Winging to Stardom

As befits movie co-stars, they were flown first class to the set, had special living quarters and carefully designed costumes. But their stardom was short-lived: After two weeks, it’s curtains for the Tobacco Horn Worm Moth.

Also known as the Tomato Horn Worm Moth--formerly giant green caterpillars, the kind found munching garden tomatoes--the creatures play an integral part in Orion Pictures’ “The Silence of the Lambs.”

The thriller--starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins--revolves around the search for a vicious serial killer. Pivotal clue: a rare moth, the Death Head Moth from Asia, named for the markings on its body that resemble a skull and crossbones.

For one scene, biologist and insect wrangler Raymond A. Mendez rounded up more than 300 of the worm moths. A handful were fitted with tiny body shields bearing painted skull and crossbones; some wore unseen “harnesses” as they flew toward the camera.

Because of the brief moth phase in their one-year life spans, backups were constantly shipped in--flying first class, in a special carrier--from genetic research duties at the University of North Carolina. Once on location, they were housed in a room with controlled humidity and heat. Off-camera, they mated; the resulting eggs were shipped back to the university.

Mendez--who once wrangled over 27,000 cockroaches for “Creepshow”--insists that no moths were harmed during “Silence” filming. Once they had wrapped work on the Pittsburgh set, he says, survivors “lived out their natural lives in my (New York) apartment.”