaged.

Is her fiance Ian Cinnamon? Here they were at last year’s AVN Awards. At jamd.com it says he’s a director. But in this new interview with Richard Abowitz, Sasha says she’s engaged to her photographer. Thank you to Erma for the picture.

Vegas Blog interview after the jump.

Mark Spiegler is among the best known talent agents in the adult business. He is by his own description a legal pimp. He supplies women actresses to adult movies. Covering the Adult Entertainment Expo for a decade I have had many chances to meet and interview Spiegler. But only once has he called me to speak about one of his clients. That was two years ago and the client was an 18-year-old named Sasha Grey.

Spiegler insisted Grey was going to be the biggest star he had ever come across. Two years later she is the name who most comes up when discussing stars who are transforming the adult industry. Interestingly, our first interview did not go well. It was brief and awkward. She just seemed very young to me and I did not see the spark behind all the excitement she was even then generating. In fact, John Stagliano had already cast her in the sequel to his successful “Fashionistas” film. For 2009 she is in the “Pirates” sequel that is the film that has hoarded so may of the AVN nominations this year.

Among Grey’s more recent accomplishments are being cast in a Steven Soderbergh film and being put on the Rolling Stone annual Hot List. Grey has become such a star these days that, since I did not plan in advance, her schedule was too full yesterday and I was told she had no time for an interview with me. But Grey amazingly recognized me from our brief and awkward conversation of a couple years ago and called me over to speak:

Richard Abowitz: Two years ago Mark Spiegler told me I had to interview you because you were going to be a huge star.

Sasha Grey: I remember that actually. I remember we met briefly but did not get a chance to speak.

Abowitz: Well, we have a lot more to talk about now. Are you surprised how quickly all of this has happened for you?

Grey: I am surprised. I got into this business just wanting to make a change. I did not think my ideals would reach that far. I did not have any self doubt. But I did not think on my own I could have such an impact in such a short amount of time.

Abowitz: How has your work impacted your private life?

Grey: My fiance is a photographer and I have made him my photographer. I kind of stole him. It is pretty awesome because we get to work together a lot now. We have similar artistic interests; we have a similar vision, and we work well together. But as far as the relationship, I think the first three months are the hardest. You learn so much about yourself in such a short amount of time. Obviously, jealousy is part of it. It is more the type of sex that you get to do in films I would like to have in my private life, but I don’t have the money for even the gear for some of the stuff I do on film. I am not going to invest my money in that. I am going to invest my money in my own goals.

Abowitz: You are still only 20. What are your goals?

Grey: My goal right now is to continue to brand myself. I work on my website. I want to direct. I have a feature I really I want to come out of the gate with and that is my goal right now.

Abowitz: Next year I’ll ask you if alcohol tastes like you expected it to. Do you find in the industry when it comes to getting opportunities to direct that your age is a barrier?

Grey: Absolutely. My age and my gender. Inside and outside. I wish they would say it to my face but they don’t. I hear things said behind my back and I wish they would say it to my face.

Abowitz: Do you have any sense of what it is about you that in an industry of people fighting for the spotlight has made you such a magnet for attention?

Grey: It is hard to answer that without sounding pretentious and stuck up. I think the difference with me is that I sought my way into this industry. I had a goal. I think that has made me a lot different. I did not get into this through a friend, or because I was a stripper or because I wanted to pay college tuition. That and I am completely into film, music and art. I am into art house films.

Abowitz: OK, outside adult what art have you been enjoying?

Grey: I’ve been listening to a lot of black metal. For the past month I have been reading nothing but my script. I am on the fourth draft of it. Movies: I really loved “The Wrestler.” It was incredibly intense to see him so vulnerable. I love when an actor does that. I did not like some of the dialogue. But I felt something that night.

Abowitz: Didn’t you just do a mainstream film? Was that one of your goals?

Grey: No. I keep getting asked that question and it is a bit annoying. Stephen was brilliant. But unfortunately I can’t really talk about it. You know how a lot of people make art you admire but you never want to meet them. But Soderbergh far surpassed my expectations. I have a huge respect for him. He is very focused on process and not just the outcome and getting there is the exciting part for me as well. I guess most people know that the movie is about a $10,000-a-night escort and how she perceives herself to be in control of her life.

Abowitz: Was it an acting challenge for you?

Grey: I am sorry, I can’t answer that part. But as far as trying to get into mainstream that is a silly idea. I got into porn because I wanted to get into porn. I did eight months of research before I entered the industry. And, as I told you before, I entered porn because I thought there was a void — a lack of quality production. You see the same thing over and over and there was just so much titillation missing from porn. I really wanted to see two people perform like they are into each other. I want to see the titillation. I wanted porn to be more creative.

Posted in: AVN Awards/Expo, Ian Cinnamon, Pictures, Porn News, Porn Star, Sasha Grey