Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on October 18, 2013, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Amidst all the eight-legged destruction in Big Ass Spider!, what truly sets the movie apart from the usual nature-run-amok flick is the often hilarious buddy act of Greg Grunberg and Lombardo Boyar as the storyโs unlikely heroes. And sitting down for an interview with the two actors is just as much fun.
Promoting Big Ass Spider! at New York Comic-Con, Grunberg and Boyar have the same infectious comic energy they do on screen. Directed by Mike Mendez, the movie casts Grunbergโa familiar face from TVโs Heroes, Alias and othersโas exterminator Alex and Boyar as security guard Jose, who just happen to be at the right place at the right time to save LA from a rampageous, ever-growing arachnid (see our review of the movie here). And the duo completely won over this interviewer as wellโฆ
Were you cast in Big Ass Spider! at the same time, or did one of you bring the other on board?
GREG GRUNBERG: I got on board first. I was really interested in doing a film like this. This is my genre, this is what I love to doโIโm such a fan of sci-fi moviesโand I didnโt want to do anything typical. I always want to do something I can steal, that I can make my own, and it always ends up on the editing-room floor. Weโre both the same way, and Bardoโs one of my closest friends; weโve known each other and worked together for a long time.
So I met with Mike, and he showed me some of the effects, and I was like, โThis is so cool, this could be great.โ Hearing his vision of it and knowing that he really knows how to craft a film, I felt this could be a lot of fun. He said there was room for improv; the script was solid in story, but it needed more character, and I said right away, โIโve got the guy. Iโve got Jose, we donโt need to look any further.โ They knew who Lombardo was, but heโs not known for comedy, in the same way that Iโm not known for comedy. Weโve both come up in the drama world. But I was like, โTrust me, please,โ and they didnโt know me well enough to trust me, but thankfully they did. They contacted Lombardo, andโฆwhat was the first thing they said?
LOMBARDO BOYAR: Mike just wanted to know if I had a mustache. [Both laugh] Luckily, I did have a cool mustache going at the time. I was having a day that wasnโt going too good; I was bummed out. I pulled into my driveway and got this frantic call from Greg, saying, โIโm sitting here with this director, Mike Mendez, and weโre gonna do this big spider movie!โ I was like, โWhoa, slow down!โ
GRUNBERG: I was like, โYouโre doing it! Trust me, youโve gotta do it!โ I did a movie called Group Sex that I wrote and starred in, with Tom Arnold, Henry Winkler and all these great people, and Bardo was in it. There was no casting, weโre just friends. So I was like, โDude, do this movie. Just say yes, and weโre gonna make it the best we can make it.โ This was like nothing weโve ever done. It was so fucking cool.
BOYAR: It was so awesome, and we changed probably every one of my lines. I donโt think I said anything that was scripted.
GRUNBERG: You created!
BOYAR: Yeah, it was great. We went through the scenes and wanted to make this movie better, and hopefully we did. We had a blast.
GRUNBERG: Everybody from the top down, from Mike to Patrick [Ewald] and Shaked [Berenson] at Epic Pictures, was great. On a movie like this, thereโs low-budget and then thereโs no-budget, where weโre all just in it to make it a good product, you know? Prior to doing a scene, usually you have to hunt the other actor down and say, โHey, you want to read it together just for memorization?โ We were like, โNo, how do we make this better?โ Like the scene in the back of the truck where heโs encouraging me and saying, โHey, like Robin, or Robรญnโโฆ
BOYAR: It was all stuff we improvised. Mike told me to come up with a list of teams. And he still gets mad that nobody laughs at the Hall and Oates thing.
GRUNBERG: Itโs funny!
BOYAR: Itโs a little outdated.
GRUNBERG: No, itโs awesome! And especially, we got to drive around in the truck, and at one point we pulled in somewhere and bought hot dogs.
BOYAR: Yeah, in downtown LAโand itโs funny, because everyone just assumes we had a permit. Everybody shoots in downtownโฆ
GRUNBERG: Yeah, but south of Alameda, you do what you want, man. Live ammo, no problem. Itโs just like, who cares? And there are 700-plus effects shots, so there were times, especially at the end of the movie, when Bardo and I were just looking up at nothing, pretending stuff was there.
Given all the improv you did, how much did you also have to conform to the shots they needed in order to put the FX in?
GRUNBERG: Oh, 100 percent.
BOYAR: We always had to know what was going on, so the effects would go right. And because it was low-budget, a lot of times we had just one or two takes. We had to be ready to bring it.
GRUNBERG: There were only a couple of times I would turn to Bardo. Thatโs another thingโyou have a barometer as an actor. The one person you want to satisfy is the director. On this one, we had twoโI mean, he was mine and hopefully I was his. There were moments when I said, โDude, youโve got to tell me when Iโm over the top. Youโve got to tell me if Iโm playing this real.โ Because without the stakes staying the stakesโฆ I mean, itโs Big Ass Spider! The title tells you we arenโt taking this too seriously. But at the same time, itโs a real movie.
You have to play the menace of the spider straight, or the comedy doesnโt have anything to play off of.
