Sometimes Politics and Porn Collide.
Last summer Lucas Entertainment ventured where no one in the gay porn industry has ever gone: filming hardcore man-on-man action in Israel. Trekking into this region to produce gay pornography was commonly considered a suicide mission. But Israel, a state of liberty surrounded by countries of intolerance, stands strong in supporting the sexual rights of gay men, which made this production possible.
The film MEN OF ISRAEL introduced a nation of sexually charged and gorgeous guys to the world. We knew this was only the beginning and six months later we were ready to bring a new set of international models inside Israel and thus the new production began. Again location scouts began their month-long search, scouring the country for exotic and remote locations. The surveyors went from border to border, sea to sea to find the perfect natural sets to film in. We knew we wanted an eclectic combination of isolated and beautiful landscapes to do justice to the terrain of Israel. Once the locations were locked in, the production team began the labored task of building props and stable sets to film the cast and their scenes.
Next we started our diligent international search for men who had the look and personality to take on this very difficult shoot. We had many models who had seen Men of Israel and were extremely excited to be a part of the next film and we had others who were suspicious about the dangers and felt uncomfortable participating.
It was a tedious process to find the right men for the job. We started to breakdown our list of guys that fit into our criteria. We would wake up before dawn, because of the time difference, and Skype with the potential models to get a feel for their physique and character. Some models had to go to internet cafes to use their webcams, which made it an interesting casting call to see the guys get half naked in crowded coffee shops to show off. It was also vital to talk to them and see what type of behavior they displayed. One bad member of the cast could ruin the entire shoot. It was important that everyone in the cast and crew meshed well and was in harmony with each other because we were all going to be living together for the next three weeks.
For Men of Israel we utilized models that were in their home country so that at the end of their shooting day they would go home. For Inside Israel we were bringing in a majority of the models so it was a complicated task to pull off. We had to prepare them with everything: accommodations, directions around town in Hebrew and English, flights, how to go through customs, where to exchange money, how to make a local call, how to access the internet, where the grocery store was and many other details that were necessary for their stay in Israel.
t is a very complex challenge to film in a foreign country where absolutely no porn industry exists. We ended up with a twelve-man cast coming from eight different countries across four continents. There are countless elements that have to go into pre-production before cameras can begin to roll. The porn industry is in a state right now where no one is taking on the unique challenge of filming overseas and flying in a cast from across the globe. The majority of adult companies are now merely shooting in some safe "location" in California where they can get food catered to them within twenty minutes, which is a phenomenal difference from shooting in a remote locality in the Middle East. Where we shot our scenes there was no electricity, no running water, no showers, no restaurants anywhere around, no shelter, no beds, we had to be on point and supply everything that was vital to the production for our cast and crew.
We had three apartments in Tel Aviv filled with an incredibly eager cast and on our first day of shooting these guys went beyond every high expectation! The men were so excited to begin filming because they had been in an apartment with each other for days. Seeing each other come out of the shower half naked and wet, rubbing by each other in the hall; the tension had been building and building and they were throbbing ready to burst!
On first day of production, we were packed and ready to go at 6am. Fourteen of us hopped into our three-truck and traveled three hours north to the lush grottos of Banias in the Jordan River. We had only planned on shooting one scene there but all of the guys were so horny that we just kept filming them hook up and shoot out their impassioned release.
The scenes were incredibly intense but our Israeli producer forgot to warn us that aside from being a "totally private location," the river also doubles as a hot spot for rafting. Every twenty minutes there would be five or six boats full of screaming family adventurers cascading through the rapids and into our set of hot man sex! But our boys remained hard, rough and ready and we got it done. I think the families may have gotten an eye-full at moments, but our bottoms didn’t shy away and they got their fill too. Once dusk fell and we had finished our scenes, our twelve- man cast and crew hiked back through the thick forest to our caravan and drove to a local kibbutz for our well needed dinner.
