Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s erotic drama series, ‘Supersex,’ takes the audience into the life and misadventures of a young man whose life takes a turn when he decides to have a career as an actor in pornographic films. It begins with Rocco Siffredi at the height of his career, feeling utterly lonely while also dealing with a huge personal loss. The flashbacks take us back to his childhood to show the audience how he first became obsessed with the idea of doing something involving sex and how he found his way to becoming one of the most celebrated actors in the industry. His meteoric rise and turbulent personal life become even more interesting due to its roots in reality.
A Major Part of Supersex is Straight Out of Rocco Siffredi’s Life
Created by Francesca Manieri, who also worked as a writer and director on the show, ‘Supersex’ is heavily based on the real events in the life of Rocco Siffredi. While Manieri said that they had fictionalized certain things in the story, about 70% of the show remains close to the things that happened for real in Siffredi’s life.
One of the most prolific and famous actors in the adult film industry, Rocco Siffredi, has around 1500 film credits to his name. He received the nickname “the Italian Stallion,” mainly due to the aggressive and rough nature of the sex scenes in his films. Siffredi borrowed his last name from Alain Delon’s character in ‘Borsalino,’ a 1970 gangster movie. He was born Rocco Tano in a small town in Italy named Abruzzo. Due to his Catholic origins, he almost had a career as a priest, which is what his mother wanted for him until she discovered what her son was really interested in.
With a career of more than three decades in the industry, where he has worked not just as an actor but also as a director and producer, Siffredi announced his retirement for the first time in 2004. However, soon, he returned to making and starring in films. He again announced his retirement but didn’t stick to it. The last time he talked about stepping down, he didn’t explicitly state that he was retiring but has considerably limited himself to working behind the scenes.
As shown in ‘Supersex,’ Siffredi’s desire to work in the porn industry started after he came across a magazine named Supersex which had pictures of Gabriel Pontello, who became young Rocco’s inspiration. At the time, he was 13 and expressed his desire to be like Pontello to his elder brother. At the age of 20, he expressed this desire again, and this time, his brother, who lived in Paris, asked him to come to France, where young Rocco found his way to a sex club, where Pontello discovered him and changed his life forever.
While he found success pretty early in his career, Siffredi also faced many challenges on a personal level. While parts of the story have been fictionalized (especially the arc of Tommaso and Lucia), things like the death of his brother at a young age and his mother’s struggle to deal with the loss are quite real. In the midst of all this, when Siffredi started working in the porn industry, he became the talk of the town. He revealed that his family was questioned by their neighbors and acquaintances, who asked his parents how they could let their son have such a career. However, Siffredi’s mother supported his choice, telling him to do whatever he wanted with his life, and this gave him the confidence to follow his dreams.
Still, self-doubt and relationship problems would creep up in his life from time to time. Siffredi also battled sex addiction for a while. He also wondered if he should continue performing in films after he was married and had children. All of this is aptly portrayed in the series, watching which was a difficult experience for real-life Siffredi. While it brought back the memories of good times, it also brought back the painful times he had been through. Considering all this, we can say that ‘Supersex’ comes pretty close to telling Siffredi’s story as it really happened while using a creative license in some parts and giving a fictional touch to some plot points and characters to enhance the dramatic effect of the story.
