Truckin'

Doin’ It Till the Wheels Fall Off: The Food-Truck Porn Director Speaks

The insertion of food into adult films is usually relegated to a fortuitous appearance by a sheepish pizza-delivery guy who gets rogered right after ringing the door bell. After the L.A. Times’ report that a double-disc blue movie centered on food trucks (obviously starring Ron “Rumrunner” Jeremy) was soon to see a, ahem, full release, we had to know exactly what it was that aroused this cinematic opus. We spoke with the producer-director, who turns out not to be some Valley villain twirling his seventies-style mustache, but Erica McLean, an industry veteran who’s done everything in adult film from acting to makeup. Currently vacationing in Hawaii before this weekend’s AVN Awards (McLean’s Alice is nominated for nine of ‘em), she and her producing partner, E-Mac, told us exactly what stimulated Erica’s imagination and what makes shooting sex on a food truck so easy. (Also: There are sequels on the way!)

How were you inspired to bring food trucks into an adult film?
Erica: I was coming out of my yoga class in Hollywood on Cahuenga and stopped and tried the Flying Pig Truck for lunch. It’s pink and it’s blue and just so cute, and it only took about ten seconds for me to think, That’s it! So I decided to do a movie then and there. I called the owner of the truck and they said it would be fine to use it, so I moved on from there. I can get inspired to make a movie just from something I’ve seen or maybe I’ll have a dream, whatever sparks my artistic vision. A vision from my late husband inspired my first film, Hardcore Circus XXX.

Is there anything particularly erotic about food trucks?
Erica: I think food and sex go hand in hand. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, as well as other parts. I thought this truck was just so cute, with its little pig logo. We call it Flying Pink Pig, and we changed the logo to have a G-String and a Cheeky Monkey logo on its breasts. We also put lipstick on the pig; she has Angelina Jolie lips. My 16-year-old niece actually designed it.
E-Mac: Oprah might also have been a part of the inspiration.
Erica: Yeah, our pig has a little booty and boobs. But yeah, food trucks can be sexy, they’re fun. I see more and more of them, about ten now lined up on Wilshire every day. And the food offers a lot of choice, so people can go together and if someone doesn’t want a taco, they can have their pick, come back together, go on a picnic, feed each other. They offer variety and that’s what people need more of.

Do you think adult film was slow to get on top of the food-truck trend?
Erica: No, I just thought this would be a fun idea, I had no idea it was going to be a craze. We started when only a few trucks had really come out, way before the whole food fight or whatever it’s called, before the trucks competed. I don’t watch television. I just get inspired by what I see.
E-Mac: Erica actually has an incredible ability to see what’s coming in the future before it’s popular.
Erica: Yeah, I’m actually up this weekend for nine AVN Awards for my second feature, which is based on Alice in Wonderland, which we did long before the movie came out.
E-Mac: Yeah, she didn’t say, “Oh, Tim Burton’s doing Alice, let’s do an Alice movie.”
Erica: My first film was Hardcore Circus XXX and then later people told me, “Oh, did you know Britney Spears was working on a circus-themed album?” And we had no idea, we’d started ours before that. But we sent them a copy and heard they brought it on tour with them to show.

How did you connect food trucks and sex in the film?
Erica: “It’s where the food sucks, instead of the girls,” that’s what I wanted on the side as a logo. It’s just such a fun film. I really tried to do a tribute to the whole city. You know, we had hard hats, businessmen, West Hollywood people, the Sheriff’s department, cops everywhere, and Latino stars. The idea was about aphrodisiacs and one of our guys — we have him in an Afro wig, actually — shows it to the girls, who put a little bit in it in the food to help guys get their mojo back. We had a really stellar cast featuring Sunny Lane and her companion in the film is Nikki Hunter and, of course, Ron Jeremy as the villain. Sunny played Alice in my first film.

We assume there was actual sex being shot on the trucks?
Erica: Oh yeah.

Did that present any, um, sticky logistical challenges?
Erica: Not all all. We have great camera people and you can really get into a lot of positions on the truck. It’s even better actually because there is lots of counter space, so you can do all the positions. Just as long as the grill’s not on.

Did you actually eat food truck food on set?
Erica: No, I have a great caterer who made the usual, chicken-noodle soup and tacos.
E-Mac: Yeah, we didn’t want to have the food truck functional … you know, for the health code kind of stuff.

Will there be a sequel? There usually are in adult films.
Erica: We actually did a trilogy here. One wasn’t really enough to tell the whole story. And I think it could, yes, go into a whole series. We already have two and three in the can and the third sets it up where it could be a whole series. It would be great if we could go all over with it. You know, shoot one in Harlem and Hoboken or wherever.
E-Mac: Even Hawaii, that way you could write off your trip.

What do you hope your films say to people?
Erica: I want women to be looking at them and to feel okay watching them.
E-Mac: Yeah, I don’t normally work in adult film, but Erica’s perspective is so new and fresh, she makes erotic material. You can sit her down with housewives in the middle of the country and by the end of the conversation, they’re all open to watching her work.

Doin’ It Till the Wheels Fall Off: The Food-Truck Porn Director Speaks