“DARE” Pre-Production: Director, Jett Blakk – Part 2

By CJ on September 2, 2007

“Hello?” the deep voice of LOU CASS growled at me.

“Lou? It’s Jett Blakk!”

“Hey, Jett, man, how are you?”

“Fine, fine. Listen, I’m doing my first film for Falcon, and they’re letting me do something special. It’s a story-heavy movie, and there’s a non-sex role I think you’d be great for.”

“Excellent! Send me the script!” he said, my phone receiver rumbling from his voice.

I attached the script to an e-mail and sent it on its merry way. I had met Lou Cass several years ago in San Francisco when I was there doing camera for a shoot. I had been a big fan of his, seeing him first in NEVER TOO BIG with another favorite, ROD GARETTO.

But it was his performance in the Le Salon film SEXY BILLY BLUE, directed by TOBY ROSS, that would make me a fan forever.

The movie is a coming out story about Billy, a married man whose wife divorces him because she suspects he’s gay and will be happier without her, who goes on a Vegas vacation and stays at a motel with a large gay clientele. Billy meets and falls in love with the desk clerk and starts his new life.

There is a standout scene in the film where Billy goes on his first date with a man, played by red-headed Rusty Thomas. For those of us who will forever remember Joan Crawford in JOHNNY GUITAR for her black shirt, I will forever remember Lou Cass in this film for his yellow sweater.

At the end of the date, the two find themselves in Rusty’s truck, parked in a remote spot. The two talk intimately as Billy finds himself unsure of what is supposed to happen next, as this is all new to him.

“Whatever you want to happen, Billy,” Rusty says. The two men kiss and begin a gentle, romantic sex scene that is worth the price of admission.

Now, readers of my blog know that I’m a big fan of horror movies, and so is Lou. I gave him a copy of HALLOWEEN on DVD because it was his favorite and he didn’t have it. We would spend a lot of time talking about various horror films, comparing notes and likes/dislikes, and my visit with him was delightful. We had talked about working together, but nothing that was right for him ever came up.

The next day, I got an e-mail from him saying “I fucking LOVE the script! Psycho Sam is BADASS! I’m in!” Excellent.

Meanwhile, the casting for the other parts continued. MATTHEW RUSH, ROMAN HEART, CORT DONOVAN and ERIK RHODES were set, as I said in my last entry. We had also cast TYLER RIGGZ (healthy foot and all) and BRAXTON BOND, but there were a few spots still open. DALLAS REEVES, ERIC BLAINE and TYLER SAINT would join Matthew and Roman as gangbangers, but as of yet, they still had no one to bang. MASON WYLER had requested the part, saying that it was his fantasy to be gangbanged by the Falcon exclusives, but then was unavailable. Psycho Sam kills his drug source at the beginning of the movie, but no one was cast as the victim, yet. And most unsettling of all, we still had not cast the film’s 2 leads! Shooting was 3 weeks away, and the kettle was starting to boil.

The production was to be shot in and around the L.A. area, and locations were being searched for. We needed a western bar, a diner, a gas station, a motel and several long stretches of deserted road. We would also need a convertible.

The clock was ticking.

To be continued…

JBK