"It's a $300,000 porn movie, which makes it not quite the equivalent of 'Cleopatra,' but probably close," Cross told XBIZ, referring to the 1963 film that cost 20th Century Fox $44 million and almost bankrupted the studio. "The easiest way to describe it is that it's a cyberpunk movie. We have a 72-page script. I'm in production meetings about the look and tone of the feature and color palettes for each character."
Like he did with last year's award-winning "Corruption," Cross is using the large budget to extend the production time and enhance the production values on the screen.
"Instead of getting that $20,000 location, I’d rather tack three more days onto the schedule. The thing that makes porn look like porn, instead of a movie, is coverage. The amount of different ways you cover a scene," Cross said. "If you buy time, you have time to do that coverage. Because I have time, I have time to do things like one girl-girl scene that's just for the visuals.
"I get to go out to a dry lake bed and shoot an entire sex scene, just that one day, and it's this amazing desolate landscape. That's not something you can do if you're trying to cram that in on a day where you have three other sex scenes you're trying to shoot."
Although "Upload" is a feature, Cross plans hard-edged sex scenes, unlike many plot-driven videos that have softer sex.
"I think the 'couples market' now comes to the table having seen nudity on TV. They're ready for harder stuff right out of the gate," he said. "And features should be harder than gonzo, because features have that artistic-merit defense."
Casting for "Upload" has been completed and will be announced next week.
