Elegant Angel Productions has announced that director Thomas Zupko has agreed to an exclusive twelve-month contract with the company that calls for him to turn in four features a year.
"Love him or hate him, there is absolutely no pornographer out there today with the vision of Zupko" says Braun. "He has proven time and time again he is a genre unto himself."
Zupko, whose videos have received some of the highest critical acclaim and have also won awards from AVN, XRCO, the Barcelona Film Festival, Rog Reviews, and Adam Film World, says he couldn't be happier.
"Axel and Patrick are two of the most laid back, passionate people I've ever met, who really believe in pornography. With them, there is no pressure, stress, lunacy, or dime-store ego-gratification bullshit. All they want is for me to 'bring my vision to life,'" said Zupko. "More importantly, when Axel told me about some of the other directors and talent they were going to sign, I actually was blown away and star struck. I'm really honored to be a part of it all."
Zupko, who just finished shooting his first feature for Elegant Angel entitled Flesh Circus for the company, will be required to shoot four more features during the duration of the contract. His next, tentatively titled Opera, will be shot on film in early June and be documented by a mainstream TV news magazine.
"It’s going to have a real opera singer. What’s going on in the opera is going to reflect what’s going on in his personal life. He can’t get the girls so he gets more and more depraved as each act goes on," Zupko told AVN.com.
The real opera singer will lay down the vocals for the singing, though an actor may be used for the non-sex role in the film, with the singing scenes lip-synced.
"It's funny when I look at the business now. I see a lot of these cocky know-it-all directors with their quasi-violent, spitting, slapping, psycho-sexual dramatic hand-held camera-swing 'innovations' doing what I did two years ago and they think they're the current bad ass, cutting edge, happening bullshit," said Zupko. "All I can say is I guarantee you that Opera, with the budget I've been given and the time I've been given to work on it will be something truly original and unique. It will be Zupko meets Michael Ninn meets Abel Ferrara, with a dash of Max and Nicolas Roeg thrown in for good measure."
"[Zupko is] definitely one of the dirtiest, craziest motherfuckers I have ever met in my entire life. If you don't understand his movies...maybe you're not supposed to," suggested Elegant Angel owner Patrick Collins.
Flesh Circus is scheduled for a May 27th release. Distributors can call Elegant Angel at 1-800-495-5594 to stock it.
