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"Director Justin Sterling (Jenna Jameson's husband Jay Grdina) sat down one afternoon to write an Antony and Cleopatra script. Instead, his mind took the first exit off the freeway of concentration. What Sterling wound up with is about as far removed from Cleopatra as Richard Burton currently is from Elizabeth Taylor." (AVN 1/96 p.28)

To sum up Head Trip, Sterling's flick about headgames, sex and surrealism, the title page says it well: "From the addled mind that brought you Lust Runner."

Sterling is part of the new breed of adult video directors such as Michael Ninn who've worked in mainstream entertainment.

Lust Runner, 1995, travels a new path in pornos and brought Sterling a six picture deal with VCA Platinum.

"If Michael Ninn and Andrew Blake ever produced an offspring, Sterling would be the one in the baby crib. While Sterling greatly admires Blake's work, his long-time association with Ninn... has drawn the blueprint for features like Head Trip." (AVN 1/96 p. 28)

Sterling and Ninn roomed together when Sterling was Art Director on Black Orchid. "We're involved in each other's projects, but Michael has one genre and I've got another."

AVN: "From the way Sterling talks, Ninn can be king of the pretty-picture couples' video mountain: Sterling prefers to be the Baron of Balls," leaning toward "artsy, hardcore nasty sex with Andrew Blake thrown in." (AVN 1/96 p. 29)

In Head Trip, T.T. Boy does Jill Kelly and Tabatha Stevens (not to be confused with the old CDI Tabitha Stevens) in eleven different positions.

Alex Sanders' Sinnocence, with a similar plot, also appeared in 1996.

Jim Holliday says Justin Sterling is the latest porn visionary joining a list that includes Rinse Dream, Richard Mahler, Gregory Dark and Michael Ninn.

"Justin Sterling deserves watching," writes Holliday. "I see either a brilliant behind the camera future or a live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse legacy."

Justin frequently uses the porn name Michael Santangelo. In late 1995, he finished an adult movie called The Palace, which has both a script and character arcs.

"Because of their less-story, more Vogue camera styles, a team of bloodhounds couldn't find an arc much less Noah in an Andrew Blake or a Cameron Grant film. So it's with a sense of swashbuckling adventure that Santangelo... tackled The Palace, a Jazz Age period piece about a whorehouse/casino which was filmed over a five-day stretch at a mansion in Pasadena." (AVN 1/96 p. 102)

The heir-apparent to the high-fashion throne of Andrew Blake and Cameron Grant, Justin Sterling AKA Michael Santangelo directs for Ultimate Video who search for delicacy in porn.

Santagelo's approach to shooting sex is "the way you'd shoot sports - with a lot of movement. I want to give the viewer a sense of being there.

"Each sex scene has a reason for living, and each character has a motivation for having sex," says Michael.

"Considering the advice and warnings I was given, this came off incredibly."

Sterling brought in 55 crew members from the mainstream who owed him favors. Justin loved his cast. "These people were great, were experienced, came to rehearsals and were prepared to deliver full-on dialogue. I never once had to prompt them. The talent in this business is vastly underrated." (AVN)

12/24/99

Jenna Jameson writes Luke: Hey cutie! Just wanted you to know... Justin [Sterling] asked me to marry him today... Thats all I can tell you right now! Love, Jenna"

Less than a year later, Jenna broke up with Justin. Then they got back together and married in 2003.