It’s a blistering day in the San Fernando Valley, and John Bruno is feeling the heat. “Oh, my God, you picked the worst possible day to come,” he informs me when I arrive on the set of Falcon’s Best Men Part 2: The Wedding Party. “Everything’s going wrong. I’m going crazy!” The renowned director has just been informed that Roman Heart—set to replace Matthew Rush as the bottom in Zeb Atlas’ very first hardcore gay scene—has opted out of the film as well. Now Bruno is having to act quickly in order to save his shoot. “Make sure you look over the script changes,” he informs the cast. “We’ve had to change some more stuff.” He turns back to me and sighs. “You see what I have to endure?”
It hasn’t been an easy road for Best Men, a big-budget double feature that charts the ups and downs (ins and outs?) of a gay wedding. In the first installment, The Bachelor Party, Atlas took his first step into gay porn by topping Falcon lifetime exclusive Matthew Rush in an oral-only scene. Several weeks after the filming, Rush had an online meltdown when he discovered Atlas had done a similar scene with website owner Jake Cruise. Rush later apologized, but the rumor train was off and running full steam. Could Bruno and the studio stick to business, stick to jizzness, and triumph over their troubles?
That question is very much in the air as today’s development forces Bruno to quickly reorganize plot points. Without Heart at hand, Atlas’ first gay fuck has been postponed. Troy Prickett, Falcon’s director of marketing, later tells me that it will be filmed on a closed set in the near future, and that the name of his scene partner will not be revealed until after it’s been completed. For his part, Bruno is mum on the whole issue, saying only, “it has been frustrating.”
Frustrations aside, Bruno snaps into professional mode when costars Tony Capucci and Erik Rhodes approach him with questions about makeup and hair. “Erik was so hot in the first movie,” says Bruno, who adds teasingly, “but it was all in the editing.” Rhodes laughs, and heads off to prepare for Atlas’ arrival scene. “You gotta keep these boys in line,” Bruno cracks as he follows Rhodes into the kitchen. There, the makeup artist applies foundation to newcomer Andrew Blue while the other models view footage from The Bachelor Party. “Do I sound like I have a big fuckin’ lisp or what?” Rhodes mock-complains.
Meanwhile, Aiden and Jordan Jaric get ready for a photo session. When I ask what they think of the script, Aiden sheepishly admits to not having read it. Luckily, Jordan has. “We’re excited, because with California recognizing gay marriage and us planning our own wedding, it’s a topical issue,” he says. “And it’s kind of funny that we’re playing wedding planners, because we’re slowly planning our wedding. We’re hoping to pick up a few tips.”
Laughter erupts from the kitchen. “Check out the look on my face!” Rhodes howls as watches his on-screen self getting drenched with Tristan Jaxx’s joy juice. Soon, Bruno rounds up the troops in the house’s foyer, where today’s B-roll (dialogue) will be shot. He instructs Atlas to go outside and ring the doorbell, then asks Capucci, Rhodes and Rod Daily to answer the door and greet him. It sounds easy enough, but Capucci develops a serious case of the giggles after tripping over one of his lines. Bruno keeps his cool, grinning through clenched teeth. Soon, Capucci pulls himself together and gets through the scene. Bruno shrugs. “There are good days and there are bad days,” he chuckles.
“Today is going smoother,” Bruno informs me when I return two days later. A kitchen-set three-way between T.J. Hawke, Lucky Daniels, and Andrew Blue is underway, but there is one immediate problem. “He needs more lube or something,” says Blue, pulling his condom-sheathed cock out of Daniels’ hole. “That’s really tight, and I don’t want to hurt him.”
Bruno instructs set coordinator Adam Robinson to fetch Daniels a butt plug. “We can give you a few minutes to go take care of that,” he says to Daniels, who chooses a modest-size plug from Robinson and exits to a bathroom. While he’s gone, Blue tries to keep the blood flowing to his cock by jumping up and down and swinging it from side to side, pausing only to sneak a few peeks at the big-breasted women in the nudie mag he keeps nearby for “inspiration.” Hawke busies himself by stroking off to a porn on a mini DVD player. Bruno paces off to the side. “It just kills me when there are erections on a set and we’re just standing around,” he says. Just then, Robinson comes back with a trio of film producers who are scouting locations for a non-adult film. As Hawke turns around to see what the commotion is about, his erect penis juts out toward the producers, two of whom are women. They say nothing, but their red faces belie their embarrassment as they quickly scan the kitchen and rush out of the room. Everyone laughs, including Bruno, who looks like he needed the comic relief.
