Steve Cruz has done just about everything, both in and out of the sack. His sexual skill has been well documented in a slew of award-winning films, and shortly after securing a contract with Raging Stallion in 2007, he was named the studio's Man of the Year. But another side to the stud started to blossom in 2008, a year that included his first foray into screenwriting with the two-part Hotter than Hell.
"2008 has been a whirlwind of excitement for me," says Cruz. "I actually wrote the screenplay in 2007 and pitched it to Raging Stallion on the set of Grunts. It's almost exactly the way I wrote it, although in the original screenplay I escape hell and there's a positive twist at the end, some optimism. Chris [Ward] quickly changed that to a doomsday scenario where I end up spending all of eternity in hell. But I'm with Ricky Sinz, so there are worse sentences, right?"
But Cruz's real-life story is full of positive twists: In addition to starting his "How I Roll" safe-sex campaign, he has traveled across the globe for appearances, won awards and graced the cover of two new photo books: Raging Stallion/Bruno Gmunder's Magnum and Joe Oppedisano's Uncensored.
"I've always been a creative person: I'm a painter, I've been a writer, a musician. I've been a lot of things, but to write a screenplay was a nice new challenge," he says. "I never really fancied myself a porn star; I didn't really go out seeking the porn industry as my ultimate dream, it's something that sort of found me. So once I started making movies and was bitten by the bug, doing a movie or two, you start thinking to yourself ‘How much more fun would it be if we were doing this or if I was playing this kind of character?' It was just something I naturally did."
And as the end of 2008 neared, Cruz took the next step in his artistic evolution amid a yearlong break from performing by stepping behind the camera for his directorial debut. As part of a new contract with Falcon's Mustang Studios - a fitting match for the masculine, hairy stud - Cruz will co-direct films with Falcon's Leif Gobo (who directed Cruz in Mustang's Limits).
"They approached me, and I had just finished Hotter than Hell so I think that put me on the map as being more than just a performer," says Cruz. "(Leif and I) came together and we started talking about our ideas, and it turns out we're a great match. It's one of those partnerships where he's finishing my sentences. With his expertise with camerawork and lighting, we come together so nicely - it's such a nice fit. Especially on Blue Movie, we were really in sync...it's a true collaboration."
And it was a role that Cruz sees as a natural progression: "I was always kind of moving in this direction. Any time I would be hired for a production, I would immediately want to know what my motivation was. I would ask ‘What type of movie are we filming?' ‘Do I have a character?' ‘What is my character doing?' ‘What is my character wearing?' I think I probably drive casting directors crazy with those kinds of questions."
The film hits in December and features gay porn icon Zak Spears along with Dillon Buck, Adam Herst, Nick Piston, CJ Madison, Nick Moretti, Scott Campbell and newcomer Colton Steele, who Cruz gets giddy talking about. "He's new to the scene, he's my height and he's hairy like me, and he's pretty much my type in every way. He's here to steal my thunder," he jokes. "And I'll roll out the red carpet for him, because he's a great performer and he's coming into his own...he's adorable."
Cruz was also elated to work with Spears, a star he has long admired but still hasn't shagged: "We have a professional relationship. I was his director," he says with a laugh. "I'm like a little pocket pal version of him, you know? So if you put the two of us together, what's big about him looks bigger, and he's just got all that muscle. Maybe someone will cast us as performers."
Cruz says Blue Movie is a tribute to the films of the late '70s and early '80s, which he watched while discovering his sexuality. The film will feature a diverse cast with wide appeal and "someone for everyone", which Cruz wants all of his features to have.
"Choosing to go that route for my first movie, it was a loving homage to the porn films that were my first loves. But another reason for going back was also to kind of bring porn full circle, to try to create scenarios between actors, like real chemistry," he says. "If you watch some of the earlier stuff before porn became big business, you'll just see two guys in a room having sex and it's dirty, and you feel like a fly on the wall. It's not staged or blocked, it's just a camera rolling, a mishmash of real scenes edited together with the soundtrack music dubbed over. I wanted to go back to real chemistry between men, where the guys were so into each other that it was more like real sex than anything we've ever shot."
Cruz notes that the plan is to have a trilogy of films all based on colors, using concepts he initiated and brought to Gobo, who will use his 12 years of expertise to help bring the films to life with his own experience and style.
"We direct pretty much together; he's the cameraman but also directing sex as well," says Cruz. "I come at the production more from the model's point of view. I'll assemble a cast with him, and I will direct a lot of the sex coming from the perspective of knowing what it's like to be a performer and knowing how to bring performances out of models. I have a special relationship with a lot of models. When I work with a director who has been a performer, things just go much smoother because they understand how to talk to me and what I'm going through."
As for his own life in front of the camera, Cruz says he will be back, but probably not until April of 2009.
"I'm taking a little break right now. There's a lot of content out there with me, and there's plenty for people to see. With the exception of the hardcore porn fans, most people that watch porn catch things late, so there are some people still just discovering Steve Cruz right now. I'm taking a little breather to discover the other side of me that's a director and a producer, and also to figure out what I want to do next so that I keep it fresh for my fans. It's been a crazy year, very exciting. I can't see it getting any bigger or any better than this."
