Porn Star Interview: Johnny Hanson

BY VINCENT LAMBERT

Johnny Hanson is early. When I arrive at Lucas Entertainment’s New York office at six o’clock sharp, the 1990s porn superstar is already seated on a couch in the lobby. Casually dressed in a beige DKNY sweater, jeans and a cap, Hanson is waiting to give the first interview of his big comeback. His 10-year absence from the porn scene is evident in his more mature look and husky build (he admits to gaining 20 pounds), but at age 41, Hanson is still every bit the screen stud who captivated the industry when he signed as a Falcon exclusive in 1995.

Fresh from filming his first scene in more than a decade for Lucas Entertainment’s The Bigger, the Better, Hanson smiles and says in his familiar New Yawk accent, “It’s good to be back. Sure, I was nervous to come back. I was very hyper on the set when we filmed the scene, but once we got naked, it was very easy. I realized, hey, I’m not shy anymore! I felt comfortable with myself and what I was doing. I even ended up rimming the guy!”

The guy in question is Lucas exclusive Steven Ponce, and the man who lured Hanson back to the business was none other than New York porn mogul Michael Lucas. “When I first moved to America in 1997,” Lucas recalls, “Johnny Hanson was on the cover of every magazine. I never saw his movies, but from pictures I thought that he looked absolutely stunning. I found him five years later when my company was still very young and Johnny was…let’s say, a bit difficult, so we couldn’t come to an agreement. But then I ran into him on the street in New York recently, and he was very friendly and enthusiastic.”

This time the men struck a deal. But Lucas had one condition: “Johnny had to agree to do more than just fuck. I wanted to show him as the all-around sex machine that he is, so I wanted him to rim and suck cock too, and he was great at it! I am glad that the fans of Johnny Hanson will be able to see him fucking, eating ass, sucking cock and enjoying himself the whole time.”

Hanson adds his side of the story: “I met Michael Lucas through an ex-boyfriend. Michael was always trying to get me to do a scene. He wanted me to suck cock because I had never done it on-screen before. I always had the image of a straight guy—I would get sucked then fuck. He wanted to change that, and eventually he convinced me to do it. It took six years, but he did it!”

If he was going to return to porn, Hanson agreed that his limited sexual repertoire in the ’90 had to change. “I kind of felt like I had left the fans hanging,” he says. “People would write or ask me when I was coming back. Michael convinced me that there was demand to see me suck a dick…and more. I wanted to give that to the fans. I guess you could say that I’m a people pleaser.”

But the road to a comeback had taken many years for the hunky star. Born to an Italian family in Queens, New York, Hanson was one of six children, and he always dreamed of becoming an actor. He was studying at the Sanford Meisner Center, tending bar and go-go dancing while he waited for his big break. One day, all that changed when director Chi Chi LaRue spotted him dancing atop a box and asked whether he wanted to be in the movies. Hanson, who had never really entertained the notion, agreed and signed with Falcon Studios. The collaboration produced such porn classics as The Other Side of Aspen III and IV and Download. He went on to appear in Hot Firemen (Centaur) and Trying It On for Size (Studio 2000).

“It was a learning experience,” Hanson says of his initial brush with porn and stardom. “I was very shy and self-conscious, but I did it.” After a while, movies weren’t enough for Hanson, who decided to use his nightlife connections to make a dance record. “I wanted another way to promote myself,” he says, “so I thought that having a song out would help that.” Hanson wrote the lyrics and performed the song “Mr. Fantasy,” which was released on Eightball Records. The single, which was remixed by superstar DJ Junior Vasquez, was positively reviewed in Billboard and received club play.

On a roll, Hanson posed for Playgirl and made his off-Broadway acting debut as the lead in Ronnie Larsen’s Making Porn. But when the spotlight got too hot, Hanson decided to walk away. “It was kind of overwhelming,” he says. “I never wanted the fame. I wanted the money.” So he dropped out, moved to Miami and went back to school, studying math and liberal arts. But after a couple of years, he returned to New York, where he began auditioning for commercials and other nonporn acting gigs. “I wanted to go legitimate,” Hanson says. “I wanted to be taken seriously. I wanted to be known for more than having a fat dick, but it never happened.”

When acting gigs didn’t materialize, Hanson admits to being “disappointed and depressed.” This led to some recreational drug use and hard partying. Although Hanson denies that he was ever a heavy drinker, he does admit to being a “weekend user” at the time. He also denies rumors that he was homeless and living on the streets of New York. Following a breakup with a boyfriend, he says that he was left without an apartment, but that only led to high hotel bills until he relocated to New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.

Now, more than 10 years after his first big splash, Hanson is back and ready to work. “I have no agenda,” he says. “I am just playing it by ear.” In the years that he has been out of the business, he says that he has not really followed it, but he is aware of the many changes, including the advent of the Internet, DVDs and Viagra. “I wish we had Viagra in my day!” Hanson jokes. There is also the rising popularity of bareback movies. “I think that is just stupid,” he says. “It’s not too smart and way too risky.”

But Hanson says that his time away has taught him some valuable lessons. “I can cope better now,” he says. “I know the industry. I know to be careful, that you can’t really trust anyone. The years have been hard, but today I am drug-free and now I know that I’m an intelligent person, that I am more than a fat dick—that’s for damn sure!”

While he fields offers and decides his next career move, Hanson seems to be at peace with where the years have taken him. “Maybe this is what I was meant to be,” he says. “I’ve accepted it.” Then he pauses and adds with a grin, “And who knows? Maybe I’ll come back in another 10 years to bottom!”

Reprinted from GAYVN magazine (2007)