Finally, Daniels re-emerges, his hole apparently stretched to its desired elasticity. Bruno snaps into action, instructing videographer Killian to shoot from a “glamour wide” angle. “That’s the new phrase we’ve coined for a nice wide shot of the action,” Bruno whispers. Killian gets the desired shot, but before long, things begin to get hairy again. Daniels can’t take too much fucking before he has to stop and rest, while Hawke can’t seem to stop telling Bruno what angle to shoot from. What’s more, with all the stopping and starting, Blue and Daniels are having a tough time maintaining their erections. By this point, the room has erupted in conversation, and Bruno’s had enough. “Stop!” he shouts. “I’m about at the end of my rope!” As Blue exits to a bathroom to get a shot of Caverject, Bruno exhales and apologizes. “Sorry, people. I just get a little stressed.”
Hawke is also getting tired of the delays and he’s letting everyone know it. “Right now I just want to fuck!” he declares loudly. “Whoever I fuck next is gonna get fucked!” That would be Blue, who walks back onto the set with a raging hard-on. “I’m ready,” he announces before turning to Hawke. “When you first go in, go slow so I get used to it.”
Before long, Blue is bouncing up and down on Hawke’s dick while he sucks Daniels, and Bruno finally relaxes into his director’s chair to monitor the action. “This’ll be the last position,” he tells everyone. “You can finally shoot a big load, T.J.”
Hawke seems happy to hear this. Within moments sperm is flying as all three men erupt. Bruno lets out an audible sigh of relief.
Ten days later, I return for the rescheduled Zeb Atlas scene, anxious to see who they’ve hired to go down in porn history.
As I walk into the house, I sense that things are better on the set. Sure enough, Bruno greets me with a smile and takes me aside. “Guess who Zeb’s scene partner is,” he says. “It’s Killian! We’ve written a new role for him. He’s playing the wedding videographer.”
In the upstairs bathroom where the scene will be shot, Killian is already undressed, his tattooed body a wonderland of muscle and ink. He’s perfectly at ease in front of the camera, completing a behind-the-scenes interview for Falcon’s website as if he’s been doing them for years. He and Atlas seem comfortable with each other, laughing easily as they wait for Killian’s replacement, porn star-turned-videographer Colby Taylor, to set up the lights.
In the new scenario, Killian is wandering through the house interviewing guests for the wedding video when he stumbles across Atlas taking a shower. Killian’s video then takes an X-rated turn: He and Atlas perform oral sex on each other and, even if it’s obvious that fellatio is not one of Atlas’ favorite pastimes, the scene is very erotic. “Fuck,” Taylor says, reaching down during a break in filming to adjust the front of his shorts. “I’m getting a boner!”
“Really?” Bruno says. “Maybe we should make it a three-way. You know a scene is hot when the cameraman pops a rod.”
The action then moves out of the shower and over by the bathtub. Atlas sits on the rim of the tub, and Killian slowly lowers himself onto Atlas’ cock. “Fuckin’ A!” Bruno shouts. “Ride that cock! Take it all the way!” Killian twists his body around sideways, and Bruno squeals like he’s channeling the impaled model’s reactions.
It’s a fine fuck. Atlas and Killian are a good match physically, and Killian—who is more of a top in real life—does an admirable job of taking the pounding Atlas doles out. “I love that your eyes roll back in your head!” Taylor says to Killian, who beams with pride. “You’ve created your own monster now,” Bruno chimes in. “Now get ready to give me a money shot.”
A slight impediment: Killian can’t come while getting fucked, so they switch the action to where he can get off sucking cock. It takes a while—Killian works up such a sweat deep-throating Atlas’ thick tool that his entire body is glistening under the hot lights—but eventually he spills his seed in an intense display of pent-up pleasure. It takes even longer for Atlas, who requests a DVD player so he can watch Five Guy Cream Pie while he’s jerking off. Killian sticks close by while Atlas strokes, and soon Zeb announces he’s ready to let loose. He stands up, gets back into position and blows his wad onto Killian’s chest.
“That’s a wrap!” Bruno shouts after both men fake orgasms for face close-ups, and the entire crew begins applauding. Bruno looks visibly relieved. He has his most important scene in the can, and it’s full-out wank-worthy. After all the behind-the-scenes drama, he can finally enjoy a little afterglow.
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How fascinating that these guys need to watch porn to get off while they're making porn.You learn something new every day.
Posted by: Tony | December 23, 2008 at 08:32 PM