Pitt admin discusses writing “Snakes”

Samuel L. Jackson wants those snakes off of that plane. Little does he know that a Pitt… Samuel L. Jackson wants those snakes off of that plane. Little does he know that a Pitt administrator put them there in the first place.

David Dalessandro, associate vice chancellor of university development, wrote the story that eventually became “Snakes on a Plane.”

In a recent interview with The Pitt News, Dalessandro discussed the script’s progress over the last decade, from its inception to the big screen.

“I did not set out to write a movie about snakes on a plane,” Dalessandro said. “I wasn’t sitting around throwing darts at a wall.”

The idea arose in the mid ’90s, when Dalessandro heard about an employee of the Forestry Service in Hawaii. The man was responsible for catching snakes at the Honolulu airport that had flown over from Guam.

Shortly after World War II, brown tree snakes were inadvertently transferred from Burma to Guam. After annihilating Guam’s bird population, the non-indigenous snakes started hitching rides in cargo holds.

“They got on planes, and they flew to Hawaii,” laughed Dalessandro. Brown tree snakes are harmless, but he detected the beginnings of a screenplay.

“I said, well gee wiz, what if one of the snakes that came over was poisonous? Just what if?”

Seeing as American snakes are “wusses,” Dalessandro looked to Australia to find a sufficiently scary reptile. The Taipan holds enough venom to kill 100 men, and the species is fiercely territorial: “If they were let loose, they would basically try to take over the plane as their territory,” he said.

And then there was the matter of location. Hollywood had certainly dabbled with killer snakes in the past, but, as Dalessandro explained, snakes on the ground aren’t particularly scary — you can just run away. Put them in an enclosed space, on the other hand, and you’re in business.

While the snakes cause plenty of problems for the humans on board, the setting also allowed for the creatures to threaten the plane itself. The mechanical structures are relatively fragile, so a pack of angry snakes can easily gum up the works.

“These planes still have wires for rudders, for goodness sakes,” said Dalessandro. A snake that isn’t busy biting humans could wind itself around the rudder and take down the entire plane, offering yet another way to terrify audiences.

After the script took shape — entitled “Venom” at the time — it went up for auction to 30 studios.

“I’m thinking, wow, seven figures plus I’m going to be it,” Dalessandro said. But the response didn’t quite live up to his expectations. “Anaconda” had just received the green light, so all 30 studios turned down another script about snakes. “Basically I was dead in Hollywood. No one returned my phone calls anymore.”

But in 1999, new hope arose for “Venom.” The idea was pitched to a division of Dreamworks, and Dalessandro received a phone call asking for a copy of the script.

The events of September 11, 2001, almost brought “Venom” to another halt, but Dalessandro wasn’t about to let it go so easily. There was no reason to dismiss the project, he explained, as the snakes could be symbolic of al-Qaeda.

After bouncing around several studios, New Line Cinema finally put the project in motion. “Venom” went through several revisions with some changes to the beginning and end, but the middle remained true to Dalessandro’s script.

Although Dalessandro originally wrote an Indiana Jones-type protagonist, the character shifted dramatically when Samuel L. Jackson came onboard. In an oddly notorious episode, Jackson backed changing the title to “Snakes on a Plane.”

“Everyone thought it was a joke: ‘Snakes on a Plane,’ what a stupid title,” said Dalessandro. But the title doesn’t mean that it’s a spoof. “If somebody made a movie called ‘A Policeman in a Skyscraper,’ and it was made as well as ‘Diehard,’ no one would care what the title is.”

While enthusiasm continues to build, “Snakes on a Plane” never lacked Internet buzz. Partially because of the title alone, the Web turned the film into a cult classic before it was even released.

“It’s kind of an out-of-body experience,” Dalessandro said.

Although the pressure might be on for studios to recreate the buzz, Dalessandro insisted that Internet interest can’t be forced. “It’s something that either grabs the imagination of the public or it doesn’t.” For those hoping to make it big with a bit of copycatting, there’s little hope: “I’ve ruined snakes-on-a-plane movies forever.”

Dalessandro offered advice to blossoming screenwriters by explaining that you have to keep the joy of writing separate from the belief that you’ll receive $6 million for every script. “It just doesn’t happen that way,” he said.

While Dalessandro will continue to write, he doesn’t see anything like “Snakes on a Plane” in his future.

“The worst thing in the world would be to sit down and say, ‘Hmm, what other animal could I match with what other mode of transportation?'” he said.

When asked if “Snakes on a Plane” has an underlying social commentary like many classic horror flicks, Dalessandro didn’t hesitate for a second: “No. This one will scare the bejesus out of people.”