After hearing for the last two years about some camera crew following Colton Ford around to document his transition from gay porn to pop music, the result is finally on view. The movie, Naked Fame, premiered Friday, February 18, at Laemmle's Fairfax Theater in Los Angeles.
This first theatrical release will have an open-ended run in L.A., but will also be shown at Palm Desert's Cinemas Palme d'Or starting March 4. Palm Desert is adjacent to Palm Springs, Calif. As at the Los Angeles premier, star Colton Ford will appear opening night to sign autographs and chat with fans.
Ford, who had been pursuing a career as a singer before becoming a porn star, retired from triple-X in 2002. He appeared in a dozen movies and was (with Michael Brandon) voted GAYVNPerformer of the Year in 2003.
Naked Fame documents Ford and lover Blake Harper's lives during a five-month post-porn period (gay-porn superstar Harper retired at the same time) as Ford meets with various pop-music industry producers in hopes of capitalizing on his notoriety as a porn star in landing a recording contract. Most of these meetings were engineered by songwriter Kyle Neven who had become Ford's manager. Neven is better known to gay-porn fans as '90s star Casey Jordan.
As with any "reality"-themed movie, Naked has moments that make you cringe. Most of these moments involve the changing relationship between Ford and Neven — who gets dropped by Ford by movie's end. There are also many instances of humor, both intentional and un-. The sequence that got the biggest laugh was Harper's tale of selling his well-worn underwear to pay the rent. In a nod to every mother's injunction to always wear clean underwear, Harper smiles at the camera and says, "Well, Mom, you were wrong."
Ford's parents are interviewed, separately, in the movie that also features appearances by such celebs as Chi Chi LaRue, Pepper Mashay, and Bruce Vilanch.
It's hard to decide whether Ford and Blake's not always flattering participation in the movie was brave or reckless, but Naked does provide an interesting glimpse of a "legit" entertainment industry that looks to be as tedious at times as it is cutthroat.
After its Southern California showings, Naked Fame moves to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., then to New York City.
