More of this Feature ADDITIONAL CAST INTERVIEWS: • David Arquette (Chris) and Kari Wuhrer (Sam) • Matt Czuchry (Bret) and Kate Bosworth • Scarlett Johansson (Ashley) • Rick Overton (Deputy Pete) • Scott Terra (Mike) • Riley Smith (Randy) • Producer Dean Devlin ADDITIONAL "EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS" INFORMATION: • Photos from the World Premiere of "Eight Legged Freaks" • "Eight Legged Freaks" Trailer/Cast List/Websites • "Eight Legged Freaks" Production Photos

Related Resources • Calendar of Upcoming Releases • News on Upcoming Releases • New in Theatres or on Video • Romantic Movie Reviews • Casting News

Ellory Elkayem makes his feature film directing debut with "Eight Legged Freaks." Producers Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich chose Elkayem for this project after viewing his short film, "Larger Than Life." The 13 minute black and white film was Ellory's own homage to the 1950s-style sci-fi films.

Producer Dean Devlin says, "Ellory's short film was precisely in the vein we [Devlin and Emmerich] had been discussing. It was hilarious, stylish and well-made. We knew immediately that this was the opportunity we'd been hoping for, to revitalize a dormant style that we both loved."

DIRECTOR ELLORY ELKAYEM

What is it about spiders that produces that ick factor in audiences?
They are very scary and they really creep people out, especially with the eight legs. The hairiness of them, I think, really gets to people. Especially the fact that they are unpredictable and they can be pretty much anywhere - you don't know they're there.

You did "Eight Legged Freaks" on a pretty minimal budget. How did you pull that off?
For this kind of film, it was a pretty low budget. Normally for an effects film with several hundred effects shots, you have a pretty big budget. On this film, most of the money went into the effects and whatever was left over went in to the shooting of the movie. It was a very sort of run-and-gun kind of movie, with a very short shooting schedule. All the work sort of got put into the post-production. It was a 40 day shoot and a year's worth of post-production.

Back during the 50s and the 60s, the big mutant bugs and weird creatures were in response to war. Do you see that happening now?
We weren't really thinking that way. We were just sort of thinking that we'd really draw on the movies of the past and what causes the effects. Usually it's some kind of atomic thing or toxic waste. We didn't really think too deeply about it. We just thought, "Okay, toxic waste falls off the back of a truck and then it affects these crickets, and then we get the spiders." Very, very simple and it's kind of a cliché but we weren't really worrying about it being cliché because we wanted the audience to know what kind of a movie they were in for as soon as they see the toxic waste fall into the water. They're like, "Okay, we know what kind of a movie we're in for." Just go with it and have fun and escape for a couple of hours.

Do you think this film will open up 18, 19, or 20 year-olds to the movies of the 1950s? Do you think they'll rediscover those films?
I'd like to think so. I hope it does because there's some great old movies, specifically "Tarantula," "Them," "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and "The Creature From the Black Lagoon." Some of those movies are classics.

What are the mutant bugs a metaphor for now?
I don't really deal a lot with metaphors. They kind of are what they are. If you want to take anything away from it, it would be don't pollute the environment and be careful with toxic waste. Really there's no sort of real message that was part of the design.