By Peter Berton

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Much gay porn is like reality TV: glaringly-lit, action-based and straight down to business, with no time for romance or artistic imagery. But the Italian studs portrayed at LucasKazan.com transcend these limits, in both tone and substance. The result is an Italian gay dream worthy of Michaelangelo at his closeted best.

The achievement is the work of legendary Italian porn cinematographer and photographer Lucas Kazan. YNOT caught up with the GAYVN Hall of Fame member to gain insight into his ability to turn porn into erotic art.

YNOT: How did you decide porn was your medium?

Lucas Kazan: In my early 20s, I worked as a mainstream film critic. Under my real name, I also wrote extensively about gay porn for the LGBT monthly Babilonia, and I wrote about it with the same tools I used in my trade: semiotics, narratology and sociology. I then left my native Milan, Italy, moved to Hollywood, graduated from the American Film Institute and began pursuing a career as a production manager first, and then as an independent producer.

What about porn? Well, my Hollywood neighbor at the time happened to be prolific director-producer Gino Colbert. We became friends, and Gino invited me to visit his “naughty” sets. They were fun, colorful, transgressive — so different from anything mainstream; so foreign to my Catholic upbringing.

I quickly learned the ropes and, in late 1993, I became Gino’s production manager. Nothing more than a hobby over the weekends, but it offered me a chance to work with a number of porn companies, straight, bi and gay — VCA, LeisureTime, NewAge — and to learn from industry veterans.

Then, in 1997, Men of Odyssey made me an offer I could not refuse — helming a movie in my own country. The end result, Journey to Italy was nothing short of a disaster, despite its lofty budget. But it taught me a lot. I think of it as my hardcore boot camp.

Lucas Kazan Productions was born a year later, in 1998, when I set out to produce Journey’s sequel. Ever since I’ve directed no more than two or three features a year for the DVD market, and their softcore counterparts for broadcasting. On location — expensive — with a large, capable crew — expensive — for weeks in a row — crazy expensive. The films have won me numerous trophies for Best Foreign Feature Film, Best Foreign Actor, Best Director and Best Videography, but they also made me oblivious to the internet revolution and the ways it has impacted content and viewing habits. I was late in the game when LucasKazan.com launched in 2006.

Why do you focus on hot Italian men? Why not Swedish or German or British men?

I was born and raised in Milano. Italy and the Mediterranean countries at large were my immediate backyard. All of them were under-represented in gay porn when I debuted well over 15 years ago. Sure, Italy boasted a healthy straight industry and a straight star system of its own, from Moana to Rocco Siffredi, but no gay presence, despite the old clichés about the Italian stallions and our lush locales.

What you do is far more than just gonzo porn. What kind of arousal are you trying to trigger in your work’s viewers when they look at your erotic images?

I often ask myself what attracted me to making porn in the first place. I believe it was the opportunity to re-create a Paradise Lost of gorgeous men and exotic locations. My quest for beauty and romance, if you will.

While George Duroy’s inspiration is, at heart, “poetical” — the poetry of youth — and Kristen Bjorn’s “architectural,” mine is oftentimes “pictoric,” with all its limitations. None of us believes beauty and sexual heat need be mutually exclusive. All three of us agree porn can be sensual, erotic, visually and emotionally engaging — despite everything to the contrary on the internet. After all, the true sexual organ isn’t our dick, but our brain. We engage the latter to arouse the former.

People shooting women focus on the breasts, vaginas, legs, faces and other features. What do you focus on when shooting men?

Beauty in its many forms. Male beauty — a statuesque body, a bubble butt, a captivating smile — but also the exotic beauty of a locale. Of the light falling onto a naked body.

Legendary director Bill Higgins used to say he didn’t care for anything below the neck, no matter how big the dick, if someone’s eyes didn’t lure him in. I can’t agree more.

What is the hottest scene you’ve ever shot?

I relate to each and all scenes in a different way than the public does. Some were difficult to shoot and yet magically came together in the editing room. Many were a joy to film and yet disappointing to watch on screen.

So many variables contribute to a scene’s success — or lack thereof. Sexual chemistry, sure, but also weather, crew, transportation, equipment.

Porn sets can been pretty businesslike places, despite what’s going on in front of the camera. Have you ever had times when the passion on-screen has overwhelmed people behind the scenes?

I wish. If we were ever “overwhelmed,” it never lasted long enough. And certainly not for four days in a row.

Back in the days of story-driven porn, each scene would take us three days to film, plus a fourth day for stills, with hardly any time to crash, let alone to swoon.

What kind of perfect gay scene have you yet to shoot?

A scene where sex feels neither gratuitous nor contrived but moves the story forward and helps define a character’s arc. Most importantly, a scene where sex isn’t blocked, filmed, timed and edited in the most formulaic way. You know… kissing, oral, rimming, anal, money shot.

I did my best to pursue the former goal, and I dare say I succeeded a number of times, but fell way short of the latter goal.

I fear the American audience isn’t ready for a truncated five-minute scene, vs. the usual 15-20 minutes. Nor for any scene playing with — and frustrating — the audience’s expectations. The late Jean-Daniel Cadinot did exactly that and did it successfully. Then again, we’re talking a French master back in the golden age of gay porn.