Taking some time for himself was the predominant reason why former Falcon Studios star and chieftain John Rutherford decided to leave the operation, he told NakedSword's Weekly Report in his his first interview since he left Falcon.
Rutherford said he planned a trip to Hawaii and then to Europe, mostly to visit people he has worked with over the years, particularly in Prague where his former colleagues Bill Higgens, George Duroy, and Bel Ami are found these days.
"People have been sending me emails, calling me like mad, and telling me that they are very supportive in my decision to take some time for myself," Rutherford told Tim V. and Sister Roma during the March 22 online interview. "That's really what it's about. There's nothing negative, nothing bad. I need some rest and relaxation."
Known as one of the more reticient personalities in gay porn, Rutherford said only one thing about why he chose NakedSword for his first post-Falcon interview: "I'm a big fan of NakedSword."
Rutherford, of course, became Falcon's director of production in 1993 before becoming studio head as well as one of its leading directors, with over 250 movies to his credit featuring some of the top stars in gay porn, leading Falcon to the top of the gay porn heap. Many of the top-selling gay porn videos of the past decade - The Crush, Out of Athens, Flashpoint, and Deep South among them - came from Falcon in the Rutherford years.
But he refused to credit himself as any kind of starmaker. "It hasn't been me - really, truthfully, Falcon Studios is a team effort. The director was simply the maestro of the orchestra," he said. "And while I seem to get most of the attention, really, from a background in film and video production you're only as good as the next person on the crew. You can't do anything with out the actors, you can't do anything with out the camerman. You can't do anything without the guy who brings the sandwiches because people on the crew need to eat and drink."
Rutherford spoke warmly of his association with Chuck Holmes, tying Holmes to what he hopes his own Falcon legacy will be, mindful of the point that he was the last person at Falcon who was there during the Holmes era.
"Well, that's true, but there is a good team, and an effective leader is someone who trains people for their absence," Rutherford said. "And, hopefully, that will be my legacy: that I have trained people to be me. I hope that's what I've done."
