Above, Chi Chi LaRue at the 2018 GayVN Awards; photo by Rick Garcia
Funny thing how history has a way of repeating itself. When he took the stage at last year’s GayVN Awards in Las Vegas to accept the Best Director – Feature award for Falcon’s Earthbound: Heaven to Hell 2, Chi Chi LaRue cemented what in many ways was a comeback year. Moments later, CockyBoys owner and director Jake Jaxson was on stage to accept the Best Feature win for One Erection: The Un-Making of a Boy Band. He invited collaborator LaRue back up to join in the accolade.
“The GayVNs were beyond my expectations in how amazing they were. They were over the top. They were beyond I think mine or anyone’s expectations of how fabulous they were going to be,” LaRue says. “Winning was like a cherry on the cake. Earthbound was probably one of the best movies I’ve ever done, and so it was pretty amazing to win. And then of course the CockyBoys movie winning Best Feature was really great also. I was very excited for Jake and everyone at CockyBoys, and that I could share an award with them.”
Around the same time, two of LaRue’s newly released co-directorial efforts were also gaining traction: Falcon’s Love & Lust in New Orleans for Falcon (which he helmed with Tony Dimarco); and Raging Stallion’s Trapped (which he co-directed with Steve Cruz). Each film picked up three nominations apiece at the 2019 GayVN Awards, and LaRue once again found himself on top as he won the Best Director – Non-Feature trophy in January (with Dimarco).
“The idea for Love & Lust in New Orleans was [NakedSword CEO] Tim Valenti’s. I was lucky enough to be included with that and to co-direct with Tony,” LaRue reflects. “And that was a weird movie because we went there thinking we were going to do something completely different. But there was a hurricane going through New Orleans at the time, so we weren’t able to do anything that we had really planned. But what ended up happening was the magic of the porn goddess I guess shining down on us. It turned out to be better than what we could have imagined.”
The weather also turned out to be an odd blessing in one instance.
“The rain and the weather really lent some ambience to the movie, and just the magic of New Orleans was on our side. We stayed and shot in these fabulous old New Orleans houses. One day, we went to the French Quarter with a bunch of people, and it was the scene with Michael DelRay and Skyy Knox. We went to a café and shot some footage of them sharing beignets and very traditional New Orleans stuff, and the weather got so bad that the city shut down all the businesses in the French Quarter, so there was no one there. It was like half of the French Quarter got shut down just for us to shoot. It was amazing, and the rain and all the water pouring off the buildings and the rooftops … it was like art directed by Mother Nature.”
The collaborative nature of LaRue’s efforts continued with NakedSword’s The Slutty Professor, which he shot with mr. Pam. The feature picked up six GayVN Award nominations, winning for Best Supporting Actor (Bruce Beckham) and Best Threesome (Ace Era, Tyler Roberts and Dave Slick).
Tyler Roberts and mr. Pam at the 2019 GayVN Awards, accepting an award for The Slutty Professor (NakedSword), which was co-directed by Chi Chi LaRue. Photo by Jeff Koga.
“That was an idea that I had pitched to Tim a while back; he really liked it. We actually were going to do it, and then the shooting got postponed and I think it was like four or five months later that we picked it back up. And when I thought of the movie, I thought of Ace Era as the lead right away because Ace is very manly—he’s ultra-masculine, and I wanted to nerd him up.”
And one simple prop helped him do it.
“It’s so funny because I bought this wig on Amazon, and when it came I thought, ‘Oh my God, it looks like a dead cat!’ But it looked really good on him—it looked like his hair, so it was perfect. And his acting was perfect … he just pulled out every stop. And then Bruce Beckham and Justin Brody, everyone was amazing. And having Steve Cruz in the movie in a non-sexual role was really fun. Steve is smaller in stature, so we actually accentuated that by putting Ace up on a box and Steve way down low, so it looked like Steve was really short. It was really funny,” LaRue laughs. “Pam and I worked really good together on that. We’re both very headstrong and we’re both very controlling in our craft, but we did a really good job together. It really worked.”
The director also spent much of 2018 traveling for appearances and shows—everything from a big birthday bash in Edmonton to West Virginia Pride. “I had a lot of stuff. I then took a month off from drag, just to … not be in drag,” he laughs. “It was really nice. I actually let my beard grow, which was kind of fun.”
Then as summer wound down, he nabbed the gig of the year as director for Noir Male—the new studio launched by Mile High Media. Vice President Jon Blitt was already familiar with LaRue, who had directed for their Icon Male line (The Graduation earned three 2019 GayVN nods, including Best Feature and LaRue for Best Director).
“I think they liked the way that I directed. And then when this brainchild of Jon came up, he thought of me—which I’m so happy about, because I love directing interracial porn and porn with all men of color. But this is not just your typical porn from those genres; these are high-end productions. These are shot in the most beautiful locations, and I’ve got the most amazing crew. The scenes are really beautiful—they’re very high end, very lux, very sexy, and it’s celebrating diversity. It’s really very un-stereotypical of the kind of porn that’s out there. It’s not thuggish, it’s not that kind of porn—which, don’t get me wrong, I love that kind of stuff, too—but it’s just not like that.”
Max Konnor and Armond Rizzo at the 2019 GayVN Awards, where they won for a Noir Male scene directed by Chi Chi LaRue. Photo by Jeff Koga.
LaRue picked up his fourth 2019 GayVN Best Director nod for Black on White (also in the Non-Feature category). In total, the studio picked up seven—a number that would most likely be even higher if Noir Male had released any feature films in 2018 (“These have been just vignettes that we’ve put together in all-sex movies, but I’m hoping to plan a feature for Noir at some point”).
One of those nominations was for Max Konnor, whose pairing with Armond Rizzo won Best Duo Sex Scene.
“I was so shocked when she first contacted me about potentially working on the project, because … it’s Chi Chi! She’s a legend. It was absolutely amazing to hear that voice and be on that set. It was kind of surreal; it all still is surreal. I never expected things to happen as fast as they did, and there are so many choices and so many options out there for the world and the industry to love. I’m just happy that I was fortunate enough to be one of them. I really look up to Chi Chi,” Konnor said.
On stage in Las Vegas at the GayVN Awards in January, Konnor and Rizzo both thanked LaRue not only for the experience, but also for helping the studio with the plight for men of color in the industry. That isn’t a new goal for LaRue, who notes he has long celebrated diversity in his career.
“I’ve always done interracial movies, especially for Channel 1. I did some amazing movies like my Blackballed series, we did a movie called In the Mix … I’ve done a lot. I’ve always included men of color in my casting without even thinking I was having men of color. So I’ve kind of taken a little bit of that in my perspective of this. And with the luxuries that I’m being provided by from Mile High with the high-end locations and being able to spend a little bit more money, I’m able to create a little bit more lavish scenes.”
Family Affairs and Black on White 2 are the most recent of six Noir Male DVD collections to hit the market, with more on the way. LaRue was shooting about four scenes a month as 2018 wound down, and was also involved in discussions about strategies and promotions with the Mile High team.
“I’ve been able to work with a lot of talent that I haven’t been able to work with before. I’ve been really fortunate and blessed to work with some amazing guys that have kind of been off my radar, and it’s really fun. They’re very happy,” LaRue says. “I’ve also been getting a lot of inquiries from a lot of people where I’m sure I’ve been off their radar, and I’ve been getting a lot of submissions to be in Noir Male. And I’m getting a lot of requests from what I would call the ‘mainstream’ guys to be in this, and I think all of that is so awesome.”
