Queerty Query: Michael Lucas

Michael Lucas recently received resounding accolades for his Dangerous Liaisons, which incorporated the high-quality, sizzling hot gay sex scenes everybody expects from him with the narrative outline of the Choderlos de Laclos classic. Read now as Michael tells Querty of his plans for future intercourse between porn and the classics.

Michael Lucas

Queerty: Your films manifest that you have an artistic eye. Can you say which influences from any of the visual arts have influenced you, whether in general or specifically in your movies?

Lucas: Look, I am very much into the arts, but porn is porn- so I would not want to talk about my favorite films in terms of inspiration. I think it will sound a little bit too pretentious- you see my favorite film director is Fellini – I like Picasso to Andy Warhol and have an incredible collection of paintings and photos from Chagall paintings to my Avedon photo, it inspires me in my life, but I don’t know if it has influenced my films, sorry don’t want to sound cheesy

Queerty: In your blog entries, readers learn that you appreciate opera. What introduced you to the art, and who are your favorite performers?

Lucas: My family is very intellectual and my grandma is teacher of music so I was exposed to opera and ballet from very early age, lots of favorite performers- from past- Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli, of today- Deborah Voight, and Olga Borodina.

Queerty: You once got miffed at your blog readers taking your entries too seriously and said that the entries should be read not as if they were Henry James but more as though they were Jacqueline Suzanne. Who are your preferred novelists?

Lucas: Well there are many, anything from American playwrights like Tennessee Williams, to Fitzgerald, also a lot of European lit like Emile Zola, Marcel Proust, and others.

Queerty: Which parts of your Russian culture do you find worthy of praise?

Lucas: Absolutely Russian writers, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekov, not interested in Russian visual arts, it reminds me of hotel art; I stopped liking it when I turned 12.

Queerty: Dangerous Liaisons is remarkably innovative in the genre. Are you considering future movies with literary tie-ins?

Lucas: Actually, yes. I maybe will do something like 8 1/2 or La Dolce Vita, something with an interesting plot that can easily be incorporated into porn and of course I should like the storyline of the film.

Queerty: Back on June 21, you wrote “With Bush in power, we’re all fucked.” Isn’t getting fucked more fun than what happens to us under Bush, and did the handling of the Katrina disaster change your mind?

Lucas: I think that this country is going to pay a high price in the future for the shameful 8 years of Bush in White House and we don’t even know the size of the catastrophe we have brought this to, Katrina disaster is not a surprise, disgusted by the way they were treated, most importantly I cant believe that so many Americans live like 3rd world citizens.

Queerty: You praised the play Primo; does it ever happen that you’re watching a theater piece and from it have an inspiration for something you could do in your movies?

Lucas: Not really, it makes me more ashamed of my own acting skills, especially after watching Primo or the Pillow Man- favorite of last several years.

Queerty: Quite apart from Rudolph Nureyev’s striking physique, what would you say makes the Avedon nude photo of him which you posted on your blog entry for August 12, 2005 attention-worthy as photographic art?

Lucas: I think the eroticism of the man who has natural body, old style of photography, simplicity of the pose and the composition, I think its also incredible, his face, he is uncomfortable, shy, somewhat excited at the same time; Avedon captured that.

Queerty: Which movies did you most admire before you became a director?

Lucas: If you mean porn films, none- didn’t care about watching porn ever.
Mainstream- I grew up on European movies; Fellini, Antonioni, Visconti, but I like some Americans like Bertolucci, all depends on my mood, I can always enjoy a good old Woody Allen or something- Desire with Marlene Dietrich,

Queerty: If Chi-Chi LaRue agreed to dress like a man and pick up the tab, would you dine with her at Per Se?

Lucas: Well first, I did have dinner with her before, invited her for thanksgiving dinner at my house, she was lonely in NCY, so she came over, and single handedly eat more than half of turkey which was about 10 lbs, all the gravies, and sucked out all the alcohol which was available for dinner. She did it in 20 minutes. She was not in drag, she came as a man. So I guess dining with her at Per Se would be a waste of her time because portions are way too small, she will go bankrupt, per se will run out of supplies before the evening is over. Fat was dripping all over, with hands all over her moustache.

Don't forget to share:

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated