Award-winning director Chi Chi LaRue told AVN today he is relinquishing his director duties at Falcon Studios to concentrate on his own company, Rascal Video. "This was a very hard decision," LaRue said. "I really feel like Falcon is my family. I teared up several times while telling Todd Montgomery that I was leaving." Montgomery is President and CEO of Conwest Resources, parent company of the Falcon Family of Companies.
LaRue's first movie for Falcon was the 1991 Mustang release, The Inner Circle. Though never actually on staff, he directed most of the Mustang and Jocks features for the studio over the last decade and became the de facto Directrix-in-Chief after the departure of then-Head of Production John Rutherford in 2003.
LaRue started Rascal Video in 1999, but continued an exhausting directing schedule for other companies, gradually whittling it down to, mainly, Falcon and Rascal. "I should have done this long ago," LaRue said about his decision to direct only for Rascal. "I want to give myself wholeheartedly to my own company. This parting with Falcon is completely amicable. They have been good for me, I have been good for them. I have done some of my best work for Falcon this year, and think that the movie I just finished, Heaven to Hell, is the jewel in the crown of my Falcon movies. So this is the perfect time to make this change."
Heaven to Hell is the first movie to star all Falcon exclusives and has a completely different look from other Falcon movies—almost Fellini-esque. "Chuck Holmes [late founder/owner of Falcon Studios] would never have let me make it; I don't think John Rutherford would have let me make this. So I am really indebted to Todd and Terry [Mahaffey, President and CEO of the Falcon Family of Companies] for going for this," LaRue said.
When contacted for comments about LaRue's departure, Montgomery told AVN, "It was sad, but we were not terribly surprised. I mean, Chi Chi had a heart attack last year—and I asked him at the time if he thought maybe his schedule was too demanding. We wish him nothing but good fortune."
"Falcon is the Rolls Royce of the gay industry, and I am happy to have ridden around in the backseat. And now I'm going to be driving around in my own little car," summed up LaRue.
