Porn Valley- Tommy Gunn’s picking up the lunch check so as far as I’m concerned, he can tell any kind of story he wants. Tommy’s thinking out loud and running some ideas by Raven who shoots a lot now for Gunn’s company Assassin Pictures.

Tommy’s trying to figure out how he can take this rugged guy, man’s man porn persona he has and manufacture it in the mainstream world.

Gunn has worked in junkyards and under hoods of cars and has striated, mechanic’s forearms to show for he effort. He owns a garage, but Gunn is calling one to find out the status of his jeep which he left there for some work. I told Gunn you got a garage? Fix your own fucking jeep. Tommy laughs, stating it’s a little more involved than that.

After lunch I get back into his other car- a hot rod. Tommy’s painting a picture of how Bill Fox, his business partner, slips into the passenger seat. Not very well I suspect, if I’m having something of a struggle.

Tommy tells another story- this one involving the hot rod. He’s in the car coming from a Halloween party and wearing a doctor’s outfit. He’s making a grab for his cell phone and the car swerves. A cop happens to be right there and pulls Tommy over. Gunn tells the cop, yeah he’s had a couple of drinks and the cop says he knows him from somewhere. Tommy tells him you might if you watch late night cable. But the cop, putting Tommy through a sobriety test, doesn’t want to admit to watching porn. Or at least that’s what Tommy suspects. The cop lets Tommy off with a warning.

Should he win Male Performer of the Year this year- he’s nominated in that category again- everyone will know Tommy Gunn a lot better. Hell, even Barry Zito now knows Tommy Gunn. Tommy and the multi-million dollar pitcher hooked up recently at a night club in Hollywood through a mutual friend, Andy Zane. It sounds like Zito, who found Gunn’s life in front of the cameras equally as intriguing, is interested in maybe coming out to Las Vegas to check out the porn chicks. Gunn says he’ll clear a path to the chicks in the crowd for Zito if that happens.

Gunn relates to Zito in the sense that they share the same birthday, May 13, although Zito’s 11 years younger.

“Maybe I can relate to the success he’s having now, signing this big contract,” states Gunn. “Maybe in some sort of parallel that could be something I’m in line for.”

I ask Tommy if that means he’ll be making $126 mil over the next seven years like Zito but for fucking. Gunn breaks into an I-wish laugh. I wonder if he’s had a long hot summer from a performer’s standpoint. He says maybe September was slow, otherwise he didn’t see too much of a downturn.

“I’ve seen a bit of change in production and hearing things through the grapevine that DVD sales are flat,” he states. “But when it got slow for me- there was a reason. I was traveling.” Among things, Gunn visited New Zealand this year where he was featured at the Erotic Lifestyles Expo.

“Rita and myself went- it was a cool experience,” he observes. That expo was also famous for the parade of Boobs on Bikes.

“I’ve never seen as many people come out in a crowd for this parade down mainstream,” Gunn notes. “They had two tanks leading the way. I was on the first tank and Evan Stone was on he second tank. Then all the girls were on Harley Davidsons with their boobs out. It looked like some presidential parade. It was amazing, the crowds of people. The people in New Zealand were really nice, but we didn’t have a chance to see much of the country. I didn’t know I had that many fans there.”

Talk to him further and Gunn’s of the belief that 2007 is the year for Assassin Pictures.

“I look at it like we’ve been trying to break out of the earth’s gravitational pull,” he laughs. “There’s a length of time in that period that requires pedal to the metal. We’ve been making small steps but always ahead.”

Besides being nominated in the Performer of the Year category the second time in a row, Gunn, winner of best Male Newcomer award when he first came into the business, is up for awards in eight other categories, most of them sex scenes, some acting.

“It’s pretty crazy because I didn’t even imagine there was nine to give out,” he says. Tommy then logs on to his website, www.tommygunnxxx.com where he’s got the list kept.You’re met with a hail of machine gun bullets. Gunn notes that he’s also up for a Best Actor award in a Vivid movie titled To Die For directed by Paul Thomas.

“I won the same category in Berlin,” he notes. “Best International Actor.” Gunn describes the Vivid movie in which he plays a guy who had a relationship with Monique Alexander at another time of his life then they become next door neighbors.

“It was a pretty serious movie- it had a good cast,” he says. “Everybody was excited about it.” The film’s apparently also up for Best Picture. Gunn also finished up another big movie for Vivid where he plays a mob guy coming up in the organization.

“I ran a strip joint,” he explains. “There was some foul play. I had to shoot somebody and I got shot in the end and died. What are you going to do? Then in the mean time I got to have sex with two chicks so it wasn’t so bad. Paul Thomas is a great director and I love when I shoot for him because I feel I’m going to learn even more. I like his approach to it. It makes me feel comfortable and everybody for that matter.”

Gunn likes trying both comedic an dramatic roles to test his range.

“I like comedy- Evan Stone and myself did a thing called Burnt Fury 3 for Vivid,” he recalls. “He and I basically played the equivalent to Tango and Cash- gun toting fools. It was funny. I always get a kick out of working with Evan. Evan Stone is definitely a pioneer and I look up to him as far as his acting. That was a fun time we had.”

Gunn also got to do a project with the Rev. Bob Levy and notes he and Levy have in the common the fact that they’re both from Jersey.

“The idea came up strangely enough to do something with him and Vivid,” says Gunn. “The concept is basically Bob Levy as a young man [played by Gunn] who goes around and does his comedy routine. But in doing that routine, certain people steal his material and go on to be famous and successful. I got to work with Savanna Samson- she’s a doll baby. That’s going to be exciting when it comes out. I’m sure that will get some good promotion having Levy in it.”

With three years now under his belt, Gunn wishes in a way he had started earlier in the business.

“But if I did- maybe I wouldn’t be where I’m at,” he thinks. “During a portion of my life going back I ran with the wrong people. I had a black cloud – it felt like- over me. I wouldn’t have been able to make the right decisions and might have gotten into the bad side of the industry with the drugs and the partying. Fortunately I went through that outside of the industry and lived to tell about it. Now I can be in the industry with a clear mind and be healthy spiritually and emotionally. I’ve still got some good years ahead of me, I hope. I’ll be Forty in May and will throw a big 4-0 party.”

It’s not unlost on Gunn the fact that there will be a sequel to Pirates in the Fall.

“Hopefully my character comes back,” he says. “I will venture to say that he would. There’s been more talk about him coming back than not. But I haven’t had any indications of him not coming back. His character was a good character- the Johnny Depp so to speak of that movie. A lot of people I spoke to- the fans- said oh, your character was great! So I would venture to say he’ll be back. I would look forward to working with Joone again. He’s also a great director and Digital Playground is definitely a good company to work for.”