Directors Chris Ward and Ben Leon have completed photography on Lords of the Jungle, which is described as Raging Stallion Studio's biggest shoot to date.
The movie, scheduled for a late-November/ early-December release, was shot on the Big Island of Hawaii during the first two weeks of September. According to Raging Stallion prez Ward, 15 scenes for two features were filmed with a cast of nearly 20 men. (A second Raging Stallion production crew headed by director David Hempling shot another Hawaii-based feature film, as yet untitled).
In addition to the XXX movies, award-winner Michael Stabile was on the scene to film a full-length documentary that will be released on the Naked Sword network and as part of the movie's multi-DVD package.
Lords of the Jungle stars Jake Deckard as the leader of a group of men who wash ashore on a tropical island after a disaster at sea. The movie chronicles their struggle to survive and their wait for rescue in a testosterone-drenched environment.
Co-stars include Raging Stallion exclusives Blake Nolan, Collin O'Neal, Marc LaSalle, and Justin Christopher. Ward is also premiering two new models, hairy boy-toy Steve Cruz and Rambo, a hot, hairy, tattooed black stud who has been signed as the company's newest exclusive. Matt Cole, Jason Crew, Jay Black, and Mario Cruz round out the ethnically diverse cast.
"Another star of the film," said Ward, "is the dense tropical jungle that dominates the slopes of the Hawaiian volcanoes. We did not want to shoot in beautiful Hawaiian gardens. Other studios have already done that. My goal was to film the real jungle — harsh and cruel, but beautiful; huge vines, difficult terrain, bugs, bats, heat… you get the idea. These guys are lost in the jungle — it is not an easy place to be."
Ward said that his inspiration for this film was Kristen Bjorn's classic Amazon Adventure, and noted that filming was beset with problems stemming from the rugged terrain. "Locations often required multi-hour hikes and climbs, and every cast and crew member ended up with bruises or cuts. One of the four-wheel-drive vehicles was nearly lost when it rolled into a hidden gully, and the film crew lost its greatest physical asset when a rough wave swamped the main video camera.
"In the final days of the shoot the entire cast and crew set off for a pleasure hike to Kilauea, an active volcano. During the hike the surface flow of molten lava suddenly increased and the entire party found itself standing on very hot rock that was oozing lava only three feet away. A few anxious moments later, with shoes starting to melt, an escape path was found. No one was hurt in the incident."
Despite the hardships and danger, Ward and co-director Leon expressed great satisfaction with the shoot. Leon commented, "The only thing more amazing than the tropical jungle was the intensity of the sex. We filmed over a dozen men, naked except for their boots, under a blazing tropical sun and in the most intense heat that I have ever experienced. They fucked with every drop of energy they had — all giving great performances under difficult conditions. We struggled through each day and after every scene we walked away with the most stunning sex that I have ever had the honor to shoot."
The marketing campaign for Lords of the Jungle will be the largest in the studio's history and reflective of the size of the project, said Ward.
