Thanks to Owen Keehnen, author of the book Ultimate Starz, for letting me share some parts of his Jake Cruise interview.
Jake Cruise gets to answer questions about his porn work, his life, barebacking and more..
Owen Keehnen: How did the Jake Cruise Company come to be?
Jake Cruise: I was a web designer during the dot bust and needed money. My shrink suggested I start a porn site. That’s right – my shrink!
Owen Keehnen: So how do you usually find your models?
Jake Cruise: Most apply through my two sites. Some are referred by scouts as well as former models.
Owen Keehnen: Can you give me the typical scenario you follow from initial meeting to filming?
Jake Cruise: Actually, there’s no initial meeting. It’s all over the phone and email. Usually when we shoot the scene will be the first time we’ve met.
So if a lot of contact is over the phone and via email do models sometimes show up looking not at all like their photos/description or like that you expected? If so how do you deal with that sort of situation?
Oh, that has happened. Let me tell you. I’m a bit of a nice guy so, when a guy shows up 40 pounds heavier then the picture he submitted, I shoot him anyway. But these are usually guys from outside of Los Angeles. What I’ve learned is that you never know what the reaction of my customers is going to be. This particular guy had cellulose on his butt. He had buck teeth (he never smiled in his pics) and I thought it was going to be a disaster. He sold like hotcakes and is still popular today. Why? I don’t know. People saw something other than his fat and buck teeth and they liked him. It’s a crazy world.
Owen Keehnen: Have you ever recruited anyone? Just gone up to them and said, I’d love to have you in a movie of mine?
Jake Cruise: I would die. I have never been able to do it. I take it back. I did do it once. I went into a local adult video store to buy some lube. The cute guy behind the counter recognized me and we started talking. I invited him on and he accepted. His name was Ian.
Owen Keehnen: Buying lube is always such an ice breaker. Who are your favorites of all the models you have discovered?
Jake Cruise: I wouldn’t say I discovered him since he applied, but Michael Von Steel has been great to work with and has been very popular. I can only think of a couple of guys that I didn’t like working with. I’ve been lucky in that most models have been fun. I think it’s also that I provide a fun environment to work and play in.
Owen Keehnen: What is the most aroused you have ever been on screen?
Jake Cruise: There have been three times that come to mind. The first was when Tommy D and I had sex and he threw me on the bed and literally ripped my shirt off – buttons went flying everywhere. The second was in Michael’s Bonus when Michael Von Steel topped me. He is a fantastic lover. And most recently I did a scene with Trevor (Jude Collins from Randy Blue) where he topped me with his big cock. It’s not on the site yet. But what was great was all the horsing around we did. We wrestled and he pinned me. When he fucked me, he would thrust real hard and make me scream with joy. But the best was when he began to kiss me. That was unexpected as he had never kissed a guy before.
Owen Keehnen: I notice you are starting to do some strictly hetero movies as well but with the focus on the woman servicing the guy. How is that different from doing the strictly gay stuff and how is it being received?
Jake Cruise: My Straight Guys for Gay Eyes line is doing well. We’re in our third year and membership and recognition is growing. The girls don’t service the guys only, they also get fucked. It’s full blown, 100% straight porn made for gay men. When it first launched I got a few letters from people complaining that I was demeaning gay men and that gay men shouldn’t like straight porn. I found it ironic, and sad, that some members of our community decided that they knew what gay men should, or should not be, be attracted to. After fighting the religious right for our rights to have gay sex, now some of our own were trying to restrict us as well.
Owen Keehnen: Are you the company’s most popular star?
Jake Cruise: There are two types of members. Those who join my site for the hot men and tolerate my being with the guys. The other type are the members who, for some odd reason, find me attractive. I have a straight woman in Seattle who is just bonkers about me. Go figure.
Owen Keehnen: What things do you personally do to prepare for a film shoot?
Jake Cruise: Well, after trimming my beard and nose hairs, I shave my balls. Then I have someone take an electric trimmer to my back. No, not a lawn trimmer! Then if I’m going to bottom I clean myself out and play with a dildo for a bit to loosen the old girl up. And that’s about it. Oh, and I brush my teeth, too.
Owen Keehnen: Has featuring barebacking movies been any sort of problem for you and how do you respond to critics who claim the porn has a responsibility to portray safe sex?
Jake Cruise: I wouldn’t say that I feature bareback movies. Some of my movies are bareback, but most aren’t. Currently there are 23 out of 261 movies. That’s less than 10%. My view on this is that I am an entertainer and not an educator. Over the past 24 years we have all been educated enough to at least understand that unprotected sex is unsafe. Some believe that adult gay men should be treated like children who might copy exactly what they see in porn. But think that through and you’ll see that it doesn’t stand up to logic. If gay men imitated in real life what they saw in porn, there would never have been an AIDS epidemic. There would have been AIDS, but the reason it would not have been an epidemic is that everyone would have been cumming on their lover’s backs or bellies, not internally. The virus would not have spread as quickly. I believe the premise that adult gay men imitate what they see in their porn fantasies is false. A fantasy is a fantasy and an adult man will understand that.
There is a vocal minority in the gay community, many with a lot of power in the adult industry, who strongly hold the opposing view. I have never been personally attacked by them, at least not to my face. Some people have written in saying that I am like Hitler for showing two men having sex naturally. I wonder if these people know how closely they resemble the religious right in their words and attitudes. I walked in my first gay pride parade in San Diego in 1976 at the age of 18. From a very young age I was told that having sex with men is sinful and wrong. Now gay men are telling me that having gay sex without a condom is sinful and wrong.
The fact is that I shoot bareback scenes the same way I shoot straight scenes. Everyone, including me, is tested at the Adult Industry Medical Clinic (AIM) using the PCR/DNA test for HIV. The same safety precautions that are used for straight performers I use for gay performers. I don’t discriminate. The only exception I make is when the performers are a couple in real life. If they normally have sex without condoms, then I’m not going to require them to take the AIM test.
Owen Keehnen: What is the biggest misconception people have about Jake Cruise before meeting you?
Jake Cruise: That I’m a sex fiend. Seriously, people think all I ever do is have sex with hot studs all the time. There is more to me than just that. I also have sex with guys who aren’t so hot.
Complete interview of Jake Cruise and other porn star interviews, check out the book Ultimate Stars (available at Star Book Press and Amazon), "Talking to some of the biggest stars in the gay adult video industry, including Jessie Balboa, Matt Cole, Francesco D'Macho, Roland Dane, Antton Harri, Nick Mazzaro, Blake Nolan, Erik Rhodes, Mick Powers, François Sagat, Tyler Saint, JT Sloan and Diesel Washington, Keehnen gets the men (and transexual star Buck Angel) to open up about working in porn, their likes and dislikes about the industry, their future ambitions, as well as their thoughts on love, relationships and bareback videos."
