Michael Raven called the Beautiful night simply "awesome," and Nicholas Steele gets "goose bumps" when discussing the Rawhide triumph. Both directors led their productions to AVN Awards for Best Video Feature of the Year Saturday night at the 21st annual ceremony in Las Vegas, where perhaps the most hotly contested category of the evening ended in a tie.
When it was over, casts and production teams from both Wicked Pictures and Adam & Eve/Ultimate Pictures shared the spotlight on the AVN Awards stage.
Raven, still "shocked" from his earlier honor for Best Director for his work on Beautiful, was quick to point to others who made the evening possible.
"It's not vindication, but it's certainly very fulfilling for me that my wife Julia Ann won Best Actress for Beautiful because she did a tremendous job and that's what it takes to make a great movie," Raven told AVN.com. "There were some concerns thinking maybe we can't work together, but I think she lets me push her a little bit further than other directors."
Julia Ann said it showed that "my husband and I are a good team." Raven, meanwhile, commended Rod Hopkins on his art direction.
"He did a phenomenal job on the production design. He was responsible for making it look the way it did," Raven continued. "It was more of a 'no-time' piece, reminiscent of the 40s, but with a modern-day, storybook looking feel. That's why I went with the noir, cinematic style.
"I don't know that he's done anything from that period before, but with that look and that attention to detail, I'd be completely remiss if I didn't mention him."
He went on to applaud September Dawn for her wardrobe and Jay Shanahan, who produced the show.
"I couldn't have done it without him," Raven said.
Steele called Rawhide's memorable night a satisfying end to a challenging journey.
"It was the culmination of a lot of hard work from the cast and crew and the Ultimate/Nicholas Steele production team from pre to post," Steele said. "It showed that when everybody from the cast to the post-production crew takes ownership of something, the project can come out great and be recognized."
Rawhide, which starred Carmen Luvana and Evan Stone, also won 2004 AVN Awards for Best High-Definition Production, a new category, Best Supporting Actress (Brooke Ballenytne), Best Videography (Steele) and Best DVD Packaging.
"I do think sometimes that we're fighting elements that are uncontrollable. And it just seemed like with this project that the stars lined up a little bit on it," Steele told AVN.com. "Not only was it a good idea, but it was executed."
Steele shot Rawhide, which earned an Editor's Choice review in AVN, over eight days last March in locations in Piru and Malibu.
The cast also included Taylor Rain, Kaylani Lei, Olivia Del Rio, Velvet Rose, Natalia Wood, Randy Spears, Steven St. Croix, Cheyne Collins, Jesse V, Joey Ray and Dale Dabone. Steele lauded their commitment.
"They took ownership from the very first rehearsal we ever had," Steele said. "The more preparation the performers give us, the easier it flows. … I got goose bumps, and I still do when I talk about it. Every single performer came prepared."
He continued, "I want to mention that I'm very grateful to AVN for recognizing some hard work for a team that works hard on a daily basis. The Ultimate team kicked butt."
Steele also said that Raven was "a class act" at the awards ceremony.
"There are certain things that stick," Steele said. "For him to mention my name for the director of the year award, and then wait for me to get on stage – it took me a while to get up there – and to wait to let me talk first, I can't tell you how much that meant. He didn't walk on that stage until I got there. I have the utmost respect for someone like that. It meant a lot to me, to my wife and to my team. He's a class act. I don't know how else to say it."
Raven, meanwhile, told AVN.com he was "totally taken by surprise" with the Best Director award.
"People are saying, 'What, you didn't think you were good enough to win? No, that's not the point. It's just that I knew I had seen Rawhide and couple that with the fact that Nicholas Steele was about due to get some recognition that when they called my name, I did a double take. I was totally shocked. I just wasn't prepared," Raven said.
Raven, whose next big project will be a retelling of Pinocchio titled Mecca, also thanked Wicked owner Steve Orenstein for allowing him creative latitude that sometimes comes "at the expense of his wallet."
"He always maintained faith in me and that's rare to find," Raven said.
AVN follows a procedure when a tie occurs in awards voting. Those voters on the AVN full-time staff who did not vote for either of the videos during the original balloting must revote.
After that step was taken for the 2004 Best Video Feature Award, a tie still existed.
Then AVN president Paul Fishbein consulted with AVN's publisher and editor-in-chief Tim Connelly and managing editor Mike Ramone and they all decided to honor the tie.
"We just said that we can't flip a coin, so how do we break the tie? We can't vote again, so we decided since they were both great productions that both should be rewarded," Fishbein said.
