Director Thunder Levin Talks about Filming in the Jungle, Richard Grieco and Really Big Spiders

Technology in the jungle: Richard Grieco, Adrian Paul and
AE Director Thunder Levin play back a shot on set in Costa Rica

I wanted to talk to AE: Apocalypse Earth Writer/Director Thunder Levin after the film released at the beginning of the summer, but Levin's life got a little crazy soon after the release, when Sharknado became an overnight sensation. 

As soon as the flying sharks started to die down, Levin agreed to answer a few questions about working with Richard Grieco, plate-sized cave spiders in the Costa Rican jungle and what’s coming up next.

I've heard you filmed AE: Apocalypse Earth under rough conditions. What was it like taking actors like Adrian Paul, Richard Grieco and Bali Rodriguez--accustomed to more upscale accommodations--into the jungle to work?

It’s funny, you include Bali in this list and my first thought is, “Wait, she’s Costa Rican, we didn’t take her anywhere!”  But of course, we did.  She’s no more a jungle girl in real life than Adrian is a soldier, or Richard a starship captain.  The answer to your question though, is that they were all great about the conditions.  I made it very clear in our first conversations that it would be a physically demanding shoot in difficult conditions, and I never really heard any complaints.  There was one scene where Bali was lying on the ground for quite some time and bugs started crawling on her, but we still got the shot, she  would just jump up after every take to knock them off.  The cave scene was pretty difficult because the floor of the cave was covered in about a foot of bat shit.  Adrian and Richard were lucky because their characters wore boots.  But Bali and the “Humanoids” were in open sandals.  But after the initial “Eew”’s and “Oh gross”’s, everyone handled the conditions like troopers.

Tell us about the bugs. In the film's commentary, Richard talked about encountering "dinosaur bugs" in Costa Rica.

We frequently encountered scorpions and poisonous snakes on location.  Fortunately, we had Roberto, our Costa Rican version of Crocodile Dundee.  He and his son would go into every new location before us and literally beat the bushes, to drive out any lurking dangerous creatures.  And if something deadly slithered or crawled onto our set they would quickly dispatch it with a machete.  I think the dinosaur bugs that Richard was probably thinking of were the plate-size cave spiders.  Here’s a photo of Robert showing one off.

What did you learn about Richard during this shoot that his fans would like to know?

Well, he’s very different from the image I’d had of him before we met.  He’s actually a very quiet, sensitive, thoughtful, artistic man.  The Hollywood Bad Boy that I’d imagined was nowhere to be seen.  He’s also very funny.

Dude--you took Richard Grieco into the jungle with a camera and kept his abs covered the whole time. What's up with that?

Honestly, I had no idea the kind of shape he was in until one day in the middle of the shoot he had his shirt off at lunch time (it was very hot & humid).  I joked with him that we weren’t doing a GQ photo shoot.  But the boring answer is that his character is injured for the first half of the film, and after he recovers he’s a Captain trying to maintain command.  Having him shirtless just didn’t seem appropriate.

Your career took kind of a crazy turn not long after AE, when Sharknado became an overnight sensation. What's next for you?

It’s really been kind of surreal.  I signed with a very prestigious agency within a week of Sharknado’s release and I’ve been meeting with many studios, networks, and production companies that I didn’t have access to before.  I’ve got a couple of TV series I’m trying to get set up, and several feature films.  We’ll see which one gets the most interest.  And of course, there’s Sharknado 2 which we’re just getting started on.