There was a distinct passing of the torch earlier this year when a pair of all-male adult legends — performer, director and entrepreneur Ray Dragon and pioneering, XBIZ Award-winning director Joe Gage — moved on from directing for Dragon Media. Before Dragon sold his eponymous site, he approached another A-lister in the world of gay adult entertainment about taking the reigns of his label.
Rocco Steele’s very first adult film was for Dragon himself in 2014. The fan-favorite stud has created an outsized imprint in all-male adult in just five years, including a win as XBIZ Gay Performer of the Year in 2016. “I never wanted to do porn but Ray talked to me [about] it and later became my ‘porn big brother’ and mentor,” Steele told XBIZ. “He gave me a lot of good advice in the early days.”
Joe Gage movies were genius and had a cult-like following. I felt the pressure to carry a very heavy torch, but I was grateful for the opportunity.
Dragon soon approached Steele about expanding his skill set into directing. “He let me come up with the concept and title and let me cast, produce and direct it. The movie was called ‘Urban Legend.’ It ended up doing very well,” Steele recalled.
Indeed, two scenes from the title, both featuring Steele, were among the Grabby Awards nominees for 2016. The potent sex flick details the strange stories surrounding a mysterious stud — with a huge penis, naturally — who “lives in the woods and preys on straight male campers,” Steele said. “We had a great cast and we shot it up at Ray’s house in the Catskills. It was a lot of fun.”
By the spring of 2018, Dragon had sold his site and the new owners asked for recommendations for directors; Steele’s name was at the top of the list. Steele inked a deal to direct six movies a year. “To date, I’ve directed 10 and I’m working on my next two, one of which will be my first movie produced and directed in Barcelona with an all European cast — and me,” he said. “I’m very excited about that.”
Steele felt a personal connection to the label – he also appeared in several Gage titles — and its handmade aesthetic appealed to him. “I’ve always preferred working for the smaller studios,” he said. “Ray was no-nonsense and his productions were always professional, fun and easy. Directing ‘Urban Legend’ for Ray back in 2015 was such a positive experience that it was a no-brainer for me when I was approached by the new owners.”
The initial move into directing was just the creative boost Steele was seeking. “I was ready at that point to stop being in movies. I felt like a year was enough for me and because I never really wanted to do porn in the first place, I was ready to move on to something else. I had thought it would be nice to move into directing at that time but the opportunities just weren’t there,” Steele said. “I also had an opportunity for a Rocco Steele website at the time and so I pursued that.”
The XBIZ Awards coronation as Gay Performer of the Year also arrived at the perfect time. “It gave me a newfound confidence I didn’t have before. I personally think the XBIZ Performer of the Year award is the Oscar of porn. It’s the most prestigious award a performer can win,” he said. “Being recognized by XBIZ was such a tremendous honor only given to a few in our industry. Whenever I experience self-doubt — which is daily! — I pull from many things to reassure myself that I belong here and I know what I’m doing. Having won the XBIZ award is one of those things that constantly reassures me to this day.”
Steele’s initial web launch quickly blossomed into a ragingly successful branding career that today includes a popular line of underwear and pleasure products — ROCCO by Perfect Fit — which occupied his time until the opportunity to direct again crossed his plate.
“Having an underwear business and now a line of sex toys pretty much dictates that I stay relevant and stay in the public’s eye, so I continue to say ‘yes’ to filming as a model and continue to travel to do shows and appearances. I feel that if I disappeared and only directed — thus, keeping my clothes on — I feel like people would forget me and not purchase my products,” he said.
He continues to apply his experience on-set for Dragon and Gage to his directing duties today. The Gage movies are among his favorites “because I got to work with a legend,” he said. “My very favorite movie with him was called ‘Working Class Stiff.’ I played an employee in an underwear factory who naturally has sex with his co-worker, played by Adam Russo. In another scene, I fuck my supervisor, played by Hans Berlin.”
Gage’s famed slow-burn style left an impression. “What I love about all Joe Gage movies was the emphasis on under-playing. As inexperienced actors and performers, our first inclination is to over-act. Joe would painstakingly review our lines with us to get the precise delivery that he wanted. The end result was always a slow, deliberate, delivery with dramatic pauses full of sexual tension. When you watch the scenes, you get so worked up by the dialogue, you can’t wait for the models to rip each other’s clothes off and fuck. So when I started directing for Dragon Media in spring of 2018, I had big shoes to fill.”
He noted Dragon “created something very special” with Dragon Media. “All of the movies he directed and produced alone were consistently very sexy, well-produced movies. In addition, all of the Joe Gage movies were genius and had a cult-like following. I felt the pressure to carry a very heavy torch but I was grateful for the opportunity.”
His goal is to “follow in the footsteps of Ray and Joe with movie concepts that are just as sexy,” Steele said. “What I loved about any movie by Ray is that none of them were over-produced. They were simple concepts with simple backdrops. The chemistry and sex between the models was what made the movie. The movies were never about some exotic location in some far corner of the world. It was about men interacting with other men while doing things that men do. I knew my movies had to be in the same vein.”
He notes a steady interest and “positive feedback” on interracial pairings as well as “a lot of interest continuing with ‘dad’ themes.”
Steele also draws upon his own everyday life for inspiration. “I would think of activities in life that we all have fantasies around. For example, no gay man has gone for a haircut and not thought about the barber rubbing his crotch against you while he’s cutting your hair. No gay man has gone for a massage and not thought about getting a woody under his towel and then getting it on with his male masseur. These simple life activities became the inspiration behind and the fodder for my storylines,” he said.
Image source: Falcon Studios
