Focus Features

Dana Wynter and Kevin McCarthy in an iconic
shot from Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is not only one of the best sci-fi films ever made, it's also an example of fast-paced, intelligent maverick filmmaking at its very best.

The director, Don Siegel, had this to say about the making of the film:

"Walter Wanger, the superb producer of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, discovered the story in Collier’s magazine. Wanger gave me a copy of the story after he got Allied Artists interested in making the film. I suggested Danny Mainwaring to write the screenplay. Walter agreed and his enthusiasm was matched by my excitement. Despite the absurd title, which cheapened the content of the story (the main actor, Kevin McCarthy, suggested a Shakespearean title, 'Sleep No More', which naturally the executives didn't like), we recognised that a most original film could be made – not only entertaining, but frightening as well.

The story concerns alien beings taking over the bodies of humans. The aliens assume the exact likeness of real people while gestating in pods. But these 'pods' possess no soul, emotion or culture. They exist like cows munching grass, without a care plaguing them. They are incapable of love; passion is unknown. They simply live – breathing, eating, sleeping. Danny and I knew that many of our associates, acquaintances and family were already pods. How many of them woke up in the morning, ate breakfast (but never read the newspaper), went to work, returned home to eat again and went to sleep?

In the last sequence of the film Kevin McCarthy's character has reached the freeway and tries desperately to warn the oncoming drivers of the dangers they face from the pods. All the shots, supposedly on the Hollywood Freeway, of Kevin trying to communicate with the drivers, stopping traffic, etc., were shot on a crossbridge scarcely used. The police allowed only our cars and trucks, about fifty, driven only by stunt drivers. No second unit was used here or anywhere else in the picture. There were no process shots in the picture: every shot was authentic. The shots of Kevin's final scene were filmed just before dawn, and Kevin was in real danger, considering that he was at the breaking point of complete exhaustion. The stuntmen knew this and were alert to the fact that might fall down, but happily there were no accidents.

Allied Artists, busting to the seams with pods, took Wanger's and my final cut and edited out all the humor. In their hallowed words, 'Horror films are horror films and there's no room for humor.' I translated that to mean that in their pod brains there was no room for humor. The studio also insisted on a prologue and an epilogue. Wanger was very much against this, as was I. However, he begged me to shoot it to protect the film, and I reluctantly consented. The epilogue started with Kevin being taken back to the town's hospital, trying to convince the incredulous psychiatrist and the hospital doctor of the pods taking over the world. An emergency case is brought in whom the ambulance driver says was injured when a truck full of pods turned over. The psychiatrist looks at Kevin, picks up the phone and asks for the FBI.

Oddly enough, in Europe and in the 'underground' in America, Invasion of the Body Snatchers was shown with the prologue and epilogue edited out. Like this, it was known as 'the Siegel version.'"

Extract taken from A Siegel Film: An Autobiographyby Don Siegel (Faber & Faber, 1993).

Essential Viewing: The Big Steal [Buy], Riot in Cell Block 11, Invasion of the Body Snatchers [Buy], The Lineup [Buy], Flaming Star [Buy], The Killers [Buy], Madigan [Buy], Coogan's Bluff [Buy], The Beguiled [Buy], Dirty Harry [Buy], Charley Varrick [Buy], Escape from Alcatraz [Buy].

Dana Wynter and Kevin McCarthy in an iconic
shot from Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is not only one of the best sci-fi films ever made, it's also an example of fast-paced, intelligent maverick filmmaking at its very best.

The director, Don Siegel, had this to say about the making of the film:

"Walter Wanger, the superb producer of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, discovered the story in Collier’s magazine. Wanger gave me a copy of the story after he got Allied Artists interested in making the film. I suggested Danny Mainwaring to write the screenplay. Walter agreed and his enthusiasm was matched by my excitement. Despite the absurd title, which cheapened the content of the story (the main actor, Kevin McCarthy, suggested a Shakespearean title, 'Sleep No More', which naturally the executives didn't like), we recognised that a most original film could be made – not only entertaining, but frightening as well.

The story concerns alien beings taking over the bodies of humans. The aliens assume the exact likeness of real people while gestating in pods. But these 'pods' possess no soul, emotion or culture. They exist like cows munching grass, without a care plaguing them. They are incapable of love; passion is unknown. They simply live – breathing, eating, sleeping. Danny and I knew that many of our associates, acquaintances and family were already pods. How many of them woke up in the morning, ate breakfast (but never read the newspaper), went to work, returned home to eat again and went to sleep?

In the last sequence of the film Kevin McCarthy's character has reached the freeway and tries desperately to warn the oncoming drivers of the dangers they face from the pods. All the shots, supposedly on the Hollywood Freeway, of Kevin trying to communicate with the drivers, stopping traffic, etc., were shot on a crossbridge scarcely used. The police allowed only our cars and trucks, about fifty, driven only by stunt drivers. No second unit was used here or anywhere else in the picture. There were no process shots in the picture: every shot was authentic. The shots of Kevin's final scene were filmed just before dawn, and Kevin was in real danger, considering that he was at the breaking point of complete exhaustion. The stuntmen knew this and were alert to the fact that might fall down, but happily there were no accidents.

Allied Artists, busting to the seams with pods, took Wanger's and my final cut and edited out all the humor. In their hallowed words, 'Horror films are horror films and there's no room for humor.' I translated that to mean that in their pod brains there was no room for humor. The studio also insisted on a prologue and an epilogue. Wanger was very much against this, as was I. However, he begged me to shoot it to protect the film, and I reluctantly consented. The epilogue started with Kevin being taken back to the town's hospital, trying to convince the incredulous psychiatrist and the hospital doctor of the pods taking over the world. An emergency case is brought in whom the ambulance driver says was injured when a truck full of pods turned over. The psychiatrist looks at Kevin, picks up the phone and asks for the FBI.

Oddly enough, in Europe and in the 'underground' in America, Invasion of the Body Snatchers was shown with the prologue and epilogue edited out. Like this, it was known as 'the Siegel version.'"

Extract taken from A Siegel Film: An Autobiographyby Don Siegel (Faber & Faber, 1993).

Essential Viewing: The Big Steal [Buy], Riot in Cell Block 11, Invasion of the Body Snatchers [Buy], The Lineup [Buy], Flaming Star [Buy], The Killers [Buy], Madigan [Buy], Coogan's Bluff [Buy], The Beguiled [Buy], Dirty Harry [Buy], Charley Varrick [Buy], Escape from Alcatraz [Buy].