LG INTERVIEW: A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH SNAKES ON A PLANE DIRECTOR DAVID R. ELLIS
A couple weeks ago LiquidGeneration (okay, just Monkey) sat down with Snakes on a Plane director David R. Ellis to ask him all the questions people want to know about the upcoming movie: Are snakes just a metaphor for Muslim Terrorists? Why do black people seem to be more afraid of snakes? Would snakes have made Soul Plane a much better movie? What if the snakes were on crack? Why would you kill only ONE man with a plane full of snakes?
We also learn what he thinks about the internet's obsession with the movie, the hardest part of directing snakes, the recent reshoots that made the movie more R rated, and alternative titles for the movie.
The full transcript of this interview is below, but if you'd much rather see a shortened exchange of the interview on video, go here.
ALSO: DON'T MISS THIS: David R. Ellis was nice enough to DIRECT a fan film that we wrote and acted out. It's so hilariously stupid that you must watch it. To our knowlege it is the only Snakes on a Plane fan film directed by the director himself! Score 1 for LiquidGeneration!
LIQUIDGENERATION: I’m the Monkey, I’m here with David R. Ellis the director of Snakes on a Plane.
DAVID R. ELLIS: Hey, I’m the snake!
LG: He’s the snake! There you go!
DE: The Monkey, is that really your thing?
LG: That’s my thing.
DE: Cool.
LG: The monkey and the snake. Okay, let’s get right into it. I’m a studio executive - pitch me this movie.
DE: Ah, okay, this is really tough. There’s gonna be like, uh, snakes okay? And they’re gonna like, be on a plane. And Samuel L. Jackson is going to be there and save the day.
LG: Sold! Sold. All right, can you tell us the story about Samuel L. Jackson and changing the movie title?
DE: Oh yeah, well, we never were going to change the title. What we did was when we were going out to actors, a lot of them weren’t taking it seriously because it was called Snakes on a Plane. So, we uh, changed the title on the script, the working title, to Pacific Air 121 just so they’d at least read it, ya know? And then always knowing that we were going back to Snakes on a Plane.
LG: What do you think about the internet’s obsession with the movie?
DE: I think it’s awesome. I think its great, I mean, we couldn’t buy this kind of advertising. It’s been amazing so…keep doing it
LG: There were rumors about the studio execs wanting the internet thing to go away for a while or trying to push the release back, is that true?
DE: Well what they just don’t want us to peak too quick, ya know? And because the buzz is so great, it would be great if we could release the movie tomorrow, but it’s not ready yet. I mean, it’s done, but there’s a lot of visual effects we need to put in the movie. So, and we looked at moving it up against the big summer movies because we think it can really hold its own, but at the same time you’re only going to play for like, a weekend before another Poseidon or X-Men 3 or Superman or something. They come out almost every weekend, so it’s better to just go in August. It’s our job now, the internet had started it, to keep the buzz up and then um, just keep putting stuff out there every couple of weeks, you know, to try to keep the awareness going.
LG: What was the hardest part about directing Snakes?
DE: Uh, nothing, really. Or directing snakes, actually? Snakes are hard to direct. Because they don’t listen, they get pissed off, you know and you know, they want to go to their trailers. They’re screwed up
LG: Why would you kill one man with a plane full of snakes? I did the numbers and they just don’t add up.
DE: Why would you kill one man?
LG: One man with an entire plane full of snakes.
DE: They don’t care about…the plan is to take down the whole plane. It’s not to try to get it to that one guy. They’ve released a pheromone inside the plane that is driving, that is in the air system, that’s driving the snakes freaking crazy. It’s like they’re on crack. So they’ve become very, very aggressive. So they just hope to kill everybody, the pilots - get in the electrical system, do whatever they can to take the plane down.
LG: So is Snakes on Crack ever an option?
DE: Uh, we could come back and do Snakes on Crack. Actually, some of the snakes on a plane are on crack and they’re in rehab right now.
