Could it be? A porn flick set in a REAL Opera House (Berlin’s Komische Oper)? French pornstar Jordan Fox shared this picture on his FB page, but didn’t reveal much –other than an intriguing: “for a new movie”. Now, many porn flicks were shot and set in historical movie houses –going all the way back to the 70s. But this must be the first in an Opera House. Phantom of the Opera, the XXX version? Details?
Excerpts from an interview FRESHMEN published in 2007. I wouldn’t answer any differently today…
1. What makes your movies, your style, even your models different? How would
you describe your style….
Colleague Kristen Bjorn refers to my movies as “bucolic”. I would hope he isn’t talking of the pastoral settings only. Rather of my quest for beauty. For a Paradise Lost of beautiful men and exotic locales. Raunch, as I see it in most American porn, does very little for me. Nothing wrong with it,
if that gets you off. But I’d like my porn –the porn I watch and the porn I strive to produce– to be erotic and visually spectacular. I’d like it to aim for higher production values, more romance and richer, less formulaic sex. I’d like it to spellbind us the way Bjorn, Duroy and Higgins have
time and time again. Proof that sexual heat and beauty aren’t mutually exclusive. Nor should they be.
2. What quality do you look for in your performers?
We all look for a handsome face, a chiseled body and a powerful tool. Sometimes we luck out and find all three attributes wrapped up in one model. More often than not, we may have to settle for two out of three. The order of preference, however, sets one producer apart from the other, one vision of eroticism (and voyeurism) from the other. William Higgins and I would put face first, dick last. Others would put dick first… I suspect these producers are making the most money!
3. How do you define sexy?
This is a tough one. Because being sexy has little to do with being beautiful. It is less about aesthetics than it is about body language and the chemistry between two bodies.
Funny post today on Jordan Fox’s FB page. Yes, pornstars DO read. Some more (see Jordan in the pic below), some less… Contrary to (trite) stereotypes, pornstars come from all walks of life: in my 20 years in the biz, I’ve met grad students, professors, engineers, soldiers, realtors, insurance agents, pilots, postmen… What they do for a living –it bears repeating– doesn’t define who they are, nor their interests/hobbies/views. Ditto for us… the pornographers: I hold two MFA degrees, George Duroy a MFA from UCLA, so does Tom DeSimone. Some politicians, on the other hand…
iReadAdult #7 (September 2012) publishes a candid interview. Here a few excerpts.
How long have you been in porn? What changes have you seen in the industry since your start?
I started with Gino’s sets back in ’93… What changed in these 19 years? Everything. Back then, there used to be a few visionary players –both in production and in distribution. Today, everyone with a $300 handycam and an Xtube channel is his own producer. The studios that contributed to shaping the business are no longer: Catalina, AllWorlds, Studio2000… Big budgets and production values, gone; auteur porn, story-driven and visually-driven porn… gone. Instead, ‘corporate’ porn has taken over –often with gimmicky properties and pseudo-amateur camera work. Media and viewing habits have shifted: from VHS/DVD to the internet realm of now-free-and-everywhere. Piracy has quickly devalued adult content to the point consumers no longer see a need to pay more than a $1 trial and producers no longer see the need to support it with adequate budgets and broader ambitions. Blogs, tubes and affiliate links have replaced the old, passionate reviews. Can you imagine what would’ve happened to Bresson or Fellini in a traffic-driven environment? Then you have brand-new forms of adult entertainment –with nothing to do with the pre-recorded content I first fell in love with: live cams, dating sites, cruising sites. It’s a whole new game, really!
If you had never started doing porn, what would you be doing right now?
Let me rephrase the question: would I start doing porn today? No… What attracted me to it as an art-form is no longer. What attracted me to it as a film genre is no longer. Same goes with porn as an industry: we’ve lost well over 50% of revenues to piracy and ‘free porn’: it’s no longer fun, really. We all work ten times harder to make ten times less. Whereas we used to take risks, invest time and money, patiently hone our craft, play with form/content, take pride in our accomplishments and in our failures,
Anything else you want to tell us?
Let’s end on a more optimistic note. The magnificent porn features of the late 70s – 80s had in fact developed from the ‘loops’ of the early 70s: reality porn and pseudo-amateur porn as we experience online these days are somewhat similar to those old 8mm loops, poorly lit, blocked, shot, edited. What kind of porn will develop in the next few years? How will it look like? Which needs will it answer? Which aesthetics? These are the questions that keep me going and, once in a while, get me all excited.
