How Dean Devlin Makes A Monster

The producer-writer talks EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS

By Marc Shapiro     July 22, 2002

Today's class: How To Make A Monster Movie. Today's instructor: Dean Devlin.

"The opening of the movie is: Here comes the toxic waste truck, swerve to avoid the bunny, the waste spills, the spiders turn big... Done! No need for anything else. Let's move on. Go with the conceit or go see K-19."

This blueprint, in somewhat altered forms, has served producer-writer Dean Devlin well. In partnership with producer-director-writer Roland Emmerich, the pair have orchestrated unadulterated entertainment on a grand scale. INDEPENDENCE DAY, GODZILLA, STARGATE and, most recently, the homage to '50s giant bug movies, EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS, a mutant spider invasion done up in high style and wit. For Devlin, this was more than a job. It was a pleasurable return to his misspent youth.



"Two of my favorite movies were THEM and TARANTULA," he says nostalgically. "I didn't see them in the theater. I saw them when they played on Saturday 'Creature Features'. As you can tell, I didn't get out much. I loved those films."

Which was why a light went on the day Roland Emmerich came into his office, raving about having just caught TARANTULA on television. His immediate question was why couldn't the two filmmakers make a movie like that viable for an audience in 2002.

"We started having a lot of conversations about that and we realized that what we had been doing in Hollywood for the last several years was taking B movies and turning them into A movies. But we realized that not all stories justify being turned into A movies and, in fact, some movies can be ruined by turning them into A movies because the thing that made them great is that they were B movies. So we weren't really sure how we could do it."

The answer to their questions came in the guise of a short film by New Zealand filmmaker named Ellory Elkayem called LARGER THAN LIFE about a woman menaced by giant spiders in a house. Devlin and Emmerich were impressed with the quality of the effects, the overall quality of the film and Elkayem's obvious affinity for this type of movie. In Elkayem, Devlin saw the opportunity to make EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS a reality.

"We said let's take a risk. But, if we're going to do it, let's do it like a B movie. Let's shoot the whole film in 40 days. Let's do the whole film for under $30 million. But let's put the kind of effects in that you would put into a $100 million movie."

One of the first elements of this updating of the classic low budget monster movie was addressed early in the script stage when the notion of the clichéd horror heroine was turned on its head.

"I think that the conceit of these movies has always been that the woman was a virgin and a school nurse or girlfriend or something and that she was always in distress. I didn't think that would play well with modern audiences. I felt that idea was so out of the loop of our culture that it would be distracting. So we had to change it as part of the process of updating this kind of film. Sam Parker was the most challenging role in the movie because she's basically the physical leader of the picture, but she's also the horror movie babe and, on top of that, she had to be a believable mom. It was the most complex role in the film. When it came to casting Sam, there was no second choice. Kari [Wuhrer] came into the room and blew us away."



To ensure a quality picture in the requisite amount of time, Devlin and Emmerich added director to their EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS job description by backing up Elkayem on pivotal first unit sequences while shooting various second unit and insert shots and overseeing the extensive CGI elements of the movie.

"We limited how many effects shots would be in the film," reveals Devlin. "There were only about 200 effects shots in EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS, which is a lot for a movie like this but not when you consider that STUART LITTLE had 500-600 effects shots. We also designed sequences that wouldn't need a lot of effects shots. The CGI things that we did were done primarily at Centropolis [the filmmakers' in-house production and effects house]. Roland and I felt we had an expertise that we could really lend to this movie."

EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS recently opened in theaters and, despite his confidence that a great entertaining picture has been made, Devlin is, as always, cautiously optimistic.

"I think that, for certain movies, the approach we took with EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS makes sense. But I'm waiting to be proven right on that. If people don't show up to see this film than conventional wisdom will win out. If this film is successful, I think the door will open for a lot of other films that up to now we might have said, 'Oh, I won't make that movie because it will cost $100 million and it's not worth $100 million. We'll see because the audience will make their voices heard very quickly.'"

Devlin is well aware of the vagaries of popular acceptance. He thought he had a slam dunk a few years back with GODZILLA. What he ended up with was a critical beating of some note and less than hoped for box office.

"I think what went wrong with GODZILLA is my fault," says the candid Devlin. "I think I did a really bad job of writing that script. I take 100 percent of the responsibility for that movie and I think that Roland did a fantastic job of directing that picture. I think the effects stuff was great but nobody remembers that because no one is emotionally involved with the characters on the screen."



"I think the message of GODZILLA to me is that no matter how much you spend on special effects, if you're not emotionally invested in the story than the effect is meaningless," he continues. "I took that to heart as my personal lesson after GODZILLA and we took that lesson into EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS. While we didn't try to create characters that would belong in a Sam Sheppard play, we were trying to create characters that would be germane to the genre."

Story has been the main stumbling block to Devlin and Emmerich returning to the scene of their greatest triumph, a sequel to INDEPENDENCE DAY. The producer now reports that there has been some movement.

"Roland and I have finally found a story that we like. We've worked it all out and we've pitched it to the studio. The studio likes it. Now it's just a matter of Roland and I finding the time to sit down and write it. I can't tell you what the story is or whether or not it will pick up where the first movie ended. But I can tell you that it was inspired by the events of September 11."

Devlin seems like a kid in a candy store as he continues to talk about EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS. One would almost tend to categorize this project as something akin to a guilty pleasure.

"There's no guilt involved," grins Devlin. "For me this has been all pleasure."

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