LG: Ha ha nice. All right, uh, I’m just gonna ask you this point blank: are the snakes a metaphor for the Muslim terrorists?
DE: Ah, no.
LG: Okay.
DE: No.
LG: We’ll just stick with that.
DE: That’s a tricky one right there…all my Muslim friends. I have to be careful. Terrorist friends.
LG: How trainable are snakes?
DE: Ah, they’re not really. It’s not like a dog or a cat. They’re
tough, you know. Dogs you can teach anything, but snakes you pretty
much just wiggle around. You know, you can’t train them really.
LG: Did you have any close calls with the snakes biting people?
DE: Uh, not biting people, but we lost a couple sometimes and so we’d just have to stop shooting until we found them. Cause when you’re putting 200 snakes or 300 snakes on a plane and you have all these animal handlers, after the shot they wanna go into any dark place that they can. So we’d have to count them all and make sure we got them all back.
LG: So was this an actual old plane or was it a set?
DE: It was an old plane. It was an old 747 that we found, they found somewhere like, in Mojave, and we shipped to Canada and put it together up there and we designed the interior ourselves.
LG: Cool. Um, we’re all afraid of snakes, but in your opinion, why are black people so afraid of snakes?
DE: Boy, I don’t know. I don’t know what goes on there. (Laughter) That’s a tough question. Uh, I don’t know, that’s a good one. That’s a very political question. (Laughter) Why are black people afraid of snakes? I don’t think they’re afraid of trouser snakes. But other kinds of snakes, you know, maybe they just don’t dig ‘em.
LG: The movie Soul Plane wasn’t a critical success or a box office success - do you think the lack of snakes in the movie had something to do with it?
DE: Absolutely! That was the problem with that movie. Yeah, I mean, they had the perfect thing. That had a whole bunch of black people and they had no snakes. What’s that all about? Ya know?
LG: How do you think audiences will react to your movie after they see it? There’s all this buzz and everything…how do you think they’re gonna feel after?
DE: Right. I think they’re gonna dig it. It’s a real, it’s a great, it’s an hour and a half adrenaline ride and full on rush. We don’t let you go from the very opening. Um, so, it’s a great ride. There’s a lot of really good scares, ya know. The people are gonna jump a lot. They’re gonna have, you know, we take ourselves really seriously with the movie because its, it is about snakes killing a lot of people, but at the same time there’s some fun in the movie.
LG: Didn’t you guys, I read this so I don’t know if its true, you did re-shoots to make it more sexual, more violent? Or what was it?
DE: We did all of the above. The additional photography was to improve the nudity, cause there’s a mile high club scene where this young couple are smoking a joint and they start to get naked and then they get attacked by the snakes. Then there’s a lot more graphic violence and then, um, a lot of great dialogue for Sam Jackson that you can do in a R-rated movie that you can’t do in a PG 13.
LG: Will you give me one? In his voice?
DE: What’s your guys rating on this thing?
LG: We’ll beep it if we have to, don’t worry about it
DE: Okay, yeah… “Get these mother fucking snakes off..”…no… “I’m tired of these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!” I can’t do his voice. He’s got a sexy deep voice. It’s not gonna happen here.
LG: All right, fair enough.
DE: Now Monkey, how’d you get the Monkey thing?
LG: I don’t know, we just kinda started coming up with our own little names because we didn’t want people to know our real names, just in case, cause we offend a lot of people.
DE: Oh yeah, always good.
LG: Okay…
DE: Perfect.
LG: ... I did a Google image search…
DE: On that note - [ David presses button on a hidden fart machine ]
( Everyone cracks up laughing )
LG: I did a Google image search for David R. Ellis…
DE: Oh God.
LG:…just to see what you look like. So, here’s the pictures that came up. (holds up picture ) Is this you?
DE: That’s me, yes. That’s me.
LG: (holds up another picture) Is this you?
[EDITOR'S NOTE: See the video to see the rest of the pics]
DE: Uh that was, I was younger in that picture. A little bit younger. And I had a better tan going on. As you can see.
