War of the Coprophages cockroach infestation, the show used around three hundred cockroaches for the episode in addition to extremely detailed rubber cockroach props and "piles and piles" of faux-dung. The episode's title is a reference to the famous novel "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells, as well as its 1938 radio adaptation by Orson Welles. The character Dr. Berenbaum is named for entomologist May Berenbaum. In Miller's Falls, Massachusetts, an exterminator inspects the basement of Dr. Jeff Eckerle, having been hired to eradicate a cockroach infestation. The exterminator sprays a roach, knocks it down to the ground, and attempts to crush
Orson Welles In 1984, Welles wrote the screenplay for a film he planned to direct, an autobiographical drama about the 1937 staging of "The Cradle Will Rock". Rupert Everett was slated to play the young Welles. However, Welles was unable to acquire funding. Tim Robbins later directed a similar film, but it was not based on Welles's script. At the time of his death, Welles was in talks with a French production company to direct a film version of the Shakespeare play "King Lear", in which he would also play the title role. "" was an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel. Welles