LAS VEGAS — It was the summer of 2010 when Steve Driver took his life after fatally stabbing fellow adult performer and friend, Tom Dong, with a sharpened prop sword at the San Fernando Valley production offices of Ultima DVD.
After three days on the run, Driver was tracked down to a hillside bluff in Chatsworth, where he jumped off a cliff to his death 50-feet below after LAPD officers attempted to apprehend him with the aid of tasers and bean-bag projectiles. He held cops at bay for eight hours.
Driver’s spree of violence was set off after he was told to leave Ultima DVD’s studio, where he had been living.
On June 16 — 10 years after the brutal attack — “Mope,” the movie, will make its worldwide debut on VOD and digital.
“Mope” is a mainstream feature production offering a glimpse of Driver and Dong’s lives after they wormed their way into the biz as “mopes,” or D-list performers.
The film, which offers a considerable amount of nudity for general audiences, was directed by mainstream lensman Lucas Heyne, who told AVN last year that he hired quite a bit of talent from the adult film industry so that they could give him guidance.
“The first thing I did was obviously observe real shoots so I could see what it was like,” Heyne told AVN. “The opening sequence, for instance, is a recreation of a bukkake shoot.
“We shot it at Jim Powers’ stage, and Jim plays a version of himself. And almost everyone there is real male talent that has shot those scenes before. And quite a few of them knew Steve and Tom.
“And that’s why, when you see it in the movie, it seems so real. We’re shooting at the exact place, with the exact people who would do it.”
In the feature film, mainstream actor Nathan Stewart-Jarrett plays Driver, while mainstream actor Kelly Sry plays Dong. Adult performers Annie Cruz, Summer Day, Amber Ivy and Alice Frost, among other industry folk, also were tapped.
Last year, “Mope” opened at Sundance and was featured at other film festivals across the globe to reviews that offered stark analyses: “’Mope’ is not to be underestimated; it's a cinematic gut punch that subverts expectations to deliver one of the most matter-of-fact depictions of the adult industry committed to screen"; "Not many films have started this funny and uplifting, while ending this bleak and depressing”; and “If you love movies that start off insane and end even crazier, then yes, 'Mope' is a must-see in every way.”
Click here to view the “Mope” trailer.
