photo © Chuck Goodenough

Tom Lazarus: Writer/Director/Producer From mainstream Hollywood to boundary-pushing erotica, Tom Lazarus brings his unique vision to everything he does. by Brian Tom's Website | IMDb

Few fans might know it, but Tom Lazarus was once on the "other side of the fence" in Hollywood. He wrote for television shows such as Mike Hammer, Hunter, and Jake and the Fatman, and also wrote the screenplay for the hit mainstream thriller Stigmata.

The erotic films he has written, produced and directed for Playboy, such as House of Love, Word of Mouth and Voyeur Confessions, have brought new depth to the genre and his willingess to let the sex be sex has stretched the limitations of softcore to new boundaries.

Tom was recently kind enough to talk with Softcore Reviews about his work...

Q: When you ask most people who are involved with the softcore biz-especially those who perform in front of the cameras-it seems that they are using it as a springboard into mainstream work, or at least that's where they want to end up. You get the impression that most performers actually want to get out of the genre, that there is some stigma attached to it that mainstream casting agents tend to avoid.

Your career trajectory, on the other hand, seems to have swung the opposite way. For many years you had great success in mainstream film and television and now you work almost exclusively in the erotic genre as a writer, producer and director. What attracted you to the softcore genre and how did you come to work with Playboy?

A: After, as you say, years of toiling in the mainstream world of television of movies, with the accompanying frustrations of working on a series and putting out shit for money, writing movies of the week that end up weird and unsatisfying, of being nowhere near the production or post production process which is all part of the film storytelling process, my network career bottomed out. I was unfulfilled and I'm sure it came out in my writing and my somewhat surly demeanor. I decided to change the trajectory of my career. I decided to try to return to being a filmmaker - like I had started.

My first taste of filmmaking was years before as an educational filmmaker producing, writing and directing very challenging and, for the day, hip educational films for college level psychology and biology students. Rather than go into the standard B-movie genres of erotic thrillers, lots of guns and killing and car chases, none of which I write or am interested in, I decided to try and find work in erotica, which I had long thought was a much ignored, fertile canvas for intelligent, and relatable to human stories. I called Vivid, but the head of the company was just arrested for pandering and was unable to meet with me. Wrong trajectory.

I wrote a feature film for Universal trying to deal with odd, borderline sexual themes, but was frustrated at every turn by the producers and studios conservative, unenlightened views of sex, which severely crippled the work.

My cinematographer introduced me to Playboy at the time, a wonderful DP named Bruce Finn, who one night at Sundance was drinking with the head of production at Playboy, Dick Rosetti, a really nice man. Bruce told him I was a filmmaker they must take a look at. I sent Dick two original erotic scripts. He called me after reading the first and looking at a rough cut of an unreleased feature called Movies Kill , as well as a short I shot for Playboy the year before, and gave me a greenlight for a picture.

"I felt there was a niche that could be carved out in...realistic or faux documentary presentation of softcore sex. Zalman King had created a niche for himself as a lush, erotic storyteller. I wanted my own niche: realistic, faux documentary, believable and therefore, erotic."

After looking at some of the Playboy features for reference I was blown out. They totally sucked.were almost anti-sex, and anti-erotic. I pitched Playboy and suggested doing more realistic depictions of sex. No soft focus, dissolves, non-linear love scenes. I was a proponent of realistically filming the sex act-long uncut sequences, with sync sound and lots of dirty talk. I wrote dialogue for love scenes (something more than "oh, baby, oh, baby") as I felt audio could be a very powerful tool for being dirty and it was allowable, where there were real restrictions of what we could do visually: no touching [the] penis or vagina, no real sex act, no penetration, among many others, all of which served to hamstring the director.

I felt there was a niche that could be carved out in the world of softcore in the area of realistic or faux documentary presentation of softcore sex. Zalman King had created a niche for himself as a lush, erotic storyteller. I wanted my own niche: realistic, faux documentary, believable and therefore, erotic. My theory was: the realer the sexier—long takes, no cuts, handheld, grain, realistic performances. And I was right.

In a relatively short time I rose through the ranks of hired hands, wrote and directed four softcore features and now am Exec producing, writing, and directing 13 hours of programming for Playboy TV called 7 Lives Xposed. We're in a third season. I'd love to not do erotica and I do write one or two original, low budget, non-erotic screenplays a year for me to direct. Wanna buy one?

The bottom line of why I do what I do is I love filmmaking, the process of creating something in my head and then following it through the exhilarating and exhausting process of production, then post production.

Q : Your films tend to have voyeuristic themes, where people talk directly to the camera and reveal more of their character's inner thoughts and desires than might be revealed through standard dialogue, plot development, etc. Do you think having the characters interacting with the camera-and by extension the viewer-has a more intimate effect on the audience and creates a higher level of eroticism? Is that a deliberate strategy on your part as director?

A: Extremely deliberate. You might use the word calculated. I think the interviews do a couple things: One, they are the language of reality, of documentaries, therefore making everything realer. Setting a frame to make all the other footage realer.

"I always imagine the surfing viewer coming upon some of my documentary-like footage and, for the longest time, believing its real."

I always imagine the surfing viewer coming upon some of my documentary-like footage and, for the longest time, believing its real. We have many viewers of 7 Lives Xposed, who, despite writing and acting credits at the end, absolutely believe what they're looking at is totally real. It looks real, it smells real, it uses all the conventions of reality, except it's mostly scripted, though we do improv. This effectively simulated reality is, I believe, sexier than the filmmakers' romantic manipulation of their impressions of sex.