LG: [holds up another picture] Is this you?
DE: Uh, that wouldn’t be me. But I know that guy. I know that guy.
LG: Is he related? [holds up another picture] Is this you?
DE: Ah, that’s exactly me. But see, I, that was before I got the hair transplants you can see right there, in the front.
LG: And that’s it. And then, okay…
DE: You really did your homework, huh?
LG: Yeah, we don’t mess around!
DE: Good job!
LG: Do you have any funny stories or anything about while you were shooting the movie about snakes on a plane? On set or off or anything?
DE: Um…God, we had fun every day. I mean, you know, I’m a practical joker, so every time we’d have snakes loose, I’d have a little stick, ya know, and I’d be jabbing people and shit. Um, then we had, this was really funny, the fart machine went over really good because the makeup guy would carry it in his like, bag, and walk around the set and then I would just like, hit off like ( presses button on fart machine ) you know? But he’d walk by the people like, pretending like he didn’t do it and they’d just go “What the fuck?” you know. But we had fun every day. I mean we played practical jokes all day long every day and we had a really good time with it.
LG: Cool. Okay, we came up with some alternate titles for the movie.
DE: Okay.
LG: Tell me what you think: Snakes at 30,000 feet.
DE: Ummm, not as good.
LG: Okay. Snakes in your Luggage.
DE: That could work. During the filming actually, we heard a news story about a lady that um, got busted with a snake in her luggage
LG: Really?
DE: Yeah she, uh, they were checking it at security and they opened it up and this huge fucking snake, I mean huge snake. And uh, she said that it was her pet and must have gotten in when she was packing.
LG: Sweet!
DE: So that coulda happened.
LG: Okay. Coffee, Tea or Snakes?
DE: Coffee Tea or Snakes? Snake or a plane? It’s pretty good.
LG: Yeah? Okay, First Class or Snake Class?
DE: Oh, I like that. That’s good. It’s catchy.
LG: How about Snake Related Turbulence?
DE: Ahh, that’s good.
LG: Uh, Seat 13E: The Seat With The Motherfucking Snakes On It.
DE: I like that one, that’s good.
LG: Yeah?
DE: But you know you don’t wanna go there.
LG: No. (Laughs) Get Your Own Blue Chips, Snake
DE: Uh, I’m not even sure what you mean. (Laughs)
LG: All right, 24 Channels of Live TV – But You’ll Be Focused On The Snakes.
DE: That’s brilliant.
LG: Okay.
DE: What are you guys smoking? (Everyone laughs)
LG: Nothing!
DE: (Laughing) I wanna get some of it, cause it’s good.
LG: Okay, the last one is…
DE: Just mondo bizarro.
LG:…Ballistic: Snakes vs Plane
DE: Uh, it could work.
LG: Been done?
DE: I’ll submit all these to my producers.
LG: Okay, I like it. Uh, then the last one is…
DE: But if you don’t get a check, don’t be offended.
LG: I won’t be offended; I’ll just take the credit.
DE: Okay, good.
LG: On the internet, the phrase “Snakes on a Plane” refers to something crazy or outlandish, like “Oh my God, that shit’s motherfuckin’ Snakes on a Plane!”
DE: Right.
LG: Okay. But couldn’t the phrase also be sexual, as in “Baby, tonight’s the night, I’m gonna put my snake in yo plane”?
DE: Absolutely !
LG: Yeah? You’re gonna use that, aren’t you?
DE: Uh-huh, oh yeah, I use it all the time. You know, coming in for a landing.
LG: I like it! All right, well thank you very much!
DE: Awesome, thank you very much.
LG: We appreciate it.
DE: ( Points to rubber snakes on the couch) You can take your snakes.
LG: I will take my snakes. But before we finish here, would you direct a scene for us of Snakes on a Plane?
DE: Oh it’d be my pleasure, absolutely.
LG: Okay.
LG and DE: Let’s do this.
To see the Snakes on a Plane Director Fan Film, go here.
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