Page 28 - AVN July 2015

LIGHTS,CAMERA...
ON THE SET| |By Tod Hunter
Take! It! Off!
On the set of Wicked’s ‘Magic Mike XXXL’
David Lord fills a squeeze bottle with oil and hands
it to one of the dancers, who squeezes some on his
hands and passes the bottle.
“HEY!” Armstrong snaps. “Don’t go getting that shit
on the dance floor!” The voice of experience speaks.
Armstrong’s background also surfaces when one of
the guys starts to get up on a table. Armstrong stops
him immediately: “Not on a table full of drinks. The
bar replaces the drinks and the manager takes it out of
your pay. I’ve been there,” he adds with a rueful grin.
trappings of a strip club: dark, with round
tables with little flickering fake candles
The set on the soundstage bears the familiar
all facing an elevated stage. Dancers pose
and strut on the stage in a choreographed
routine, illuminated by follow spots. The
cameras are focused on the stage and the dancers, so
the tables are empty. They’ll be filled with extras later.
The dancers are different from what I’m used to,
though. They’re guys. Dressed in fatigue pants and
caps, dog tags, and white wifebeaters so tight they
show off the effect of every bench press and sit-
up, they dance with a lot of chest moves and pelvic
thrusts in front of a giant American flag, so large that
the left-hand half is all star field and the other side is
just short stripes.
For a second I think I’ve walked into the wrong
set but this is Wicked Pictures’ Magic Mike XXXL: A
Hardcore Parody, rushed into production to capitalize
on the upcoming mainstream sequel Magic Mike XXL.
Wicked stalwart Brad Armstrong, a former stripper
himself, is directing from his own script.
“Not only is it a spoof of the original, parodying
what we liked about the original, Brad has
incorporated some elements of the mainstream
sequel: we just added an X to their title,” Wicked
publicist Daniel tells me. “It’s similar to what he did
with Men in Black, where he took elements from the
first two movies. Misty Stone’s character is parodying
the character of Rome from the new movie. He almost
did this when the first movie came out but he wasn’t
sure if there was a demand. When he saw that they
were doing a sequel—and what it was titled—it lent
itself well. A potent combination.”
The cast also includes Derrick Pierce, Rob Piper,
Ryan Driller, Tony Martinez, Tommy Gunn and Ryan
McLane as the dancers, with jessica drake, Jessa
Rhodes, Kendra Lust, Adriana Chechik, Asa Akira
and Mia Malkova. At the moment only drake is here,
taking pictures with her phone and cheering on the
dancers.
“We should oil you guys up a bit,” Armstrong says.
“Maybe do a nuru.”
“NO!” comes an outraged voice from the stage.
28 | AVN.com | 7.15
The extras arrive, a collection of well-dressed
mainstream professional extras, cast principals and
other adult performers, including Brandy Aniston and
Sable Renae, and they are placed around the room, with
the mainstream extras who are skittish about being
seen in an adult video put in inconspicuous positions.
Armstrong sets up the dance scene with practiced
aplomb, introducing McLane—who has nailed Matthew
McConaughey’s signature “All right all right all right”
catchphrase. He says that McLane will be the MC
but he, as the director, will also be on mic prompting
actions: “Telling you to scream or raise your hands.”
The plan is to shoot all the dance sequences—group
and solo—today. The guys have been rehearsing their
routines at Armstrong’s house the last four days, so
they’re ready to roll.
drinks. The bar replaces
”Not on a table full of
the drinks and the
manager takes it out of
your pay. I’ve been there.
—Brad Armstrong
Armstrong distributes dollar bills among the extras
to use as tip money, telling the dancers, “Guys, be sure
you bring the money back and put it in the bucket,
otherwise the guy going after you won’t get any tips.”
To make it easier on the extras, the drinks on the tables
are actually drinkable, not an unappetizing camera- friendly concoction of food coloring and water, and
everybody is glad that the fake smoke has no odor and
isn’t making the stage humid.
“What do you want?” David Lord, behind the camera,
asks Armstrong.
Armstrong gestures across the width of the stage.
“Big fat stupid wide.”
“Yes!” says Lord, chuckling at the phrase.
On “Action!” McLane struts out on the stage, cutting
off the chant of “Take! It! Off!” from the extras and
laying out the rules: “The law says you aren’t allowed to
touch the dancers. You can’t touch right here [catcalls],
or here [boos and catcalls], or right here ... But I see
a lot of lawbreakers out here. And lawbreakers ... get
jawbreakers. Now that we got the rules understood,
let’s get this party started.”
The military number starts, with call-and-response
something different from boot camp:
“I don’t know but I been told” I don’t know but I been
told
“Girl in the front ain’t 20 years old” Girl in the front
ain’t 20 years old
“Showed the doorman fake I-D” Showed the doorman
fake I-D
“Wonder’d how many cocks she’d see” Wonder’d how
many cocks she’d see
“Her friends said she’s a dirty slut” Friends said she’s a
dirty slut
“Me and the boys gonna fuck her in the butt” Me and
the boys gonna fuck her in the butt
The guys get in position to start their dance solos.
Armstrong calls, “Cut! Turn on the fans! Back to one!”
The smoke disappears in a matter of seconds and the
dancers return to their starting places, ready for another
take. This time, they’re going to rip off their shirts.
Putting the X in XXXL From left, Tommy Gunn, Rob Piper, India
Summer, Misty Stone, Derrick Pierce and Tony Martinez.