The other reason I use the interview format is they're easy and cheap, which is a necessity with the miniscule budgets I work with. If I spend film time doing easy cheap things, then, I also to get to be more ambitious with other parts of production. It also is a shorthand way to communicate information. 'Real' information about the characters.

Q: Tell us a bit about more about 7 Lives Xposed. Was this show your concept or did Playboy come to you with it? How did it all come together?

A: I pitched a show to the execs at Playboy and they yawned. Then, they pitched me people living in a house like Big Brother using my already established faux documentary style. I said yes. I came up with all the characters and all the stories for the first two years and I'm in the middle of writing the third year that goes into production in a month. Playboy, after our years of working together, has become a wonderful client/partner for me to work with. They respect me, give me great creative freedom and they're fun. Their budgets are tiny but it's good honest work and it's fun. And that's the deal.

Q: Actress Catalina Larranaga has tackled some heavy roles in your films, proving that beauty and intelligence, along with winning writing and directing, can be combined to produce powerful eroticism. Since Catalina has been such a major factor in your films, can you tell us what she is like to work with and how you think she has contributed to the success of your films?

A: Catalina is a dream. Smart, sexy, comfortable with her own sexuality. She is, in many ways, a collaborator. I write for her. We have a real understanding of what the mission is and, by now, a creative shorthand. I respect her talent, her beauty and her sensuality. She's open, she's responsive. I love her.

"I know this will disappoint, but the sex scenes are business.all business. I can't remember—and I would—of a sex scene getting carried away beyond the script."

Q: All too often the softcore fan is given no reason to identify with characters, no reason to be interested in what happens to them emotionally as well as sexually, and most scenes look like rejects from rock music videos, complete with wailing guitars to drown out all the sounds of sex. We sometimes wonder what the directors are thinking, but anyway...

We think your films are notable for allowing the performers to talk dirty, by allowing the heavy breathing and other sounds of passion to ride above the music. This keeps the viewer drawn in to the illusion rather than breaking it with intrusive music or choreography that looks so obviously fake. How do you approach directing a simulated sex scene and how do you keep the performers passionate, but within limits?

A: I know this will disappoint but the sex scenes are business, all business. I can't remember—and I would—of a sex scene getting carried away beyond the script. It's a nice fantasy. In fact, the first erotic feature I ever wrote had a scene like that. All fantasy.

Directing a sex scene, here's how it works: Everybody's a little jittery. We're asking a lot of the actors. We block the action, figure out how to translate the script moves to actuality. We place the cameras, the microphones, clear the set of all non-essentials. Then we go, and I walk the actors through it. I tell them over the loudspeaker to kiss, to touch, for how long and when to "insert," everything. Many actors are shy. I'm not, so I'll shout at them, drive them, all of which is cut out in post production. My theory is that I take full responsibility for the scene. I ask nothing of the actors. They do what they're told and it will work. I think this allows the actors to be freer as I'm not asking them to make these sexual decisions. I do it all. It seems to work.

Q: The subject of prostitution has come up many times in your films. Is there an agenda here to perhaps present it as a viable occupation, to try and show it in a positive light as opposed to society's traditional darker view of those who work in the sex business? Do you have any personal views on this you can share?

A: I think I use prostitution as a metaphor for all closeted, denied, undiscussed and undealt with sexuality. I believe there's so much sexual repression in our society, it's positively bizarre. Sexuality is a primary drive, I treat it as such. I don't write movies that have sex scenes. I write sex movies. Big difference. I find, for whatever reasons, I'm willing to discuss, to get in touch with, to write about and direct, stories, situations, sexual issues that some other people aren't. When I tell long time friends what I'm doing they invariably say "perfect." I never know how to take that.

"I think softcore is pretty much a dinosaur. Everything is softcore these days...There's so much sex—hardcore, explicit, niched sex—what's the point of softcore?"

Q: It seems the recent EROS reign is dwindling to a close as Playboy flushed out several of Indigo Entertainment's staff and fewer titles are being released. Tell us where you think softcore is headed and if the explicit component has perhaps "bottomed" out a bit, to the point where there is nowhere left to go but hardcore.

A: I believe there is nowhere left to go but hardcore. I mean, I discuss this issue with cast and crews and executives. There are, at this point, very few things that separate softcore and hardcore.

I think softcore is pretty much a dinosaur. Everything is softcore these days: advertising for sure, the internet, for sure; music videos, for sure; go to a newsstand, what are they selling? Tits and ass. This isn't news, God knows. There's so much sex, hardcore, explicit, niched sex, what's the point of softcore? I look at my role for Playboy is to push the creative/sexual envelope. And I do. And they want me to. But, Playboy corporate, despite being in the hardcore cable business, still holds onto the softcore limits, which is fine with me and, I assume, for the people at corporate. They still think people read the magazine for the "Playboy philosophy".

Q: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Tom. Can you tell us about your recent projects and anything you might have planned for the future?

A: I'm writing a screenplay, which I hope to direct which is the true story of a woman who has been channeling beings from the fifth dimension for the last 14 years. I've been in contact with the aliens through the channel and most recently received script notes from them. In addition, I'm looking for money for two low budget features: Séance, a supernatural thriller, and Movie Town, the story of a present day screenwriter who writes porn to survive and becomes involved a tinsel town film noir story. It's a comedy. Anyone out there have any money? Please. Help me get out of the sex industry. You can save me. I'd shoot it for a million dollars. Seven-fifty. You can be the producer. Come on. Please...please!