“Men romantically connected present an incredible image”, writes a fan on our Facebook page. I agree. Historically though, porn and romance have seldom mixed. While one can find a few rare exceptions as early as back in the 70s (Tom DeSimone’s “The Idol”, for instance), Falcon waited till 1988 for its very first love story with “Touch Me” (FVP 60). After many, many years of casual sex, predatory sex, acrobatic sex –but hardly any intimacy at all (and certainly NO kisses). “Touch Me” paved the way for the many love stories of the 90s and yet, to this very day, ‘raunch’ far outsells (and outnumbers) them. What is it about our fantasies that privilege casual play, abuse and gay-for-pay over a romantic connection? Yesterday it was Jeff Stryker, today it’s online properties like HazeHim or SausageParty or Baitbus… Wondering…
An evening at the Circolo Harvey Milk in Milan/Italy. With an attentive crowd and engaging topics. Amongst them, two got my attention the most:
1. The dynamic between what the market offers today and what (most) customers demand. All too often I’m asked about plot-driven porn and production values. While I obviously care for both and both attracted me to porn some 20 years ago (let’s call it “auteur porn”. Porn as poetics, as Weltanshauung…), I ultimately run a business with a balance sheet. I stopped directing my ‘big-budget’ features back in 2008 (ITALIANS AND OTHER STRANGERS, GayVN Award Winner for Best Foreign Pcture), came back briefly with ROUGH/TENDER in 2010 and have left my assistants run the show since, with the cheaper ‘reality’ content and the hydraulics customers ask for these days.
2. Same goes with bareback content. While I’m committed to safer sex guidelines (a matter of personal responsibility for me and my label), I can’t pass judgement on my fellow producers keeping an eye on their bottom line and giving customers what they want. Can we effectively sell condom titles, when bareback vids, no matter how poorly produced, far outsell anything ‘mainstream’?
Ultimately, yes, I’m disappointed with gay audiences. Who favor unsafe sex, neglect eroticism, ignore production values and flock to gimmicky and often offensive gay-for-pay properties (Brokestraightboys, HazeHim and the like…). I’m equally disappointed with the majority of wall to wall sex porn produced these days.
Yet I remain optimistic: audiences will eventually wake up and smell the coffee. They’ll grow tired of this pseudo reality diet, its poor gimmicks and its aesthetic indifference. They will begin looking for something… MORE. And that is, my friends, what keeps me going: What will that MORE be? How will gay porn of the future look like
Saw Soderbergh’s “Magic Mike”: the first half is hotter than any gayporn I’ve watched this year (and I watch a lot!). I mean… Channing Tatum’s butt and Alex Pettyfer’s torso alone make for the perfect wet dream. Which begs the question: what is more erotic? The cheap (and repetitive) acrobatics you may watch for free on any tube site? Or the dramatic tension in a ‘mainstream’ movie (the tension between what you get to see and what you’d like to see. Between desire and fulfillment… Or lack thereof)? Pictured here Channing and Alex in a promo pic for © “Magic Mike” (courtesy of Entertainment Weekly)
Speaking of beautiful men in porn… I can’t think of anyone more beautiful (and more hypnotic) than Lukas Ridgeston –here in two early pictures by Duroy. His 1993 Freshmen cover forever changed gay porn in the 90s and built a super star like no one before –and possibly no one in the future (© BelAmiOnline)
JOURNEY TO ITALY is 15 years old today. It all started with a simple bet: what kind of applicants would we attract, if published a few casting ads in Italy? Hundreds of applications poured in –most inadequate (what were they thinking?), many others promising. I held public auditions in Rome and shopped the project around with the biggest porn companies of the time. I wanted (needed?) a big budget, lush locations, a long production schedule, an American star..: there were only a few studios that could afford this much. Men of Odyssey had released “Idol in the Sky” (starring Ryan Idol) and was looking for the next blockbuster. They called me in for a meeting… More postings, tidbits, background stories throughout this month. Celebrating 15 years of Italian gay porn. And more to come.
It was 1999. And yet, it feels like a whole other porn ‘era’. Back then, I was able to produce and schedule HOTEL ITALIA, much like I would an indie feature: a story to tell -and characters’ arcs to draw–, an expensive, scenic location on the Italian Riviera, a real crew (8 people, including a gaffer, a make-up artist, a Unit Production Manager and 2 staff photographers). Most importantly, back then it would ship thousands of VHS/DVDs and gain the critics’ support. Healthy profit margins encouraged producers to take risks, aim higher and boldly play with content/form… Do I miss those days? Of course. Will viewers ever grow tired of the reality craze and its aesthetical indifference? I hope so (pictured here, Ettore, Dario, Marian, Andrea)
