Elegant Angel’s Opera, described by director Thomas Zupko as his magnum opus, will be released at the end of September.
Opera is an existential morality play about an aspiring opera singer who descends into the depths of heroin addiction and betrayal. The feature showcases the talents of Allen Rene, a classically trained opera singer who plays the opera singer as a non-sex role. Opera also stars the 90’s anal queen Papillon in what is being billed as her "comeback performance."
"It's an incredible show, by far the most exciting thing I've ever done." Zupko says, "At times the story and visuals might be a little too dark and depressing to suit everyone's tastes, but the sex smokes."
"It's certainly different from the mainstream opera world, but at the same time the experience was not what I would have expected my first time on a porn set,” Rene said. “Tom is amazing. He's truly this unique gifted artist. I was honored to be a part of it all,"
Opera was shot on three Panasonic 24P cameras with one on a crane. All of the dialogue is in Italian with English subtitles.
"The Katja Kassin/Tony Tedeschi scene is hot as fucking hell as is the Ashley Blue/Trent Tesoro coupling,” Zupko said. “But Papillon's performance is arguably one of the best fucking sex scenes I have ever shot. With the aid of a two-foot red ribbon and the hard cocks of Mickey G and Brian Surewood, Papillon does twelve anal positions. I don't know if there have ever been twelve anal positions in a scene before.
Loosely based on Prospero's Books, Peter Greenaway's 1992 take on Shakespeare's The Tempest, the Opera promise to be classic twisted Zupko – even including a bearded lady and a Sasquatch.
“Man, it's a weird dichotomy though because it's shot so beautifully but the sex is so fucking hard and aggressive," Zupko said.
"When Zupko showed me a few of the scenes I was absolutely amazed. No doubt, Zupko has a notorious reputation and at times can be one of the most difficult bi-polar people you'll ever deal with, but I can honestly say that he is one of the most underappreciated directors in the history of pornography," Axel Braun, general manager of Elegant Angel, said.
Elegant promises a big promotional push on Opera, including the release of a version that will be submitted to independent film festivals. Zupko shot plenty of extra footage.
“I’ll have to make some changes and I’ll leave in some of the soft core - the super soft core - and then I may have to shoot one or two additional; things but outside that I think I’ll of that I’ll be able to pull this off as a mainstream project,” Zupko told AVN.com.