For the following day’s scene we drove to an underground maze of caves about an hour outside of Tel Aviv. These caverns are about 4,000 years old and were built by the inhabitants who would take stones from here to build Jerusalem. The guys were completely speechless once we went below ground and entered the caverns. It was surreal and fantastically astounding to be standing in these massive structures with 100 meter high ceilings, carved Hebrew writings on the walls, and chiseled out candle crevasses to light the ancient workspace.
From the surface the ground was rigid with sharp rocks that lead to deep holes with death-defying drops. We marked off a careful field where to walk and lead the cast inside our set.
We had to bring a generator that was to be carried by no less than four people, up-hill, since no cars could drive up there in danger of falling through one of the perilous openings. Then we had to carefully run a 300 ft cable into the cave for our set along with all of the water, food, filming equipment, lighting and wardrobe. We learned our lesson from the river and had the crew on walkie-talkies to make sure that no brave tourist would wander into the area that we were filming in.
Once night fell, we took note off of the Israelis from centuries ago and lit torches and candles to create an incredible flickering atmosphere. When the scenes were over we realized that all of the fun we were having inside of the caverns came at a price. It was pitch black at this point and we had to traverse back out to the unsafe surface with all of the equipment and supplies that we had so carefully brought in during the daylight. Everyone had their own flashlight or torch and we cautiously negotiated our way through the tight openings, rocky low ceilings and unstable ground back to the trucks.
The next day we went to an abandoned village just north of Jerusalem. It was a beautiful ancient township that had been deserted centuries ago…however, that did not stop our guys from mounting each other and trying to repopulate it. Biology may not be the lesson of the day but these men shot their seeds all over the village.
But again to get to the point of pleasure we had no easy task to tackle. We had to breakdown carefully replace the metal barrier guarding us from entering the village and hike up the treacherous mountain that was lined with barbed wire and dense torn bushes.
Never to miss a beat, the Israeli media was there to document and run a broadcast profile on our filming. Channel 1 Israel, the oldest and longest running public television station in the country, interviewed the cast and embraced our excursion Inside Israel!
After exploring the inner terrain of Israel it was time to head to the coast. We headed to a Mediterranean beach about twenty minutes from the heart of Tel Aviv. We arrived with our 12 man crew plus models to find a gorgeous day on the aqua shore. But to get to that shore in the distance we had to meticulously plan out how to get the cast, crew and our supplies, props, and food down the extremely steep cliffs that towered over the beach. Each model and crew member was assigned their gear and baggage and we steadily repelled down onto the beach.
The 90-degree heat definitely played a factor in our forty-five minute hike to the coast but it was an amazing location with water as lucid and clear as the air and with immense jagged cliffs meeting the pristine sand. Our strong Israeli crew built a platform sex-structure directly in the sea to use as a bed in the scene! YNet, Israel’s most popular news website wanted in on the action and was on set to profile this day of Mediterranean man sex.
The reward for an ass-pounding good day’s work was a surreal sunset of deep red hues that reflected strongly off the glass water. We were so involved with enjoying the dusk and each other that we lost all of the daylight and had to trudge back up the rough cliff in complete darkness. At the end of the day we were drained…every part and every drop.
For the final scene of the movie, we filmed resident Israelis and Lucas Entertainment exclusives Jonathan Agassi and Naor Tal. They had been waiting and were eagerly ready for their rooftop sex romp overlooking the metropolitan streets of Tel Aviv. Apparently the locals had been anxiously waiting as well because a large group of guys watched on from the ground below and enjoyed our lustful live show. Sexual
Their intense scene was our last and we had successfully captured on film what we had set out to achieve: a unique sexual journey that takes viewers where no one has gone before. The end product greatly justifies the tireless effort that was required to accomplish this intense feat. INSIDE ISRAEL‘s grueling shoot shows the nation through the eyes of its international cast, coming in to explore the country. We hope the challenging work of this complicated shoot flawlessly translates onto your screen so you can enjoy the sexual beauty of the men and their very genuine passion for each other.
You can find out more about INSIDE ISRAEL by visiting Michael Lucas productions at :
Lucasentertainment.com