Chicago – Industry Hall of Famer Ivan is featured in a fresh new interview for the Crime & Entertainment Podcast, “Porno & Powerbombs: The Slava Siderman (aka Ivan) Story”.

The veteran adult & horror director chatted with host Hollywood Wade about his childhood during the ‘70s Cold War, immigrating to the U.S. from Russia as a child and his ascent into the world of filmmaking and wrestling over the past two decades.

“When you come here as a Russian person, kids pick on you… you’re the enemy, you’re the evil one, kind of how it is now,” jokes Ivan of moving to the States, noting that he experienced serious culture shock as a child, particularly in the realm of films, such as horror.

“When I was a little boy and I saw the movie Jaws, I was afraid to take a bath! You’re coming to a whole different culture and you’ve never seen anything like that… for a while I was really scared of horror movies… the first movie I worked on was a horror film and it just kind of snowballed from there; I fell in love with the genre… it has conventions and the filmmakers look out for each other.”

Ivan launched his adult career after meeting Rob Black, who offered him the opportunity to shoot wrestling footage before he was asked to try his hand in porn. “I came in as a Behind-the-Scenes guy, and let me tell you, back then none of them knew what they were doing… so one day I just asked my boss if I could direct… I started shooting individual scenes… the movie that put me on the map, I did a movie called Texas Asshole Massacre and that movie put me on the map in a big way!”

He adds that the reason he produces films, podcasts and live wrestling scenarios for fans is because of “the personalities that create the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the everything else… to express our eccentric minds and realities and the way we dress and tattoos.”

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