Page 40 - AVN May 2015

GAYVN
THE STARS ALIGN
Chi Chi LaRue’s 12-year journey from ‘Heaven to Hell’ … and back again
COMING ATTRACTION | By Brady Jansen
“SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE LENT
was the last film he ever directed for the studio following a long
string of hits for its various labels.
B
BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, the timing was never right. Chi Chi LaRue
had been asked repeatedly to return to Falcon to craft a sequel to
Heaven to Hell. The 2005 hit racked up awards and acclaim—and
THEIR TALENTS TO THIS MOVIE.
“I think it was one of the—if not the—best-selling movies in
THIS IS NOT ANOTHER PORNO
Falcon history. Through all of the different incarnations of Falcon—
with the different people that were at the helm running it, like
Chris Ward, Todd Montgomery, Terry Mahaffey—they all wanted
me to make the sequel. I was concentrating on my own company,
and it just never felt right.”
MOVIE, THIS IS A FUCKING PORN EVENT, YOU KNOW? IT’S BEYOND MY WILDEST DREAMS.”
It’s been a long road to come full circle. While working at
—CHI CHI LARUE
Catalina (which distributed Falcon’s products), LaRue met Falcon
founder Chuck Holmes. “Him and I hit it off, and when I left
Catalina he brought me in and I made my first movie for Mustang,
called The Inner Circle. I started making Mustang movies for him,
and then he let me do a Jocks movie, and eventually I was making
the Falcon, Jocks and Mustang movies,” LaRue says with a laugh.
“I got to go to France to make a movie, Australia, Hawaii … I did
Deep South with John Rutherford, which was an amazing movie. I’ve
made a lot of really great movies for Falcon, and got to work with
some of the biggest stars back then.”
When LaRue helped start Channel 1, he still filmed for Falcon,
Vivid and HIS, “and then I just decided that it was time to focus on
my own studio.”
But after branching out from his Channel 1 duties recently and
working on projects for the likes of CockyBoys and Men.com (and
with Channel 1 focusing a lot of its attention on toys), the porn
icon approached Falcon Studios Group and NakedSword Network
president Tim Valenti. He soon filmed the hit Scared Stiff (“Probably
one of the best movies I’ve done”), a long-brewing slasher parody
script that LaRue had in his drawer for 13 years.
“After that, I expressed my desire to make Heaven to Hell 2,
and Tim—being smart, knowing the value of it and the potential
promotion that could go behind such a big project—was behind it
1,000 percent, which is so awesome.”
When LaRue realized the project was actually going to happen,
LIGHT AND DARKNESS Clockwise from top left, Brent Corrigan
and Skyy Knox; Sean Zevran; Dean Monroe as the Devil.
the wheels started turning in his head. The main
wheel? Getting back Dean Monroe, his muse
from the original. “He didn’t really want to do
porn again, and when I told him I was doing
this—that was one of his best parts—he was like,
‘I will come back and do this.’ So that was pretty
awesome.”
Earthbound: Heaven to Hell 2 is set to release
May 5 (its site, EarthboundXXX.com, launched
in early April). During the casting process,
LaRue got a surprise call from a performer who
hadn’t done a film in nine years: Blake Riley, one
of Channel 1’s most successful exclusives (who
won Best Newcomer at the 2008 GAYVN Awards
and the Grabbys).
“He makes his comeback in this movie, and he
does an amazing scene with JJ Knight,” says the
director. “He’s my porn child. I think this is one
of the most exciting things to happen in a long
time in this business, to get Blake Riley back
in front of the camera. And he’s just as fucking
good, just as fucking beautiful—and the butt has
only gotten better.”
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