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Greg Steel (formerly Steelberg) is a fast rising director who commands some of the highest fees, if not the highest, for making masturbation helpers. He helmed the two-hour 1995 film Desert Moon which reminds one of the adult classic from the '80s, 1001 Erotic Nights.

"We follow the sexcapades of a well-meaning sultan (Sean Michaels) traveling with one of his wives (Arianna) who conspires with is best friend (Mike Horner) to snatch away a magic lantern before he can make his third wish.

"A blockbuster film that has everything going for it - a great cast, production values and blistering hot sex, Desert Moon establishes Sterling Films as a major force in the adult industry." (AFW 1996 D. p.113)

Julie Rage's husband, Greg Steel, and his friend Brad Armstrong co- directed 1996's Conquest for Wicked Pictures. "Set in the Year of our Lord, 1720, Conquest tells the tale of a plundering pirate (Vince Voyeur) and the woman (Jenna Jameson) who falls in love with him at first glance.

"...The girls service Blackheart's second-in-command (Alex Sanders) who pounds Shayla LaVeaux's cunt while Jameson watches the action from between Shayla's legs, then catches Sanders' goo on her lips, cheeks and chin." (AVN 10/96)

6/11/98

I, Luke F-rd, arrive at Jerry's Deli in Encino (Ventura and Petit) at noon and 20 minutes later director Greg Steel shows up with his producer-partner Ray.

As I munch on fruit salad with frozen yoghurt, and an avocado-onion-tomato-cucumber-sprouts sandwich on wheat bread, and they munch on soup and meaty sandwiches, we discuss life.

Greg recently arrived on the internet. He does a search on his name: "There were 15,000 results. I thought, 'wow, I'm famous. I'm a star. This is fantastic." I hit the first link, and find out that there was a gay porn star named Greg Steel. Oh no!

[Luke F-rd just found out there was a gay porn star named Luke F-rd, no relation. People keep sending me email, 'I love your ass.']

Greg: I feel like ordering some of his T-shirts with my name on it… What a letdown! Even when I was an alcoholic, I don't remember doing any movies.

"The second link I clicked took me to your bio on l-keford.com. Julie and I were reading it. We thought it was great."

Luke: You've never taken it up the ass on film?

Greg: I have never taken it up the ass off film.

Luke: Have you ever put your dick in another's man ass?

Greg: No.

Luke: Perhaps he was dressed as a girl and you couldn't tell it was a guy?

Greg: No. I wouldn't have a problem admitting it.

Luke: Just making sure. You and Rey Vince…

Greg and Rey: No, no.

Rey is a handsome dark-haired young man who wears many rings, and has pierced ears.

Greg: I keep saying to Vince, 'are you sure you can't sing?' I feel like I should be the one managing him. Rey is my producer. I met him when I did my feature [mainstream] film last year American Dream with Edward J. Elmos [Stand and Deliver]…

[Greg directed the straight-to-video feature $400,000 film for Paramount Pictures.] Vincent was the UPM - Unit Production Manager. He brought Danny Trejo [Con Air, Desperado]… He brought all these elements to my set. So I said, 'this is the guy I want for when I do X.' I try to bring mainstream techniques into my X movies.

I wrote American Dream. It features ex-LA gang members. A Mexican-Mafia movie shot in downtown LA. I cast 33 non-actor ex-gang members. I spent three months with them in downtown LA teaching them how to act. They shot a documentary of me teaching them. It was amazing. It's me screaming, yelling, reteaching these guys how to talk s---, how to shoot… Because they are all reformed. All these guys live in the bario in downtown LA.

A week before the production, I took these guys to the South Bay, Doug Wilder beach, an empty beach… I taught them how to cry… We did a lot of killing scenes. Some of the people I cast for the production, died before the production. One guy was in a shoot-out, killed in a drive-by shooting. Phenomenal experience.

Greg's mother is Jewish. Julie Rage, Greg's wife, is Italian Catholic.

"I make matzo ball soup and try to honor both traditions. We keep Christmas and Chanukkah. We expose our daughter to both religions.

"I grew up [secular] in Venice, CA, in a dysfunctional neighborhood."

Luke: That's why you're in this industry.

Greg: I can speak some Yiddish. I never had a Bar Mitzvah though my brother, older, and sister, younger, did.

Heatwave's Gabor came up with my porn name, Greg Steelberg, because it was like Spieldberg. It was from my movie Desert Moon, for Sterling, which was huge. It won some AVN awards. Arianna won Best Actress. It was shot on film. And Gabor kept calling me Spieldberg because I did these big epic movies.

My brother and sister went to synagogue in West Covina but I didn't.

