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.

Richard Grieco and the Dinosaur Bugs

Last week, I dug into the details surrounded the release of AE: Apocalypse Earth and how The Asylum "knock-off" starring Richard Grieco and Adrian Paul was basically kicking Will Smith's ass.  It's a heartening story and definitely worth checking out if you haven't read it, but...let's not forget why we're here. 

In the interest of getting back to the overarching, "Richard Grieco is really freaking cute" theme we have going on here, I watched the special features on the AE: Apocalypse Earth DVD last night, and (I know this is going to come as a shock), Richard was really freaking cute.  If you don't already own this DVD, you should order it now, because I am almost certain that you will want to watch Richard talk about the "dinosaur bugs" in Costa Rica more than once.

See that picture above? He's showing us how he Googled the bugs of Costa Rica before making the trip.  You know you want to see it. You know you love the baseball cap.  Just buy it.  The movie's not bad, either.

Looks Like The Asylum is Winning this Round

Back when I watched The Asylum's Almighty Thor, I wrote a bit about how I'd developed an entirely new perspective on the company.  As I said then, it appeared that The Asylum knew exactly what it was doing and was having fun and making money without a damned bit of concern for what other people thought about its business model.

Now, it looks like the company famous for its "mockbusters" may have gone one better.

Last week, Will Smith's $100M+ "summer blockbuster" After Earth hit theaters on May 31.  True to its standard practice, The Asylum got its knock-off, AE: Apocalypse Earth, out on video a few days ahead of the larger film's theatrical release.

Then, a couple of very interesting things happened.  The first was that the Will/Jaden Smith film tanked at the box office.  Yes, when I say "tanked," I mean that it only grossed $27 million opening weekend...but that's the worst opening performance we've seen from a Will Smith vehicle in 20 years (and that includes Wild, Wild West).  The second is that the Richard Grieco/Adrian Paul film generated some interest.

Obviously, there's an apples-to-oranges element in this comparison, given that one of these films was a large-budget picture with a theatrical release and the other had an estimated budget of $1 million and went straight to DVD.  But the comparison is worthwhile, nonetheless.

Viewer Ratings of After Earth and AE: Apocalypse Earth

Because of the differing distribution, not every rating site has viewer ratings for both movies, so I'll start with IMDB.  AE: Apocalypse Earth currently has a 3.4 overall rating on IMDB.  Not stellar, to be sure, but After Earth isn't far ahead with a 4.6.  Considering that the After Earth budget was more than 100 times the AE: Apocalypse Earth budget, that's not much of a lead.

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Asylum's film isn't rated, but After Earth has an average rating of 3.8/10.  The fresh to rotten ratio is 17:132 and fewer than half of viewers said they liked the movie.

Since After Earth isn't yet available on DVD, it's not rated on Amazon--but AE: Apocalypse Earth has an average 3 stars out of 5.

Neither film is setting the world on fire, but to the extent that it's possible to compare, they seem to be running virtually neck and neck in viewer reaction: the primary difference seems to be that one of these films still needs to earn another $100 million to reach the break-even point.

Who's Attracting More Attention?

Obviously, After Earth is getting more and bigger press.  But, let's take a look at some trends.

As of today, Richard Grieco is the 1,585th most searched actor on IMDB--that's up from somewhere in the 6000s just ten days ago.  Adrian Paul comes in today at 1,059, and although I don't know exactly where Paul was ten days ago, I know that number was greater than 4,000.  In other words, the two lead actors in AE: Apocalypse Earth have attracted a lot of attention over the ten-day period since the film's release.

Of course, that doesn't put either in competition with Will Smith, who's sitting at # 10 today. However, Smith has made several appearances in the top ten over the past several years and has dipped outside the top 100 only briefly in the past 7 years.

On the other hand, aside from a brief flurry surrounding the release of the first 21 Jump Street movie, Grieco is higher on the list today than he's been since 2000.  Likewise, Paul hasn't come in so high since late 2001.  But the attention the two lead actors are enjoying in the wake of the AE: Apocalypse Earth release pales in comparison to the rank the movie itself is posting.

After Earth is currently the 8th most searched movie on IMDB...and the "mockbuster" version comes in at # 47.  Levin's "knock-off" is just behind the popular television series Dexter and ahead of The Avengers on the most-searched film list, and is one of only two feature films in the top 50 with a budget of less than $10 million.  The other is a Warner Brothers picture with a $9.48 million budget.

So...go Asylum!  I haven't seen the film yet because DHL seems to think that California and Kansas are between Illinois and Illinois, but I hope to soon (estimated delivery date, June 24???)  More when I've seen it. Until then, I'll revert to my recent assessment: this is a company that knows exactly what it's doing.

Update: After this post was published, AE: Apocalypse Earth director Thunder Levin contacted me to advise that the actual budget for his film was less than half of the estimated $1 million that's been widely reported.  That means After Earth's budget was actually near 250 times what Levin had to work with, making the comparisons above all the more impressive.

AE Apocalypse Earth Release Date May 28

Finally, some information--and they've kept us waiting until nearly the last minute.  Two days ago, Thunder Levin announced on the AE Facebook page that AE had a new name--AE Apocalypse Earth--and that they'd received a release date of May 28.  That's 81 days, just in case you want to start a count-down.

With a release imminent, Levin has started generating some press.  Dread Central has a brief synopsis of the movie (apparently, our heroes are fighting for survival on a hostile planet, and what I believed to be camouflage body paint on model Bali Rodriguez may actually be her native form) and a few new photos, including one of Richard toting a very big gun.  Seems Thunder doesn't read my blog, because he called the Dread Central item "our first press."

Levin describes the film as "more pure science fiction" than anything he's done in the past, and though no one is quite saying so it seems likely that the quick release date is intended to edge in before the theater debut of M. Night Shyamalin's After Earth. Asylum took some flak for a similar move in 2011, when SyFy premiered The Almighty Thor (also featuring Grieco in a prominent role) and then released the DVD the same week Thor hit theaters.

Whatever the motivation, the turnaround time on this one has been impressive.  The movie wrapped filming in January, meaning that all editing, sound and post are on track to be completed in approximately four months.

B Movie Nation also talked with Levin about a number of current projects, including AE Apocalypse Earth.

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