I knew that I wanted to do one more movie for Red Devil by the end of the year, and DANTE kept getting pushed back more and more, because the script wasn't ready until finally, DANTE's production schedule kept looming closer and closer to when I wanted to shoot mine. There was one other problem, though:

I couldn't decide what I wanted to do next.

Regular readers of this blog know that I was hot to do UNSPEAKABLE, but Channel 1 nixed the idea, so that left me in a tailspin about what to do instead. I had three ideas: DARE, a road movie about a drug dealer in pursuit of a drifter and a hitchhiker travelling cross-country; PEEPSHOW, an anthology of four short films dealing with the seduction of straight men, and finally, JETT BLAKK'S FRANKENSTEIN, a gay spin on the Mary Shelley story in which Dr. F creates his own perfect man in order to appease his secret desires for gay sex, then dumps his creation without a second thought. You know what they say about a monster scorned...

DARE was the dream project, and I started writing the script, but I got stuck very quickly. I realized I couldn't have a porn movie where the two characters drive around in a car for the entire film, and I couldn't figure out how to make the sex scenes work organically into the story. Plus, I realized the budget would be really expensive, so I put it aside for now.

JETT BLAKK'S FRANKENSTEIN would be a LOT of fun. At its essense, it's another love story, which I thought was a good spin on the tale, not having been done before outside of ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. It would be a bit more expensive, but manageable. But suddenly, some interest came along from a most unusual direction, interested in making this a regular feature film instead of just a porn! So that got put aside.

PEEPSHOW seemed to be the most obvious choice. I contacted Channel 1 to clear the title with them, and while they loved the idea, they asked me if I would reconsider the title. CHI CHI LARUE had done a movie a few years ago called PEEP SHOW, and they were concerned that people might be confused with the two films. I agreed and changed the title to HOW TO SEDUCE A STRAIGHT MAN, which Channel 1 really liked. I wasn't that hip to it, myself, but they are very enthusiastic about it, so I decided to forge ahead with that project.

It will be four short films, four exercises in seduction, instead of one ongoing storyline. I had wanted to get JOHNNY CASTLE to do a solo that would link them together, but he was not only incredibly handsome but incredibly expensive.

We have two guys in a hot tub, two guys in a van, two guys at the drive-in and two guys in a shoe store. The film is almost cast and shooting a few days after DANTE.

The last time I shot two films back to back, I swore I'd never do it again, but I guess some people never learn.

JBK