Kevin M. Glover

An interesting anecdote is that after the first day of shooting, (the film was shot in about 5 days over a period of two weekends), the director called me and suggested that I replace myself as the Count and find another actor. For some reason, I don't know if it was the stress of producing and starring and dealing with the all the limitations of the really, low budget we had to shot the film with, but for the life of me, I had a hard time remembering my lines, and I wrote them! I really owe a debt of gratitude for all my costars for their patience with me at the time, but I guess since I hired them, they really couldn't say too much. Anyway, the director and the editor pieced together the best bits of my lines, concealing my fumbles fairly well I think.

At the time, there was some talk of why there were no frontals of the Count in the movie. Although my acting career in effect started with a spread in Playgirl and a string of plays where I seldom kept much clothing on, as I writer, there really didn't seem to be an appropriate place to put a frontal. We were going for the soft core market here and since the only scene where it seemed right for the Count to be naked was where he should in fact be hard, it made more sense to imply the passion then intrude with a soft frontal shot.

While I'm reminiscing here, another interesting story involves the locations. Jake's bedroom was actually the bedroom of my roommate at the time. He also thought I was making a mistake to cast myself in the lead, (talk about supportive friends) but let me use the room just the same. The Count's house was the most interesting. Chuck, my soundman for the shoot, had a rather large house that I thought could be dressed nicely for our needs. When I scouted the house to see what extra props and furniture I'd need Chuck asked me where I planned on getting the coffin from and then proceeded to let me know his roommate just happened to have one he kept in his bedroom! Talk about the right location. As it turned out, a couple of the set pieces; as I recall, the red velvet curtains that separated the Count's chambers (actually Chuck's home screening room) and the living room, the rather pretty chandelier and a few other goodies, Chuck ended up keeping when we wrapped out. The extra cob webs had to go though. Also something many viewers don't realize, the exterior shots of the Count's house were actually altered to look like a one story house through the use of the currently out of vogue, but at one time often used optical effect process called a glass painting. That’s really a painted moon over the house and it looks pretty good. The van by the way, actually belonged to the director. We tried to rent very little for the shoot.

Just had another Love Bites flash back that I thought I share. I mentioned that the script for the film when it was originally going to be a stage play was set in a mausoleum. I first thought of making a dramatic piece with a young intruder stumbling into the Count's lair when he hides from some gay bashers in a cemetery. I originally thought of calling it Night Life. As I started writing it however, the tone became less serious and took a decisive turn into romantic comedy. Once it turned to comedy, I added the Manfield character to strengthen the comic relief. The Leslie character came in to give Jake a sidekick. After all, what was Laverne without Shirley? Pairing up Leslie and Manfield in the end was an idea my dialog coach, Hugh, came up with. As well, I think, with having Manfield want to be a rockstar. Hugh, (who later went on to direct a number of the other gay-themed projects I went on to produce), can be attributed with the single best bit of advice anyone ever gave me as an actor, that is "just say the lines."

Hugh was a long time friend of Marvin, the director. He was originally brought in to work with Chris (who played Leslie), who'd had very little prior acting experience but, it turned out, he had a remarkable natural gift for comic timing and delivery. His Texas accent also helped take the curse off the otherwise "queeny" lines he had to deliver. Both Tom (Jake) and Bernie (Manfield) had extensive stage backgrounds. Tom I'd first met when I went to see the play Sole Survivor. I had an instant crush on him and was anxious to be able to work with him. I was also able to cast him in another project, Jerker, which I put together a few years later. Bernie and I had worked together on several plays in the past and I knew he'd give the Manfield part just the right spin. Erich Lange, Jake's "trick" in the opening of the film, was a good friend of mine and a fellow adult film alumni.

But, back to the script. The final script for Love Bites was heavily influenced by George Hamilton's Love at First Bite, (another film favorite I forgot to include in my earlier list of faves). Partly as an homage to that film, partly for its obvious reverence to the final act of the film, partly because I felt that sometimes love and falling in love, really does bite, I went with the title Love Bites. I'm glad I did.

Last updated: 8/25/01