I was born on December 19, 1965 (Sagittarius). By the time I was 13 (in the late '70s), I was playing in a band called THE LOST BOYS. We toured for several years. We released records through Atlantic Records. Had some gold records. I played bass and was one of the songwriters. I basically left home at 15.

I quit the music industry in 1987, mainly due to our alcoholism and drug use. We were always going into rehabilitation.

The road was killing us… The amounts of cocaine, Jack Daniels whisky, unsafe sex… I would snort coke, shoot…any way I could get it.

I haven't had a drink since 1987. I went to AA for several years. I've gone back to speak a few times, in jail…

Luke: Rey, are you an ex-addict?

Rey: No.

Luke: An ex-alcoholic?

Rey: No.

Luke: Were you abused as a kid?

Rey: No.

Luke: Have you ever taken it up the ass?

Rey: No.

Luke: Have you ever penetrated a man rectally?

Rey: No.

Luke: Maybe he was dressed as a girl…

Rey: No.

Luke: What are you doing in this industry?

Greg: I think Rey and I could make a lot of money, if he would go gay for pay.

Luke: You could be a big star.

Greg: We could take him out to a Paul Thomas shoot.

Luke: Rey, are you tempted that way?

Rey: No.

Luke: When you were a kid, did you ever look at a man's hairy ass and think, hmmm…

Rey: No.

Greg: Ever been in a Turkish prison?

Rey: No. I can't even handle a woman with hair on her ass, let alone a man.

Luke: Rey, do you have a big criminal record?

Rey: Not a big one.

Greg: Prosecuted but never convicted.

Rey: That's right.

Luke: Rey, did you ever sell drugs.

Rey: Yeah, I did sell drugs. But that was a long time ago.

Luke: I'm going to counseling to work on my quirks, so soon I won't ask these rude questions any more.

Greg: I hope you don't change. If someone had been asking these questions before, we wouldn't been in this state [of HIV infections].

How long was the internet talking about Marc Wallice before he would get tested? I remember we were talking about it in the office at Elegant Angel. Patrick Collins kept telling Marc, 'You've got to get checked out. You've got to go in there to find out.' So finally, Patrick walked him in there to get his test [which turned out HIV positive].

My wife Julie Rage retired because of all of this.

Luke: As a matter of policy, of choice, and as a reflection of who I am, I tend to believe everything you tell me. Until it is shown to be false. If someone tells me something that I find hard to believe, I try to think of ways that what you might be saying is true.

If I know contrary information, then I will include it in the transcript of the interview in brackets. Otherwise, I let people hang themselves with their words. If someone has seen you drinking since 1987, I am going to find out. And you're going to look like a liar if that is true.

Greg: I've had many people say that I've been doing drugs, due to the length of my shoots…16-hour days… They say, 'You've got to be on drugs.' I say, 'No, what I've got is a 50-page script and two days to shoot it.'

Luke: I am ultra-straight in most parts of my life. I go to synagogue several times a week. I have never smoked marijuana in my life, let alone any other type of drugs. I only drink a few sips of wine on religious occasions. But sometimes I like to act drunk or high. And many people believe and repeat that Luke was drunk or high. And it's BS.

Greg: Do you know Rabbi Cunin in Westwood?

Luke: Yes, Chabad. He's great.

Greg: Chabad has great people. I've known them for years. I help them out with their telethon Chabad For Life.

I spent three weeks shooting on 35mm film the mainstream feature American Dream, but a year overall. It's the post-production, rehearsals that takes time…

I'm writing a movie now, Tribal, about the conquest of Mexico by Cortes in the 16th Century. It started as an X-rated movie but now I want to do it as an R-rated movie, with an NC-17 version with big name actors…and perhaps an X-rated version for home video release. We are not using any adult stars, with the possible exception of Herschel Savage.

Malcom McDowell appeared in X-rated films like Caligula. Harvey Keitel did full frontal nudity in The Piano. If the script is good enough, they [mainstream actors] will do it…

The script for Tribal now is 150 pages. I have huge research files. It's based on a book published in 1956 by a guy who was Cortes' right hand man. Cortes was one of the greatest strategists and human motivators of all time. My movie is based on the first movie that really inspired me, 1492 by Ridley Scott in 1992. David Mamet inspired me also. I took a two week seminar course from him at Columbia.

Probably my best film was Conquest. I wrote and directed it single-handedly. Brad Armstrong was my art director.

Luke: How come Brad Armstrong became Wicked's main director and you moved on?

Greg: Jenna Jameson.

Luke: That's right. He was married to Jenna, their contract girl.

