CraveOnline: So I’m an LA native, and I appreciated the hero worship of “Western Exterminator.”
Mike Mendez: Me too!
Those guys were ubiquitous. In fact we still have one of those little pestilator men in my backyard.
Off the truck?
Yeah, I don’t know how we got it, but we got it.
Good for you, man! That’s great.
It’s great. The hammer wobbles because it’s on a big spring. Would you get a discount from them now?
You know, I’d hope so. I certainly, also being an LA native, also grew up with that being an icon. At school when I was a kid I was always attracted to those trucks. They looked really badass, and I liked that little guy on them. While we were making this movie the budget was so low we didn’t have an exterminator truck, and so someone came up with the idea of trying to get a sponsor, and there was only one company that I really wanted to approach, and that was Western because of the logo. So that’s really how it came about. I took it upon myself, for no reason, more out of appreciation, to almost make it like the biggest commercial I possibly could for Western Exterminator, where he ends up saving the city.
Other than the title they’re very happy with the film, because I think they were a little surprised when it ended up being Big Ass Spider and we got, “But it’s a family company! What are you doing?”
“Noooo…!”
But they came around to it and they’re very supportive, and I hope I can get a discount if I ever have a termite issue or something.
There’s a commentary track on the film that I was actually halfway through when you called. It’s very jovial, but I love that in the DVD cover and on the menu it says something like, “Greg Grunberg and Lombardo Boyar tell Mike Mendez what they really think of him…”
[Laughs] I honestly don’t know where that came from. I’m sure that came from the producers over at Epic Pictures. I’m sure that was a wacky way of making an interesting-sounding title, but yes, I don’t think at any point that really happens. I think they’re still keeping their hatred for me to themselves. We all get along very well. We all had a very good time and are very proud of each other.
Was it easy to get the mighty Greg Grunberg to star in this film, or was he like, “I am above this…?”
I think at first he was very much like, what the hell is this? But luckily we have a mutual friend, Darren Lynn Bousman, who did the Saw films, so Darren was kind enough to put in a good word for me. That kind of greased the wheels a little bit, and then I dazzled him with a little show and tell presentation of stuff that I had done, effects-wise, some tests that we were running, and then he signed on board and got really excited about it. He’s been great. He really got behind the film and became very supportive of it.
You mention a lot on the commentary track all the other horror filmmakers and writers and personalities who helped you make the movie. It sounds like you have a really nice community going. So… how do I get myself into that community? How do I get invited to those parties?
I think you’re on the right track by going to horror trivia and being in those scenes. I think a lot of the cast in Big Ass Spider you will find at horror trivia, at least a lot of the extras and whatnot. But you know, I think it’s one of the great things about LA that the horror community is pretty close knit and you get to know a lot of great people. Pretty much most of my favorite horror filmmakers I now consider good friends of mine, so it’s one of the great things about LA, and it only happens here. I think that’s wonderful, so I’ll see you around in 2014.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
