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INSIDE BAY AREA (Oakland, California) 11 August 06 In reality, it's cold up here for a snake (Alejandro Alfonso)
Could snakes on a plane happen for real?
Probably not. Serious snake hobbyists will regard the movie as escapist entertainment. It's a movie that will attract couples who want to snuggle close, Samuel L. Jackson fans, the bare-chested guy you see at the beach and street fairs with a boa contrictor wrapped around his shoulders and morbid types rooting for the snakes to kill everyone.
Silliness is what some would call it. But there is something unique about the buzz this movie has created. The combination of snakes and a plane ride has stirred the collective imagination.
Snakes have inspired myths, phobias, worship, original sin and Hollywood movies. Misconceptions about them, and the mystery behind their behavior, have made them the perfect antagonists. It's not a stretch that they could play the role of terrorists on a plane.
"We're preying on people who are ignorant," says Jules Sylvester, the guy who wrangled up all the snakes in the movie. The owner of Reptile Rentals, he has more than 300 film credits to his name and is a regular guest on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
Sylvester says the premise of the movie is not realistic. For one thing, it's cold in the cargo area of an airplane, and when the temperature drops, snakes become inactive and lose their appetite.
Despite the hype around the fact that real snakes were used in the film, only two, an albino cobra and a diamondback rattlesnake, were poisonous. The rest were non-venomous, harmless snakes, he says.
The public's fear of creepy-crawlies has madeSylvester, who also worked on the set of "Arachnophobia," a movie about killer spiders, a good living.
He says, "As long as there is a dollar in it, I'll go for it."
Still, snakes can be deadly. They hunt by stealth, surprise prey and apply a merciless death grip before swallowing their food whole. A bite from a venomous snake can mean death for a human being who cannot get treatment.
Perhaps the fascination snake hobbyists have with their subjects could be attributed to certain characteristics, the shedding of old skin and seemingly effortless movements.
Owen Maercks, co-owner of the East Bay Vivarium in Berkeley, has more than 30 years experience handling snakes. He describes his interest in snakes as "taking an adventure in an alien world."
He says, "Because they are animals, but not mammals, their behavior patterns are completely different from ours. They are endlessly fascinating."
Maercks regards the idea of "Snakes on a Plane" as absurd. But he doesn't discount the very real threat snakes could pose in the wrong hands and is even surprised it has not yet happened.
"It isn't diffcult to get snakes on a plane," he says. Hobbyists fly with their snakes all the time — until now airport security has not been trained to spot snakes in luggage. A snake's skeleton passing through the X-ray monitor doesn't raise alarm bells.
"I could picture someone who knows how to handle a snake, especially a poisonous one, taking over the cockpit of an airplane and using the snake to keep everyone else away," he says.
Perhaps terrorists are scared of snakes too.
In reality, it's cold up here for a snake

SAN MATEO COUNTY TIMES (California) 11 August 06 Nature's bad guys have had rep forever (Barry Caine)
'there's a big snake in the plane ... "
Bet you think that line's from the upcoming thriller about things that go hiss in the flight.
Bet you're wrong.
No need to check out Thursday night's "Snakes a Plane" opening.
Trust me.
Indiana Jones makes the comment when he uncovers a companion's pet in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
"I hate snakes ... ," Jones says. "I hate'em."
Wuss.
Even Guy Madison had the wherewithal to spit in the face of a rattler in the'50s Western "The Charge at Feather River." Nothing like a glob of 3-D spittle to frighten off a creepy-crawly.
Snakes scare people. Hollywood capitalizes.
Shrieking in theaters provides an outlet — and it has for eons.
The deep-rooted fear can be traced to Adam and Eve and Melvin, the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Melvin whispers his poison in Eve's ear — and thus begins the evolution of the cell phone.
As well as Grade-B horror movies.
The lengthy list slithers with pulp riches such as "Anaconda," the best big snake movie of 1997. Any picture with J-Lo, Ice Cube and Owen Wilson deserves some respect.
Other self-explanatory titles include "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" (aka "Anaconda Lite", "Rattler," "Copperhead," "Snakes," "Snake Island," "Sssssss," "Viper" and "Gary, the Garter Snake with Attitude." (Just kidding.)
Snake Plissken, the slippery antihero of "Escape From New York," "Escape From L.A." and "Escape From Cleveland," also could go on that list. But I had to make cuts for the greater good.
"I think people are just not comfortable with snakes," "Snakes on a Plane" director David R. Ellis says over the phone. "It's like mice. Some little tiny mice scare the (bleep) out of people."
Let's see, "Mice on a Plane"?
It lacks something.
Maybe "Snakes" star Samuel L. Jackson changing his character's already-famous line to: "That's it! I have had it with these (bleep-bleeping) mice on this (bleep-bleeping) plane!"
Blog that baby.
Ellis says he was fine with his picture's critters — 400 real snakes, the rest computer-generated — because his son has a snake.
Cast members were less secure, which helped them pop into character.
"You're nervous when they bring in a snake 25 feet long," the director says. "It took six people to carry it.
"It was great for the actors. They looked scared to death."
Which is what you want in a snake movie.
"Snake" producers sent Ellis a nest of snake films to look at for research. "I didn't watch any of them," he says.
The director of thrillers such as "Cellular" and "Final Destination 2" and a former stunt man, Ellis prefers to "use my gut, see what works, what doesn't, and not try to copy.
"That's what I try to do on every film. It takes some leaps of faith to ask audiences to (buy into) the setup. Hopefully they get through it," he says.
"There's not a lot of fat in my films. They're not too long. They keep audiences on the edge of their seats. And they take them on a really fun ride."
Fine and dandy. But as devil's advocate Indiana Jones says in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?"
Nature's bad guys have had rep forever