When NakedSword and Bel Ami teamed up last year to create “Dirty Rascals,” the industry and fans took note of how hot studio collaborations can be. But those two weren’t the only big shots taking the plunge, as Helix joined forces with Dominic Ford to create a film unique to both parties: “Man on Twink,” which paired the Helix stable with industry superstars Landon Conrad and Tommy Defendi, all under the guidance of Ford’s magical touch.
“Dominic Ford and the folks from Helix have always spent time together at XBIZ forums and other adult conferences. Both companies are on the leading edge of hi-tech in the industry, and both share similar visions for the future of the industry. There was a natural synergy and friendship between the companies, and it was only a matter of time before we figured out a way to work together,” says Ford.
We wanted to bring two quintessential Dominic Ford jocks to the Helix boys and see what would happen. Tommy and Landon are the tops in their genres, and we knew they’d have fun trying something different. -Dominic Ford
“It’s always fun to step into an unfamiliar environment. In this case, I flew to San Diego and lived life in Helix World for a week. I brought some of my models, but mainly worked with theirs. It was great seeing how they do things, as opposed to how we do. I think we both learned a lot from the experience, and the result is a great set of scenes and DVD that we are both very proud of.”
Helix has paired jocks or more hunky-type models with twinks in the past, but this is the studio’s first time collaborating on a movie project with another big gay porn producer like Ford.
“Part of our goal at Helix is providing members with a variety of quality gay porn. That said, it’s always fun and fascinating to see what kind of sparks fly when you try out different combinations of talent on both sides of the camera,” says Deniz Bilgin, director of operations at Helix. “The concept actually originated with our models; so many of them had expressed fantasies about getting fucked by big, muscular jock types. We knew if we encouraged them to play out these fantasies in front of the camera, the results would be electric.”
Ford notes that the concept from Helix’s side was simple. He then came up with a few different scenarios that he thought would work well and make a cohesive movie.
“My sense is that the twink-on-twink porn isn’t as testosterone-filled as the stuff I do, which is jock porn. So we wanted to put the Helix boys in an environment that brought out their more masculine sides and really showed them enjoying getting fucked by hot muscle jocks. We cast the movie based on who we thought would work well together, each of the boys’ tastes and what we knew they were good at. The two companies really worked well together to come up with awesome groupings,” says Ford, whose projects include the acclaimed “The Silence of the Cams,” “Whorrey Potter” and the “So You Think You Can Fuck” series. He especially appreciated the increased opportunity the project allowed.
“Helix has a full studio and an extremely talented crew who can build anything I wanted. And they have great attention to details. Dominic Ford is a smaller studio and doesn’t have the ability to say, ‘I want this to take place in a museum with a grand dinner service’ and make it happen in 24 hours. Helix does. It was amazing to let my creativity run wild knowing that the talented folks at Helix could keep pulling rabbits out of their hat until I was satisfied.”
It also helped that they had two of the best in the business — Conrad, a respected vet who recently won Performer of the Year; along with fellow nominee Tommy Defendi — to join Helix stars like Andy Taylor and Max Carter.
“We wanted to bring two quintessential Dominic Ford jocks to the Helix boys and see what would happen. Tommy and Landon are the tops in their genres, and we knew they’d have fun trying something different,” Ford says. “The Helix exclusives were loving it. They tend to only interact with other similar-looking boys in their day-to-day life. But that doesn’t mean they don’t hunger for hot jocks to pound them.
So this shoot was almost like summer vacation for them. They got to live out some fantasies and be with some guys they’d never run across in their normal lives. Landon and Tommy thought it was fun to try something different. They’d never been on a twink set and were really amused at how much time is spent on hair and makeup — especially when these kids are 19 or 20 and seriously don’t need any.”
Ford’s most memorable moment from the shoot came while directing Liam Riley. The scene took place on a tennis court, and he was being taught how to serve.
“I was trying to teach him to hold his racket in a manly stance. After we worked on it, I yelled ‘Cut!’ Liam flung the racket over his shoulder like it was a purse and sashayed off set. It was hysterical. I love Liam, and we had a huge laugh over this at the time.”
Bilgin notes that Ford is a personal friend, and collaborating with him was a no-brainer — and for the Helix models, having sex with Defendi and Conrad represented real, deep-seated, personal fantasies being fulfilled (“The chemistry that created is the reason they were cast.”). Since then, Defendi has even returned to film a threeway with Ian Levine and Tyler Hill for “Sex Therapy.”
“With projects like this, our attempt is to broaden our audience with different kinds of models and sexual scenarios, so it may have not been the favorite of some of those ‘twink purists’, whom by the way we love and appreciate. However, the response to the movie outside of that particular niche has been excellent. Our members and fans certainly have no shortage of twink-on-twink releases to keep them happy,” Bilgin says.
Ford concurs that there will always be purists who don’t want worlds to mix, but that’s a small minority. “Some of my customers asked when we started letting girls on our site,” he says with a laugh. “But those comments were not in the majority. Most people liked that we were both taking chances and mixing things up.”
