Before she exited her Uber at Brazzers Studios, Elly Clutch waved flirtatiously at her driver and flashed a smile that could melt an iceberg.

“Look out for me,” she said. “I’m going to be a really big star.”

All of it played out on camera, as the banter was actually part of the footage for Clutch’s inaugural mainstream shoot, a reality-themed scene based around her studio debut. Still, Clutch’s final message to her driver may evoke a few chuckles from her 410,000 followers on X—or the nearly 400 million fans who have watched her on Pornhub.

Clutch isn’t going to be a big star.

She already is one.

And that explains the hubbub surrounding “Lights, Camera, Facial!”—the boy-girl-girl tango featuring Clutch, Luna Star, and Scott Nails that drops today on Brazzers.

Even without the masterminds on Brazzers’ marketing team—who have been promoting the scene for weeks—it’s safe to say Clutch’s studio debut is one of the most-anticipated in recent porn memory. Without ever setting foot on a mainstream set, the 26-year-old California native has become one of the most prominent and recognizable names in adult entertainment.

A former Twitch streamer, Clutch pivoted to adult content in 2021 when she launched an OnlyFans account. She posted solo videos for a year before progressing to boy-girl shoots with her fiancé, Jak Knife.

Clutch’s videos began appearing on Pornhub in 2023 and, two years later, she now ranks 38th on the site’s list of most popular porn stars. The quick ascension would be remarkable for any performer, but especially one who had never shot a studio scene.

Until now.

“I wanted to come out with a bang,” Clutch tells PornCrush. “I felt like I was at the top of my game, and I wanted my fans to be able to see me in a bigger production. I wanted to show that I could shine in aspects other than just content.”

It’s not as if Clutch didn’t have other opportunities before the Brazzers shoot. For nearly two years now, studios have approached her about transitioning into mainstream, and it’s easy to see why.

Standing 5-foot-10 with cascading auburn hair and an all-natural body, Clutch boasts physical traits that make her unique among almost any performer in the industry. And let’s not forget that she won the coveted Prettiest Pussy trophy at this year’s Pornhub Awards.

Still, Clutch’s popularity revolves around more than just her body. There’s an “it” factor there—an elegance in her demeanor, a warmth in her smile, a twinkle in her eyes that makes her not only sexy, but extremely likable. For every fan that faps to Clutch, there are probably 10 more that simply fantasize about taking her to dinner.

Clutch’s colleagues are smitten with her, too. She’s shot more than 100 collabs with A-list performers and is on the invite list to virtually every industry party or event. Simply put, people are drawn to Elly Clutch.

And Clutch felt that more than ever after announcing she was ready to dabble in mainstream porn.

“That’s been the most wonderful thing about all of this,” Clutch says. “Just seeing how excited so many of my friends were for me, and having people come out and say how proud they are of me, and that they’re excited for a different era.

“The support has been so reassuring. The texts, the tweets … it’s filled my heart with so much warmth. All of it has felt like one big hug.”

Even though she was focused solely on self-produced content the past few years, Clutch said she “never said never” when it came to the possibility of shooting for studios.

“I just wanted to wait for something I felt really excited about,” Clutch says.

It’s no surprise that Brazzers was the one that presented her with that opportunity. Clutch had grown close with many of Brazzers’ executives and contract stars over the past few years because of the studio’s close association with Pornhub, where Clutch is an ambassador of sorts.

When Brazzers approached Clutch earlier this year about making her studio debut, they offered her a package of scenes for which she’d have a large amount of creative control. She couldn’t say no.

Clutch described “Lights, Camera, Facial!”—which was directed by Lea Lexis—as a campy scene with a vibe that’s right in her wheelhouse.

“I love fun porn,” Clutch says. “I want it to be fun and engaging. I always want it to seem like I’m having a good time. I told Brazzers I wanted the scene to be fun and not too overly serious. I wanted the experience to be fun—and not too overly serious—for the people in the scene and for everyone watching.”

Clutch was allowed to select her scene partners. She said Luna Star is on her Mount Rushmore of porn stars. She’d never collabed with Nails, an AVN Hall-of-Famer.

“So I was excited to see what he could do,” Clutch says. “The positioning was different from what I do for collabs. Most of my content is made either POV style or with a tripod. So I’m not as used to a non-stationary camera moving around me. Luckily, I’m a quick learner.

“I felt less nervous than I thought I’d be. I’ve been performing on a different scale for four years now, so I had an element of confidence. But things were also way different. I’m used to doing everything myself. Wardrobe, plot, editing, promo. It was nice not to have to worry about any of that stuff. It made me feel special.

“I’m also not used to people telling me I did a good job. When it’s a collab, with just me and my scene partner, the feedback is all on the internet. But with Brazzers, there was a crew saying, 'Good job! That was really great,’ as soon as the scene was over. I was like, ‘Well, thank you! Do I need to take a bow?”

Clutch performed in subsequent boy-girl scenes for Brazzers with Ricky Johnson, Victory Ray, and Mick Blue that will be released in the coming weeks and months. She also just wrapped shooting for a Digital Playground feature that was directed by Ricky Greenwood. It’s an action movie—“think ‘Kill Bill,’ Clutch says—that called for heavy dialogue and even a fight sequence.

For her sex scene, Clutch reunited with Nails.

“Really intense and passionate,” Clutch says of the tango. “I got to play a character that I wouldn’t normally play. I’m an antagonist, very aggressive and bitchy. I really enjoyed that. I was able to lean into a vibe that I’m not normally in. A lot of anger and passion, and to be able to use that in a sex scene was really fun to me, especially since it was with Scott.”

Clutch is looking forward to similar opportunities in the future, although she said she’s hardly ready to let studio work become her main source of content.

While she’ll always be willing to entertain opportunities, Clutch says she will be extremely selective when it comes to accepting offers.

“It won’t be what I focus on 100 percent,” she says. “But when I do it, I want to go full out and give 120 percent.

“It’s important to do what fuels us. For me, what works isn’t necessarily going to work for everyone else. Some people love going hard for studio; others go hard for content. Doing it this way will give me a healthy balance where I won’t get burned out on either side.

“And my fans will have the best of both worlds.”