Brad and I were both doing these high-budgeted movies and Steve Orenstein [Wicked Video owner] could not afford both of us. So he took the one with the wife…

Now, the problem with that is… Look at last year's AVN awards show: Wicked had nothing up for best picture with Brad Armstrong. And I had a $12,000 movie up for best picture. I am more pleased that my $12,000 movie was nominated than winning for Conquest with a budget of over $100K. No matter what my budget is, I work to make a good movie.

I don't hold any resent towards Steve, but from reading the press I see that he holds resentment towards me. He told AVN that Steel had a big ego and was tough to work with… Well, if you want to call integrity ego, go ahead. But I'm sorry that you're not getting the reviews you used to, because I am not there anymore.

Luke: Does Brad have a background in film?

Greg: He has a background in set dressing.

Luke: Did you go to college?

Greg: I went to UCLA film school for three years and dropped out. I studied under professor Thermand Carney.

Luke: I also dropped out of UCLA in my junior year.

Greg: I learned more on my first set than in four years of college.

I remember coming across your web site, l-keford.com… Julie and my daughter are sitting there, reading it. And we were all screaming about it, we were so happy. And I said, "I want to meet that guy."

Luke: And you didn't realize that you had directed me on THE TRICKLE EFFECT?

Greg: Right. Shawn Ricks is an old friend of mine. He'd call me to ask me to assistant direct for him, which meant that I would direct the dialogue for me so that I can do the sex. Shawn is a good-hearted person.

Luke: And 18 months before that movie, I had a long intense interview with your wife Julie Rage.

Greg: She's dying to do an interview. She's retired and wants to speak out on the HIV thing. Tod Hunter from AVN was over at our house last night. You'll have to come over for dinner. I'll cook Matza Ball soup.

Luke: Yeah baby.

Greg: I wish that I knew more about my religion [Judaism]. My daughter celebrates the Jewish holidays with my family and the other holidays with Julie's mother. I found her the other day reading a book on Chanukkah. I think it is important for her to know about her tradition… I believe in most of the values and traditions and principles of Judaism. History is one of the things I majored in…

I'm not putting down any other religion. But I've always liked the Jewish religion, and the Jewish struggle to survive, persevere…

We started Kryptic Entertainment in May 1997 to make both mainstream and adult productions. We're going to put up an internet site. I have 30-40,000 chromes of my movies. It won't be a pay site or a money-maker. It will just give people a behind-the-scenes view. I'm making a lot of money already. I get paid well.

We notice Edward James Olmos, the actor, walk by.

Kryptic has made three adult movies. We just licensed the ACDC songs Thunderstruck and Squealer for my Elegant Angel gonzo project. We sold the third movie to VCA. I grew up listening to ACDC. Impact, the $12,000 movie, starred Melissa Hill and Julie Rage. We just released THE CRAVING. AVN said that it transcended the adult genre and gave it nine nominations for the coming awards. I used live wherewolves doing attack scenes. . Tyce Bume, a fantastic mainstream actor. He sent in his picture.

The third one is a news action, like BROADCAST NEWS. We sold it to VCA because we did not want to spend the time on distribution like I did on the first two movies. I'd rather make movies. Elegant Angels purchased it, but they don't want to release features, so they sold it to VCA, and I'm making a gonzo movie for Elegant called Thunder Pussy. It's Julie running wild behind the scenes of one of my sets. It's a staged set within a set.

We're putting together a highlight reel. Such as when the Jerry Springer TV show came on to one of my sets for three days (Lost Angels). The beginning of 1997. Then they flew us to Chicago. It turned out to be a fair look at the adult business. There wasn't screaming or fighting on the TV show.

Rey: I've been in the adult industry for about a year. The mentality in this industry is different from the regular movie industry, and from any other industry. Greg and I have fun together.

Luke: Do you date any of the [porn] actresses?

Rey: No.

Rey and Greg laugh.

Greg: I try to give him the benefit of my experience from all the women I've dated in this industry.

Luke: How many?

Greg: I've dated three actresses and one director.

Luke: Kelly Holland [Tony English].

Greg: Yes, we were together three and a half years.

Luke: She told me about a boyfriend who used to help her edit.

Greg: She used to help me edit too.

And she's a lame lay.

And she lived with me.

Art Attack was ours.

We were together from 1990 - 93.

I worked for BonVue in the late '80s doing bondage movies. I worked for Bob Best and Bill Majors [the character Merlin in Robert Stoller's book COMING ATTRACTIONS].

Kelly was a camera operator. Bob Best tells me he has a new cameraman for me… So Kelly Holland struts in with her arrogant attitude and she says, "I'm your DP for the day." And I look at her, and I say, "Hey honey, you've got this wrong. This is a bondage movie. [American bondage flicks won't show penetration for fear of obscenity prosecution.]" And she says, "I'm your DP." And I say, "We don't do sex in this movie, you're going to have to get out of here." She goes, "I'm your DP." So I say, "somebody f--- this girl up the ass, she obviously wants to get laid." She flips out. She says, "Look you sonofabitch, I'm the director of photography here…"

So that night we go out and we're together three-and-a-half years.