GRUNBERG: Exactly, and take your job seriously. I mean, Jose is serious about being a security guard. His boss told him to help me, and heโs gonna help me until we die. And I take my job seriously. Iโve got my own formula for the spray. Iโm a good exterminator, and Iโm gonna see this through if I can.
You mentioned that youโre fans of this kind of movie in generalโฆ
GRUNBERG: Yeah, Iโve always been a sci-fi fan. Itโs funny; right before I left, my kids were like, โCan we see Jaws?โ My sonโs doing this huge thing on sharks at school, and he was like, โIs that kind of like Big Ass Spider!?โ And I said, โYou know what? Kind of.โ [Laughs] I mean, although itโs not bigger than lifeโitโs the true size of the sharkโthe shark certainly is bigger than life in their minds, and how scary it is.
BOYAR: Iโm just gonna say this because itโs on my mind right now: Everybodyโs raving about Gravity and how itโs only 90 minutes? [Ours is] 87 minutes! [Hits the table]
GRUNBERG: 87 minutes! Thatโs true.
That actually leads into my next question. How much improv did you guys do thatโs not in the film?
GRUNBERG: You know, usually I can tell you exactly which lines I came up with, because I wasnโt really allowed to come up with that much. Especially on Alias and Heroes, where it was so story-driven that you had to hit those points for the audience. Most of the time, it was clarification on my part. [Heroes co-executive producers] Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander would always joke about it; they were like โOh, there he is, Jimmy Two Times.โ You remember that [GoodFellas] character Jimmy Two Times, who would repeat everything? I would repeat stuff just for clarification.
BOYAR: In case someone went to the bathroom and missed it.
GRUNBERG: Yeah! I would be like, โYouโre telling me that Sylar can actually kill the whole world? Sylar can kill the whole world?โ I would say that twice, so that people would really understand it. But I remember those moments. On this movie, so much of what we did, which was a lot, stayed in the movie, and I canโt even tell you what they didnโt use.
BOYAR: I donโt know how many deleted scenes there are, actually. Because we got almost everything in there. We shot what we needed, pretty much.
GRUNBERG: It was interesting, having that much flexibility. We learned a lot about working together, even though we were so comfortable already.
BOYAR: Even though I was in Group Sex, we never had any scenes together. He was always acting with other people, so this was awesome.
GRUNBERG: Also, when youโre improv-ing, obviously you donโt work on it. The whole idea of improv-ing is that youโre coming up with stuff, and you have to work with somebody you trust, โcause itโs like youโre jumping out of a plane and saying, โBardo, you better fucking catch me, man.โ And he was always there, always listening, the same way I would do for him.
BOYAR: You remember the scene where heโs in the shaft, with the walkie? That scene turned out so amazing! I went with what you were saying, and it just worked.
GRUNBERG: Yeah, like that โizquierdaโ thing, where it was like, โIzquierda.โ โYouโre scared of what?โ [Both laugh] And how about โWhatโs a junction?โ It was just so funny. Actually, what didnโt make it in was a lot of the โI know Spanish.โ โYou donโt know Spanish.โ โI know Spanish!โ Remember that, in the truck? We were driving and I was like, โI know this word, I know that word.โ
BOYAR: Yeah, a lot of times in the truck, they couldnโt really stay behind us, so they just let us go. They didnโt even know what we were doing.
Mike Mendez said you guys would just drive off with the camera mounted on the truck, and nobody knew where you were going.
GRUNBERG: Yeah, it was like, โAll right, weโre just going to let you go,โ with the cameras rolling. I was like, โOh my God, are you kidding me? Here we go!โ [Laughs] And we just had fun with it.
Did you run into any trouble or have any funny incidents, driving off on your own like that?
GRUNBERG: You in your security outfit, didnโt you? Walking down the street?
BOYAR: Yeah, and the great thing was that I knew I looked real, because other Mexican security guards who were really working in the area would come up to me, like, โWhat company do you work for?โ โNo, man, Iโm just playing a security guard.โ โOh, you look good, man! You look real.โ [Both laugh]
GRUNBERG: โI work for Big Ass Security.โ
BOYAR: It was hilarious. The walkie I hadโฆI mean, there was no budget. The walkie was like a phone charger, with a cord they rigged up and Velcro on it. There were so many scenes where it would be falling off.
GRUNBERG: The one thing about a movie with this budget isโand knowing that hopefully it will be a cult classic, and weโll get to do a series of them? The last day, dude, I stole everything.
BOYAR: You did?
GRUNBERG: Oh, fuck yeah! I took my jumpsuit, because I want my kids to have it. I took the sprayerโฆ
BOYAR: Donโt steal, kids!
GRUNBERG: No, steal anything you can, because I donโt want stuff to end up in an auction where I have to buy it. I want my children to have it. It means something; itโs priceless to them. To somebody else itโs like, โOh, $300,โ and theyโll sell it for $400 or whatever.
BOYAR: Yeah, my security guard outfit, Iโll never find again. Thatโs gone. The funny thing is, we were joking on the set, like, โWouldnโt it be great if somebody dressed up like us for Halloween?
GRUNBERG: Thatโs our dream.
BOYAR: This Halloween, I want to see Jose and Alex! Send us your pics!
GRUNBERG: Yeah, I want a little kid to come to the door and be, like, โTrick or treat!โ and then squirt the people in the face!
