Ross Jennings

Dr. **Ross Jennings** is a general practitioner physician originally from San Francisco. He is married to Molly Jennings and with her, has two children, Tommy and Shelly.

In reliance on a promise by Dr. Sam Metcalf, Jennings and his family moved to the small town of Canaima, intending to succeed the aging physician as the town's sole general practitioner. In the midst of this change, Jennings, a lifelong arachnophobe, was caught in the center of an infestation of deadly spiders that had been inadvertently imported from a recent expedition into the Venezuelan rainforest. Although initially blamed for spider-caused deaths of his patients, Dr. Jennings deduced the threat of the creatures and verified his suspicions through a number of autopsies.

Shortly thereafter, Dr. Jennings discovered nests of the arachnids in his house's barn and wine cellar, guarded by the two governing spiders, the General and Queen. In a climactic battle in his cellar, Dr. Jennings overcame his arachnophobia and defeated the eight-legged terror. Along with the efforts of exterminator Delbert McClintock, Dr. Jennings erased the threat from Canaima and moved back to San Francisco.

## Biography

### Early life

As a baby, Jennings developed arachnophobia when a spider or other arachnid—perhaps a daddy long-legs—crawled into his crib and crept up his leg and towards his face. Jennings was paralyzed during the encounter, feeling as though he had been explored by an alien organism. The encounter left him permanently traumatized and unable to interact with spiders in any capacity.

Later in life, Dr. Jennings attended Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated medical school and became a successful physician. Dr. Jennings married his wife Molly, a successful stock broker, with whom he had two children, Tommy and Shelly. Together, the family resided in San Francisco, California.

In 1990 or shortly beforehand, Dr. Jennings came into contact with Dr. Sam Metcalf, a country doctor servicing the small town of Canaima, California, who intended to retire. Jennings, seeking to escape urban life into the idyllic seaside town, came to an understanding with Metcalf that the fledgling family would move to Canaima and peacefully replace Metcalf as the town’s resident physician.

### Canaima Medical Struggles

Upon arriving in Canaima, Jennings and his family eagerly moved into a newly purchased Victorian style house, complete with a wine cellar, a lifelong dream of the doctor.

Unbeknownest to the new arrivals, a deadly spider imported from Venezuela had also inadvertently arrived in the town’s mortuary on board the casket of a Canaima native, Jerry Manley. The spider, an alpha of its species, departed the mortuary and was transported to the Jennings residence by a bird. In their barn, the spider mated with a domestic house spider which his wife had rescued and relocated to the barn. There, the spiders busied themselves propagating and producing a massive web.

Later, Jennings met with Dr. Sam Metcalf, who had previously shared his intent to retire and leave his patients to Jennings. However, Metcalf informed Jennings that he had decided to postpone his retirement, leaving Jennings in a difficult position and with Margaret Hollins as his only patient. At her first checkup, Jennings instructed Margaret to stop taking hypertension pills that Dr. Metcalf had improperly prescribed for her. Soon after, Margaret was covertly bitten and killed by the hybrid offspring of the invasive South American spider, causing Dr. Metcalf and other Canaima residents to distrust Jennings' medical decisions.

After more deaths occurred around the town, Jennings began to suspect spiders as the cause. Ross and county coroner Milton Briggs soon performed autopsy on the victims and confirmed Jennings' suspicion that the deaths were caused by spider bites. Dr. James Atherton, who had been part of the group that first encountered the spiders, arrived in town with his assistant Chris Collins, joining Briggs, Sheriff Lloyd Parsons and local exterminator Delbert McClintock in the spider investigation.

### Stopping the Spider Infestation

They discovered that the killer spiders had a short life expectancy due to being a mixed breed. Atherton told them that the spiders were soldiers, sent out to eliminate potential threats for the general male spider. He also learned that the general spider produced a queen, which had likely mated with to produce a second nest someplace, guarded by the queen, which could produce fertile offspring. Atherton elaborated that the transplanted spiders can progressively expand their territory, possibly culminating in their worldwide dispersal. The group then set out to destroy both nests and kill the queen and general.

Deducing that the nest was in his barn, Ross sent Delbert to destroy it, where the exterminator found Atherton dead before destroying the nest. Chris then managed to get the Jennings family out of their infested house, but Ross fell through the floor into his wine cellar, which turned out to be the spiders' second nest, guarded not only by the queen, but also the general spider. After electrocuting the queen, Ross battled the general while also attempting to burn the second egg sac. He became trapped underneath fallen debris, with the general about to deliver the killing strike. Ross then managed fling the general into the fire. As the egg sac hatched, the general jumped out of the fire, but Ross shot it with a nail gun and the projectile sent the burning arachnid into the egg sac, destroying the nest with fire and ending the infestation.

After his dangerous encounter in the cellar and victory over the deadly spiders, Ross made his way out of the wreckage and back outside to reunite with his family, just as Delbert finished spraying the remaining spiders.

The Jennings family ultimately elected to move back to San Francisco, appreciating urban life once more despite the occasional disruption of minor earthquakes. Having just relocated, Ross and Molly experienced one such earthquake as they shared a drink together while discussing their new home. After briefly discussing the earthquake, Ross and Molly then went to check on Tommy and Shelly.

## Characters met

* James Atherton
* Chris Collins
* Margaret Hollins
* Molly Jennings
* Shelly Jennings
* Tommy Jennings
* Delbert McClintock
* Sam Metcalf

## Behind the scenes

Dr. Ross Jennings was portrayed by Jeff Daniels in the 1990 film *Arachnophobia*. In an interview with *Fangoria* magazine, he said that the character's titular arachnophobia—the fear of spiders—was the toughest aspect of the role.

