Squirm/Fun Facts

• One of the insert shots of the electrical towers in the opening scenes is from the film Ocean's 11 (1963).

• Once in the 1980s, WPIX-TV in New York accidentally showed the film in black-and-white. Instead of complaining, Jeff Lieberman called the station and mentioned how much he loved the way the film looked. In fact, Lieberman prefers people to watch the film in black-and-white even though a black-and-white version is not available. Instead, you should turn the color down all the way on your television set.

• Kim Basinger auditioned for the female lead.

• Sylvester Stallone eagerly pursued the casting agents for the part of Roger, and Martin Sheen was briefly attached to the project to play Mick.

• According to director Jeff Lieberman, the reason actress Jean Sullivan spoke with such an exaggerated southern accent was because she was a fan of Tennessee Williams and was playing homage to him.

• During the production there was a mix up with the film processing lab. Footage from a wedding was accidentally sent to Lieberman and B roll footage of worms for the film was sent to the newlyweds!

• The unearthly screech-like sounds used for the worms are actually the sounds of screaming pigs in slaughterhouses.

• According to director Jeff Lieberman, there was no trickery used in the scene where the tree falls and smashes through the Sanders' dinning room. Lieberman said it was all done in one take with an actual cut tree being released from a crane to fall through the constructed set; complete with the actors on set! Several cameras were placed inside the set to capture the actors literally fleeing for their lives as the large tree landed within feet of them.

• Aside from the main cast the rest of the people featured in the film were locals of Port Wentworth, Georgia -- the small town where the film was shot on location.
• The inspiration for the film came from a childhood experiment between director Jeff Lieberman and his brother. One evening the two hooked up a train transformer to wet soil and used the electricity to drive hundreds of worms out of the ground. Young Lieberman noticed that the worms tried to get away from the glare of the flashlight that the boys were using to see by because worms are light-sensitive. It became the scientific basis behind this film and the story of the experiment is re-told by the character of Roger Grimes.

• Jeff Lieberman chose Brian Smedley-Aston to edit the film because Smedley-Aston was the editor on Performance (1970), one of Lieberman's favorite films.

• R.A. Dow, who played Roger, was a method actor and lived in Port Wentworth, Georgia for a few weeks before the shoot began so he could develop a feel for the local character.

• The film was shot in 24 days.

• The amount of sea worms used in the film was countless, as the production would order shipments of 250,000 Glycera worms at a time. The production would end up wiping out New England's supply of Glycera fishing worms that year.

• Director Jeff Lieberman cited Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) as the films biggest influence.

• On the DVD commentary for the film Jeff Lieberman' says that the old farmhouse used for Mr. Beardsley's home during the shoot is known as one of the most infamous haunted houses in Georgia.

• The shot of the worms pouring out of the living room ceiling was actually a reverse shot. The camera was turned upside down and filmed live worms being dropped onto a floor that was a mock-up of the ceiling. When the footage was reversed it appeared that the worms fall from a hole in the ceiling.