Porn, whether you’re a fan or not is a billion dollar industry, so what better way to explore the rise of the seedy sex scene than an eight-episode series from HBO entitled The Deuce which is due to air later this year, fancy a taste of what to expect? See a full gallery of clean images from the new series and watch the short trailer below.
The funkadelic kinky series, which is the brainchild of The Wire creator David Simon and author George Pelecanos hasn’t pulled any punches in attaching leads in the form of James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal on a story that follows the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world at the pioneering moments of what would become the billion-dollar American sex industry.
James Franco stars in a double role, following in the footsteps of Ewan McGregor in the latest series of Fargo, as Vincent and Frankie Martino, twin brothers operating out of Times Square who become fronts for the Mob. While Gyllenhaal tackles the role of Eileen “Candy” Merrell, a Times Square sex worker with an entrepreneurial spirit who is drawn into the emerging pornography industry.
Other cast details show that Michael Rispoli as Rudy Pipilo, a Gambino family capo who oversees the Mob’s financial interests in the sex business. Natalie Paul as Sandra Washington, a newspaper reporter who’s investigating the Times Square sex industry. Chris Coy as Paul Hendrickson, a kindred spirit to Vincent Martino and a veteran bartender who pursues his own personal and professional ambitions in the emerging gay, lesbian and transsexual community of ’70s New York. Dominique Fishback as Darlene, a young, sweet-natured prostitute who’s trying to survive on the street while under the thumb of a volatile, violent pimp. Gbenga Akinnagbe as Larry Brown, an intense and demanding pimp who physically intimidates his stable of women but also has moments that betray a conflicted, underlying humanity.
Gyllenhaal will co-produce and Simon, Franco, Pelecanos and Nina K. Noble executive produce.