Already an established actor, Daniels was cast as Dr. Jennings after a series of unsuccessful films in the late 80s, including 1986's *Something Wild*. Following these, Daniels found himself in need of a successful movie to continue his career. When his agent notified him of *Arachnophobia*, which was to be produced by Steven Spielberg's company Amblin Entertainment, he immediately accepted the role, eager to work with such figures as Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy. When he first read the script, he considered it "pretty formulaic" and commented that the dialogue seemed robotic. While shooting the film, however, he was impressed with the expensive amenities provided by Spielberg's company, including the catering. He also said, "these people, I mean Amblin, with Spielberg and Frank, they know what they're doing. If you want to see a spider movie that's going to scare you and make you laugh, these people would know how to do like the definitive one, so I want to be a part of that."

Daniels had never worked with spiders on set before. Although he was initially concerned that his acting would be "swallowed up" by the spiders and special effects, he was happy to see that his acting survived. Daniels was mostly comfortable with the smaller *Delena* spiders used to portray the villain's hybrid offspring, as long as they refrained from crawling on his face. However, at least one shot required just that—specifically, while shooting the scene in which a swarming spider lands on Daniels, Marshall was unsatisfied by how the spiders appeared on Daniels' brown plaid shirt. Marshall approached him and asked, "Is it possible—could we toss the spider onto your face?" Daniels agreed, later arguing that he did it "for the glamor" of the big-budget feature, and that "if they had been throwing snakes in my face I probably would have gone into therapy. But I'm alright with spiders."

As the film's hero, Daniels acted opposite a Goliath Bird Eater tarantula affectionately named "Big Bob," which portrayed the film's arachnid antagonist. Daniels said, to the extent he had any issues with spiders, "it was the big boys, the guys as big as my hand, the guys that reel up and hiss—I don't care who you are, you get a nine-inch Amazon spider coming towards you, I mean, yeah, sure I'm scared. Fine, you know." The finale—in which Daniels' character battles the General in his wine cellar, was the only scene which Marshall storyboarded. The sequence was filmed last and with the remainder of the cast dismissed. The sequence took two weeks of thirteen-hour days to complete. Two of those days were spent merely on the sequence in which Jennings remains trapped under a wine rack throwing wine bottles at his arachnid aggressor. Big Bob was used in many of these shots; according to Marshall, "there probably wasn't a lot of acting going on in that scene." While filming the climactic battle, Sylvester stood by with leather gloves and assured Daniels that, while the spider was perfectly safe, he would quickly retrieve the tarantula were it to advance on him.

According to Daniels, he and Big Bob had "no rapport"; the spider sometimes "rear[ed] up and hiss[ed]" at him. The tarantula was fed a rat every weekend and treated as a member of the cast. During filming, spider wranglers remained just offscreen with heavy gloves, assuring Daniels that they would quickly fetch the tarantula were anything to happen. The actor also found that Big Bob "like[d] white boys." When asked by *The New York Times* if he would be willing to act alongside his co-stars again, he answered, "Would I work with spiders again? Make me an offer." When asked about his post-*Arachnophobia* feelings towards spiders, he responded: "I had one yesterday. Before the dogs ate it, I put it on a Kleenex and threw it out into the yard."

Due to his portrayal of the spider-slayer onscreen, Daniels was honored by scientists at University of California, Riverside in the taxonomic name of a newly-discovered nematode which infects tarantulas, *Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi*. Daniels responded: "When I first heard a new species of nematode had been named after me, I thought, ‘Why? Is there a resemblance?’ Honestly, I was honored by their homage to me and *Arachnophobia*. Made me smile. And of course, in Hollywood, you haven’t really made it until you’ve been recognized by those in the field of parasitology."

## Appearances

1. ARACHNOPHOBIA (first appearance)
2. ARACHNOPHOBIA novel
3. ARACHNOPHOBIA: Official Movie Adaptation

## References

1. ↑ It is unknown whether Ross went to Yale for undergrad or medical school or both.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Shapiro, Marc. *Arachnophobia Spins Its Web.*. *Fangoria*. No. 95. August 1990.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7  Jeff Daniels Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters  on YouTube
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *Thrills, Chills & Spiders: The Making of* Arachnophobia ( Available on YouTube on YouTube)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gregg Kilday, Charles Fleming, and Benjamin Svetkey. "*Arachnophobia.*" *Entertainment Weekly.* No. 24. July 27, 1990.
6. ↑ Awalt, Steven. Along Came a Director: Frank Marshall on the Making of 'Arachnophobia'. Amblin Entertainment. July 17, 2020.
7. ↑  Harley Jane Kozak - Arachnophobia Interview 1990 on YouTube
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Actor Found 'Arachnophobia' Co-Stars No Big Hairy Deal. *Orlando Sentinel*. July 20, 1990.
9. ↑ Mitchell, Sean. How They Got the Bugs Out: Insects: When they needed spiders for ‘Arachnophobia,’ a species from New Zealand answered the casting call. *Los Angeles Times.* July 18, 1990.
10. ↑ Turan, Kenneth. Film; Don't Look Now, But the Spiders Are Coming! April 15, 1990. The New York Times.
11. ↑ de Samlyen, Nick. *Into the Spider-Verse.* Empire magazine. Dec. 2020.
12. ↑ Specktor, Brandon. "Parasitic worm forces tarantulas to tiptoe, then starves them to death". livescience.com.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 El-Mahmoud, Sarah. Jeff Daniels Has A Fun Response After Spider-Killing Worm Is Named After Him In Homage To Arachnophobia. *CinemaBlend.* January 20, 2022.