In bondage, every week I used a different name.

Luke: Have you ever met Ernest Greene?

Greg: Oh yeah, Ira Levine. He's great. Intelligent. I love the people in this industry. I have lots of friends such as Michael Ninn, Paul Thomas, Michael Zen… Bud Lee and I were at the AVN Awards last year. And our cameraman Barry Wood won best videography for the third straight year and no one screamed louder than Bud and I. And it wasn't even for our movie.

I will rarely say anything bad about anyone in this industry. Kelly Holland yes, because she's arrogant. She wants to be a man.

I was with Christy Canyon for a few months.

Luke: Did you ever get your hands on her big bazooms?

Greg: Yeah.

Luke: Wow. Those are magnificent knockers.

Greg: She is a very cool person. And I know her husband Jeremy Stone who is cool too. Christy and I didn't have a relationship. We were each getting out of a relationship [Christy with mobster Tommy Sinnopoli?] so we simply hung out and had fun.

Rey: They were horny.

Greg: Christy and Tim are the perfect couple. They were friends for years.

Luke: He used to perform live sex and pornos… He used to be with Kelly Nichols.

Greg: I also spent time with Patricia Kennedy, Kym Wilde.

Luke: Before she was married?

Greg: Yes.

Luke: Were you the father of one of her kids?

Greg: No. When I was with Kelly Holland, I cheated on Kelly with Kym.

Luke: How was Kelly in bed?

Greg: She was good in bed the first date. And that was the hook. And then she was horrible after that.

She's 15 years older than me.

Luke to Rey: Have you schtupped any of these girls?

Greg: That's yiddish for…

He's not allowed to.

Rey: I'm technically not allowed to…

Luke: Have you fluffed any to ready them for a scene?

Rey: No.

Luke: Have you fluffed Shawn Ricks?

Rey: No.

Greg: I have made it a rule on my sets that the crew does not schtup the talent, 'cause if they do the talent loses respect for them. No hanky panky on my sets. No time. If I ever catch it on my set, people are kicked off… If there is free time on one of my sets, somebody is getting their ass chewed.

Luke to Rey: You don't like sex or are you married?

Rey: I am not married and I love sex. I am just not attracted to most of the girls in the industry. I see them having sex on set. It's just a business. I'd rather meet someone new.

Luke: Do girls have to suck your dick before they can work for Kryptic?

Greg: That's a fair question, because that goes on.

Rey: I had to suck Greg's dick to work for him.

Greg: What they have to do is audition, a cold-reading. They have to read for any role in my movie, even a porno.

Luke: Is "audition" or "cold-reading" a metaphor?

Greg: No, I am serious. They have to read. I don't just cast by who I want to see f---. Granted, there are roles in my movies that are just sex roles, which I will usually give to the contract girl. But anyone who wants a real role in my movies has to audition. The acting in my movies is a cut above the rest.

I pay more money than anyone in this business. Male actors make $1000 a day with me, and sometimes they don't even do sex. But I demand more than anyone else in this business. I'll pay actresses up to $3000 for one scene, but they all have to do the dialogue.

The actors like it, and they want to work for me. They know what I demand.

American Dream is still in post-production. I want to start shooting Tribal by the end of the year. Some of it will be shot in three different countries - US, Mexico, Nicaragua. We're leaving in a month for Nicaragua to scout locations.

We use adult movies as a practice ground to keep our chops up for mainstream.

I have shoots scheduled for Gabor at Heatwave, and then for VCA. I've spent weeks editing Thunderpussy, the gonzo for Elegant Angel. I'm trying to keep my wife busy now that she's retired [from porn]. She dances on the road, she does makeup (trained for it years ago) and she does PR for many of my movies. We get a lot of mainstream attention. Anyone from Rhino Records to the E Channel were on my last set. We try to mix the mainstream with the adult.

Greg forgot his wallet, so I gave him $10 so he could buy gas to drive to Chatsworth to meet with Ron Sullivan aka Henri Pachard at LBO. Ron has directed production for LBO for almost two years.

Greg Steel's leading movies include:

Desert Moon, Silk Stockings, Wicked One, Cover To Cover, Defending Your Soul, Street Legal, Mindsex, Intruder, Double Cross, Hard Evidence, Betrayed, Pure, Sex Raiders, Lip Service, Jenna Ink, Nightbreed, Cybersex, Point of Entry, Lost Angeles, Impact, The Craving, The Box.