Filmmakers Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin ("Universal Soldier," "Godzilla," "Independence Day" and "The Patriot") drew upon their common love of low-budget B-movie thrillers from the 1950s and 1960s and came up with the idea behind "Eight Legged Freaks."
"Eight Legged Freaks" is the story of ordinary folks living in Prosperity, Arizona, a small, failing mining town. David Arquette's character, Chris, returns to Prosperity to try and save the town from being bought out by developers. What he encounters in Prosperity winds up being even more dangerous than real estate developers. Due to an unfortunate accident with toxic waste, harmless little spiders have turned into bloodthirsty gigantic spiders (aka eight legged freaks). It's up to Chris and the town's Sheriff (Kari Wuhrer) to round up the citizens and take a stand against the mutant arachnids.
The stars of the film joined fellow cast and crew members for "Eight Legged Freaks' " World Premiere at the historic Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Here's what the actors had to say about working with each other and CGI spiders.
KARI WUHRER (Sheriff Sam)
Now that you've done "Eight Legged Freaks" and "Anaconda," which makes a more impressive enemy - the snakes or the spiders?
I've got to say that I was never afraid of snakes - I never had a phobia. I actually had one as a pet in my early 20s. His name was Ozzy; he was a ball python. I wasn't really too freaked by them. The spiders - I knew that they were going to be created by artists on the computer so I didn't really have a fear that I was going to…you know like rats would have really scared me. The way that they built them up in the computer was so amazing. I've got to say that being accosted by an eight legged freak in a small town in the middle of the night would pretty much freak me out, much more than a snake.
What was David Arquette like to work with?
David Arquette is probably the most professional actor I've ever worked with. He brings life to the set; he brings joy to the set. He always does his job. He really helped - in this film - perpetuate the child-like spirit that it takes to use your imagination to be able to react to scary spiders that aren't there. I'm really grateful to him for that. He's very intelligent. He knows what he is doing; he's not a goofus. He's a really talented actor that's got some great gifts. I think that now is his time to let that loose and show it to the world, and I think he's about to.
He was always the guy that when they'd say, "Cut," he'd disappear into his trailer and start playing his Sony Playstation 2. You'd knock on the door and see him in there playing this Sony Playstation 2 but smoking a big fat cigar. He's a big kid but he's a man, too, so it was a really amazing dichotomy.