LOS ANGELES — Director Will Ryder said a big part of X-Play's post-production work on "Not the Wizard of Oz XXX" is recording the original music.
“I knew if we were going to finally make this epic 'Oz' movie, the music would have to be unlike anything ever presented in the history of the porn business,” Ryder said.
A 15-year veteran of the music business, Ryder said he was "hell-bent" on creating music for "Oz" that isn't "just a loose spin on pop songs with sexy lyrics."
Dozens of songs were written over a three-year period and the most appropriate selections were set aside for "Not the Wizard of Oz XXX," he said.
“The process was exactly the same as a mainstream Hollywood project. I wrote and arranged the music and lyrics at my piano at home and then went into the recording studio with Rock Hardson to record the parts.
"We co-produced all of the tracks together and played most of the instruments ourselves. Rock handled the drums, bass guitar and guitar parts and I played all of the piano and synthesizer parts and later we brought in a couple of union musicians to play some string and horn parts to give it a majestic feel.”
The director noted that "85 percent" of the vocals were sung by the original cast members before a session singer came in to complete some parts.
“We cast this movie with singers in mind.… naked singers but singers nonetheless,” Ryder added. “If you did not sing well you had next to zero chance of getting cast.”
Ryder even sang all of the demo vocals himself, saying that is what was heard during the shooting of the movie helping to confuse some of those in attendance.
“It was funny watching people on set try to figure out why a man’s voice was coming out of Dorothy’s mouth (played by Maddy O’Reilly) as she lip-synced a beautiful ballad,” he joked.
Cast members sang their parts in the recording studio well after the movie was shot.
Performer Anikka Albrite played the good witch Glinda.
“It’s been a wonderful experience being a part of this and seeing how it is all put together," Albrite said. "I loved coming into the studio to record my parts it was awesome.”
The movie follows Dorothy, who, after a terrible twister, awakens to a magical world of sex-crazed munchkins, horny witches, the Tin Man, Scarecrow & Lion.
It also stars Brandy Aniston, Alexis Adams, Stella Marie and Nina Hartley along with Seth Gamble, Mack Turner, Dick Chibbles, James Bartholet, Eric Swiss, Kurt Lockwood, Gary Lee and Eric John.
The next movie to hit the streets from Ryder is "Not South Park XXX" from X-Play and Pulse Distribution.
