It's something of a trend these days that when a celebrity has something to say, they start their own podcast. These are usually innocuous, mildly self-indulgent ramblefests in which the actor or comedian in question shoots the shit with their famous friends. Actress Demi Moore's new podcast project is something altogether different.
Moore both executive-produces and acts in Dirty Diana, an immersive, erotic audio drama from podcast production company QCODE. She plays Diana, a woman who seeks refuge from her unfulfilling career, strained marriage and growing Xanax dependence through an unusual creative outlet; she records women as they share their innermost sexual fantasies, and then publishes the recordings as a form of erotica.
"I wanted to create a show about a marriage that felt genuine and compelling and so erotic it made you want to have sex with your partner after listening to it," says Shana Feste, who wrote the script.
Danish actor Claes Bang (The Affair, Dracula) voices Diana's husband Oliver, who is resentful of her reticence in the bedroom. The show also features voice work from actors such as Max Greenfield (New Girl), Andrea Riseborough (Mandy), Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad), Carmen Ejogo (Fantastic Beasts), Dolly Wells (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), and Mackenzie Davis (Black Mirror).
While most projects of this caliber tend to be recorded in a studio with a sound team on hand, Moore ended up recording the majority of her audio from her bathroom at home, while in lockdown. "It was a major learning curve getting all of the technology right," she recently told Seth Meyers. "But just the fact that I actually had something that I could work on during quarantine was a bonus gift."
The first episode of Dirty Diana dropped this week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other platforms, and is the latest in a spate of QCODE audio drama projects fronted by well-known performers. Bond villain Rami Malek lent his voice to the disaster drama Blackout, Marvel star Tessa Thompson played the lead in the supernatural mystery The Left Right Game, Cynthia Erivo starred in horror thriller Carrier, Chloe Grace Moretz voiced the main role in the suspense drama Gaslight, and Riverdale's Cole Sprouse led the thriller Borrasca.
A number of these titles have been optioned for screen adaptations, so it's possible that a Dirty Diana series could be coming to Showtime, HBO or another one of the racier networks at some point.
