On the Set Report: Peep Show

BY VINCENT LAMBERT

Porn stars and their lusty admirers hit the high seas once again for the third-annual Pillage & Plunder Cruise this past fall. About 800 gay passengers from 39 states and 11 nations made their way from Port Manatee, Florida, to Cozumel, Mexico, aboard the Regal Empress cruise ship. The five-day journey benefited the local Pride Tampa Bay organization, but it also gave porn directrix Chi Chi LaRue a chance to shoot a scene for her upcoming Peep Show. This new sex-only movie—starring Rascal exclusives Matt Summers (pictured, above) and Julian Pierce, Aaron Tanner, Bailey Parks, Andy Hunter, Sebastian Cole, John Ashe and Travis Reed—will be released through LaRue’s own Rascal Video production company in association with Channel 1 Releasing.

The ship has already been at sea for a couple of days when LaRue (out of drag) and her crew gather to film a sequence with supercouple Lance Gear and Peter Raeg and newcomer Evan Taylor. It’s a hot Saturday afternoon, and while most of the passengers are luxuriating in the sun, the crew begins setting up their equipment in the ship’s theater. Videographer Steven Walker prepares the first shot in front of a big screen onto which a porn video will be projected. “This movie is like an attack on the senses,” LaRue says. “It is very visual and has great art direction.”

The doors leading into the theater have been blocked so the passengers cannot observe the filming. This is a marked change from previous cruises when Josh Eliot helmed Catalina’s Voyager and LaRue filmed Pillage and Plunder: The Movie before an appreciative audience of horny seafarers. “Doing a one-woman show is fun once,” LaRue says. “We were like trained seals out there last year, performing for the crowd. I did it once, and that’s enough.”

LaRue confers with Walker as the three models arrive on the set looking fit and tan (that’s what a few days at sea with a boatload of gay men will do). After a brief fluffing (hair and makeup, that is), the guys are led to a space in front of the screen and the oral sequence begins. Makeup artist Mistress Mona helps with a handheld light, and Walker circles the models with his camera. LaRue sits in the darkness of the theater, watching the proceedings on a video monitor. She decides that the lighting “looks weird” and requests that the red gels be removed from the lights. In typical fashion, the princess of porn directs the models with loud enthusiastic commands. “Suck it!” “Snap his dick!” and “Oh, my God! That’s hot!” are all heard regularly on a LaRue set.

During a break, porn journalist Mickey Skee chats with Mona and the crew. The models drink water, and Gear admits that he doesn’t feel completely comfortable seeing his own likeness onscreen (his debut film, In Gear, has been playing in the background throughout the shoot). “I hate watching myself,” he says. But lover Raeg doesn’t share the sentiment. “I like the scene he did with Logan Reed,” he says. “It’s hot.” Meanwhile, Minnesotan LaRue is debating the accuracy of the film Fargo with several crew members.

Almost an hour has gone by, and the shoot seems to be proceeding on schedule. But outside the barricaded doors, the Joan Rivers impersonator who is scheduled to host Bingo in the theater following the shoot is chomping at the bit. When LaRue is told that the Rivers impersonator wants in, she barks, “Who the fuck is that?” and continues staring at the monitor. When informed that several passengers would also like to come in and witness the porn stars at work, she counters, “Tell them if they pay an extra $500, they can watch!”

And then it’s back to the action. Bar stools are moved in, and the trio set their minds to buttmunching. Gear spits with gusto as LaRue looks on approvingly. When the stools are repositioned for the fucking sequence, LaRue steps onto the set and demonstrates exactly what she wants. Gear gets topped—first by Taylor and then by Raeg—as Mona stands by with condoms and lube. Between setups, LaRue offers encouragement and accolades to the guys. Next, Gear drops to his knees and prepares to receive a facial. As Taylor and Raeg cream on Gear’s face, LaRue screams with joy, “That is hot!” When the spent models adjust their positions, she yells, “Don’t move!” as Walker moves in for a closeup. Then it’s time for cleanup and strike. A mere two hours have gone by, and the scene is done. LaRue comments on how smoothly everything went and how great the cast and crew did. Then in her trademark growl she calls out, “Okay, you can let Joan Rivers in!”

Reprinted from Adult Video News magazine (2002)