4PLAY: SF - BUTT interview PT 1

To keep us warm on the festival circuit this fall, posting a series of interviews that Andy Campbell, queer art historian and writer for the Austin Chronicle, did with Paul Soileau (star of 4PLAY: SF) and Chloe, the film's inspiration. Originally intended for publication in BUTT... but the pink-paged fools turned it down because they were "confused" (FYI - I love BUTT magazine, seriously!). Maybe something was lost in translation? Who knows, I think it's pretty funny and as always, informative. - Kyle

Paul Soileau a Louisiana-born performance artist living in Austin, Texas who is best known these days for his performances as Christeene Vale, was recently hired to play the part of a tranny sex-worker who works over a quadriplegic gentleman caller in the first of an omnibus of shorts about deviant sex called FOURPLAY. The film, which premiered at this year’s Outfest Film Festival, is based on the real-life experiences of a cross-dressing sex worker in the Bay Area who goes by the name of Chloe during the working evening hours. Getting Paul and Chloe together is a study in opposites played out through personae: The classy Chloe and the equally trashy Christeene. A teleconference was clearly in order…

Andy: You guys are settling in for the night?

Chloe: Right!

Paul: I’m laying in my bed.

Let’s have some pillow talk. How would you two describe “The Ladies” in your life?

Chloe: The ladies, as in our ladies?

Yeah.

Chloe: Ok I thought you meant my grandmother…

I’ll ask about her later. So prepare.

Chloe: Oh no… uh oh…

Paul: Well, I'm a little horse today because of my ladies. I have two ladies: Rebecca Havemeyer, a burnt out 1930s starlet, and Christeene, the number one cum-dump of Austin, Texas. They're polar opposites.

Well what would they have to say about you, Paul?

Paul: Rebecca would probably think I was real sweet - a nice young man. And Christeene would probably just want to fuck me. A lot. Can I say that?

No, please self censor.

Paul: Are you serious?

No! Don't censor. Give it all. What about Chloe?

Chloe: Chloe's my main lady - she's my only lady, in fact. It's interesting… I'm a little jealous of drag queens because they get to change their looks, but because my lady is a working lady who has actual pictures out there online to seduce potential clients I have to be the same lady over and over.

But you change your looks a little bit - I've seen the photos.

Chloe: Sure! The persona has to be pretty consistent, though. I also feel that whatever look I have up on the ad has to be consistent with what they see when they open the door. You never know what people fetishize. There have been situations where I've had my ad up featuring pictures of Chloe with long hair, and then I decide because it's hot outside to slap a short wig on my head, and so when the client opens the door I get "Oh, I thought you had long hair."

And so do you run home and get a different wig?

Chloe: No, no, no, no, no, not at all. No, I say "Oh, I got it cut! Ha ha!" and just play it off. I mean, these guys, not always the sharpest tools in the shed. They don't even know it's a wig half the time.

Paul: Yeah, because it's real!

Bless them!

Chloe: Right?! Bless them!