Whether you like porn or not, Chi Chi LaRue is a fascinating figure. Born Larry Paciotti, he’s now better now by his drag diva alter-ego and has become one of the most important figures in not just gay porn, but straight and bisexual porn too.

Now writer/director Chad Darnell is taking a look at La Rue’s early days, as well as late porn star Joey Stefano, who were part of a complex group who lived together, loved together, and in some cases, died together. While some funding is yet to be found, Darnell already has most of his cast, with Willam Belli as transgender porn star Karen Dior, Ryan O’Connor as LaRue, and Missi Pyle as porn legend Sharon Kane.

Darnell tells The Advocate, “I worked as a casting director at Central Casting when I first moved to LA and every day I saw a lot of Joey Stefanos come through the doors. Kids wanting to be famous and then discovering drugs as a way to cope with the lives they created for themselves. Pretending to be someone else in order to be known by everyone. I watched a few of them die. I watched a few of them go on to be some of the biggest stars in the business. You never know what cards you’re going to get dealt.”

Stefano became HIV+ while working in porn, and died in 1994 aged 26 of an accidental drug overdose.

Talking about what interested him about the story, Darnell says, “I was fascinated by their journeys. Especially Chi Chi, who had a love for someone who could not love him back. I really identified with that. He became one of the biggest producers and directors in the industry, became one of the loudest voices for safe sex in the community, and continues to shape and carve and grow. He’s someone who has survived. And the fact that this is a story about addiction and that he’s just recently started his journey in sobriety tells me that I’m on the right path and I’m supposed to tell this story. I admire him.”

Darnell hopes to shoot the movie this summer.