FILM 2346: ARACHNOPHOBIA (1990)

TRIVIA: The small spiders used in the film were Avondale spiders (Delena Cancerides), a harmless species from New Zealand that were provided by Landcare Research in Auckland. Despite their fierce appearance, this spider is a docile member of the crab-spider family and is, in fact, harmless to humans. They were not allowed back in New Zealand for quarantine reasons. The giant "spider" used in the film was a species of a bird-eating tarantula, which can attain a legspan of eight inches or more. Those types of tarantulas are not easy to handle and can give a nasty bite. The spiders in the film were managed and handled by famed entomologist Steven R. Kutcher.

The production required two species of spiders: the first--the arachnid that hitches a ride from South America to California--needed to measure about one foot across. The filmmakers found their star in a bird-eating tarantula native to the Amazon; there was only one such spider in the US. Frank Marshall named the spider "Big Bob" after director Robert Zemeckis; the production team painted purple stripes on the back of Big Bob and added a prosthetic abdomen "to give him greater bulk".

The animatronic General Spider seen at the film's climax was one of the earliest prop jobs done by Jamie Hyneman, star and co-producer of MythBusters (2003).

Frank Marshall meant for the film to be like Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), and added, "People like to be scared but laughing, like a roller coaster. No one wants to be terrified."

The first film released under Disney's Hollywood Pictures label, which was also created so the studio could release more adult-oriented fare.

During an interview with "GQ", John Goodman let slip that while filming a long shot of his character driving the exterminator truck, producer Steven Spielberg sat in the passenger-side footwell out of view of the camera, and quipped to Goodman "Only we will know that I was here."