I can’t imagine a more fitting place for a screening of ‘Rats’ than New York City.
Director Morgan Spurlock has created a documentary as horrifying as it is entertaining. Inspired by Robert Sullivan’s best selling book of the same name, ‘Rats’ centers around how people from all over the globe interact with the titular critters. I recently had the chance to speak with Spurlock, Sullivan, and the film’s captivating interviewee: Ed Sheehan.
[Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.]
How long have you been an exterminator?
Sheehan: It’ll be fifty years next year.
What are some of the more memorable things you’ve seen?
Sheehan: One of the more memorable things that I’ve seen is how the pest control industry has evolved over the years. It’s so technologically advanced now; we took it way up to the next level. The poisons we were using were harmful, and you have to weigh risk with return, so our industry got on top of the ball and said ok, we’ll do some research. Now, a lot of the things we do are a lot less toxic. You can’t use the word safer, cause when I walk out in that street tonight, it’s not safe. I might get hit in the ass with a torpedo—I might. People say that pesticides and everything “have been known to…” and “might do this…” but there’s no definite though. So any way, it’s just become a lot more professional over the years.
What has being a part of this film been like?
Sheehan: It’s been a lot of fun. What I liked is that they didn’t try and tell me what to say; they didn’t try to push me in a direction. They told me to just get up in front of the camera and say whatever I wanted. Some of the stuff is probably not factually true, it’s just my friggin opinion, which I’m entitled to say. It was great; they couldn’t have been nicer to us.
I’ve heard that they eat nutria in Louisiana.
Sheehan: They also shoot them. They’re a giant rodent, but they’re not here though.
I’m glad for that. Would you ever eat rat?
Sheehan: You know what I tell people? I eat chicken. If I was brought up where rats were eaten—it’s food. My question is this: my chicken is raised in a farm where it gets proper medication, proper feed. There are rats called hooded rats that they use in experiments, they’re given proper food, proper medication. So you know what, it’s a protein. It’s just that I’m not used to that, and there’s another reason in the film that you’re going to see, but I’m not going to mention it.
What should I do I find a rat in my apartment?
Sheehan: Just make a lot of noise. They want to avoid you as much as you want to avoid them. They’re usually very active right after dusk and before dawn, so after that, look around the house and find how they got in. Pull the stove out. One thing we find is that where the gas pipe goes into the wall, there’s usually a big hole there. Take a look at the radiators, or the heating apparatus, underneath the sinks for the waste pipes and stuff like that. If you find a hole that isn’t that big, get your self some copper mesh, not steel wool because it’ll rust, and pack it in as tight as you can.
How do you feel about your book being adapted into a movie?
Sullivan: Shocked, surprised, amazed—did I already say surprised?
How did you get interested in rats? It’s quite the topic.
Sullivan: I kind of like places that are disgusting, and that people don’t consider nice, because I’m always thinking to myself: Who decided that that place is not nice? Why do you get to pollute that place? Who said one place is better than anther? And rats, at some point, appeared to be the theme park character of those places
What got you interested in this project?
Spurlock: When I first read the Robert Sullivan book, my friend had already optioned it to turn it into a movie, and I’m a life long horror film fan, so after I read it I said, “so what if we made a horror-documentary. What if we made a documentary as scary, as creepy, as unsettling, and gave you the hibbie jibbies as much as a typical horror film.” And that’s what we came in wanting to accomplish, and I think that we pulled it off.
Is the documentary inherently unsettling because of the subject material, or do you have the score, and the editing, and everything all working towards the same goal?
Spurlock: I think it starts off unsettling because some people are freaked out by rats, and then I really think it builds on top of that with the score, the way that it’s shot, and the way that it looks. I think all of that just adds up to a much more satisfying movie.
Plenty of people have this visceral reaction to rats, what’s your opinion about them?
Spurlock: I think you can’t help but respect the rat. You look at the rat and you respect them for how incredibly nimble they are, how agile they are, how adaptive they are. I think that when you watch this film you can’t help but respect them a little bit. You still may not like them, but you’ll definitely respect them.
In some cultures, they eat rats. How do you feel about that?
Spurlock: Listen, I’m a hillbilly who grew up in West Virginia eating squirrel, so I don’t know if I can really point fingers. A squirrel is just a sexy rat, that’s all it is, just a pretty rat.
After this film, you seem to be the natural choice to direct a live action remake of Pixar’s ‘Ratatouille,’ inevitably, when it happens. How do you feel about hopping on the Hollywood bandwagon?
Spurlock: I think they should sign me up! Pixar should call me immediately, I’m in.
‘Rats’ premiers October 22nd on Discovery.
