Steven R. Kutcher

Steven R. Kutcher (born January 9, 1944) is an American entomologist who has worked as a "wrangler" of insects and other arthropods in the entertainment industry.Steven R. Kutcher in IMDBBugs Are My Business He has gained media attention as "The Bug Man of Hollywood."Bug Man of Hollywood Shares Tips on How to Train Bugs for the Big Screen, KCAL/KCBS TV. In recent years, Kutcher has attracted additional notice by using insects as "living brushes" to create "Bug Art," while continuing his work as a naturalist and educator.

Background, education, and training

Born in Manhattan, New York, a young Steven R. Kutcher collected fireflies in the Catskill Mountains. Kutcher continued to collect insects after his family moved to a suburb of Los Angeles, California, this time in the Santa Monica Mountains. At 19, Kutcher traveled 3000 miles around Mexico, exploring desert to tropical ecosystems.

Kutcher received a bachelors degree in entomology from the University of California, Davis, in 1968; and a Master of Science degree in biology from the California State University, Long Beach, in 1975. His formal studies focused on insect behavior — in particular the aggregating behavior of the milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciitis — observed via time-lapse cinematography under experimental conditions.

In 1970, Kutcher began his work in the entertainment industry as "Larry J. Felix" in The Stein and Illes Radio Show, a comedy show on KUSC, in Southern California; James R. Stein and Robert Illes would both become Emmy Award–winning TV writers and producers. Kutcher received comedic training from Bill Cosby and once had Robin Williams as an audience.

"The Bug Man of Hollywood"

Since 1977, Kutcher has manipulated the instinctive behaviors of arthropods, and the instinctive reactions of audiences, mostly in the horror, thriller, fantasy, and comedy genres. He has worked with insects on over 100 feature films, including Spider-Man (2002), Jurassic Park, and Arachnophobia. Kutcher has also worked on numerous popular television shows—including CSI: NY, MacGyver, and The X-Files – as well as TV commercials and online advertising for Fortune 500 corporations.

As "The Bug Man of Hollywood," Kutcher has himself been the subject of numerous interviews. He has appeared on TV talk shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. In 1992, Kutcher appeared as a guest on the Emmy-nominated "Spider Episode" of the TV talk show parody The Larry Sanders Show, starring Garry Shandling. In 1998, Kutcher appeared on the British TV children's show The Scoop, which won a BAFTA award.1998 BAFTA Award for Children's Factual production

Manipulating insect behavior

Applying his expertise on arthropod behaviors, Kutcher manipulates instinctive responses such as positive or negative sensitivity to light, air pressure, or gravity to make bugs perform scripted tricks on cue, such as:

A live wasp flies harmlessly into the mouth of actor Roddy McDowell. A cockroach runs across the floor and then, "hitting its mark", flips over on its back. A spider crawls across a room and then into a slipper. A cockroach crawls out of a shoe, walks up a bag of snack food and onto a surfing magazine, and then stops upon a picture of a surfboard. A praying mantis, a scorpion, and beetles power-up a cell phone as part of a "Bug Circus" in online ad (a la a traditional flea circus). Hundreds of bees or thousands of locusts swarm on camera as called for in the script.

"Bug Art"

In the 1980s, for a Steven Spielberg television project, Steven Kutcher made a fly walk through ink and leave footprints as directed.Bug Art by Steven, official Web site Since 2000, Steven Kutcher has been creating "Bug Art," using various arthropods as "living brushes" to apply gouache and other nontoxic paints on watercolor paper. "I use water-based, nontoxic paints that easily wash off", he says. "I have to take good care of them. After all, they are artists!" The abstract to surrealistic compositions are shaped by Kutcher's methods of manipulating insect movements, and are often influenced by the works of Impressionist and other master painters.

Contributions as scientist, naturalist, and educator

Steven Kutcher has given talks and live-insect demonstrations at hundreds of film festivals, seminars, workshops, museums, libraries, and schools (pre-K through post-graduate level). Kutcher has been instrumental in creating annual insect fairs, as at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and Los Angeles County Arboretum, which have been attended by more than 100,000 children and adults. Kutcher also served as a consultant in the development of the interactive insect exhibits at the Kidspace Children's Museum, in Pasadena, California.

Kutcher has taught outdoor education workshops for such environmental organizations as the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and Tree People. With a milkweed butterfly garden of his own, Kutcher is on the board of the Monarch Program Kutcher has consulted on the biology and control of arthropods for major corporations and government agencies, such as the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District.

For over 30 years, Kutcher has taught entomology, zoology, and biology courses at West Lost Angeles College, Culver City, but has also taught for four other community colleges.

Partial Filmography

Theatrical films

In addition to serving as "bug wrangler" or entomology consultant for numerous student and independent films, Kutcher has worked on many feature films from major studios and production companies: Film Year Featured "bugs" We Bought a Zoo 2011 Swarm of honey bees G-Force 2009 Tarantula, cockroach (test shots for animation) National Treasure: Book of Secrets 2007 Beetles etc. The Hitcher 2007 Spiders, scorpion Antwone Fisher 2002 Grasshoppers Spider-Man 2002 Spiders (wrangled live spiders and consulted on cgi spiders, as "The Spider Man Behind Spider-Man") Wild Wild West 1998 Tarantula Lost Highway 1997 Spider, moths Mimic 1997 Ants, termites Alien: Resurrection 1997 Spider (with web) L.A. Confidential 1996 Maggots (on body under house) D3: The Mighty Ducks 1996 Ants Jack 1996 Monarch butterflies James and the Giant Peach 1996 Dwarf tarantulas (in costume) A Very Brady Sequel 1996 Tarantula Copycat 1995 Carpenter ants (covering Sigourney Weaver) Matilda 1995 Cockroach (and newt) A Walk in the Clouds 1995 Butterflies Leprechaun 2 1994 Cockroaches (green) and tarantulas Jurassic Park 1993 Mosquitoes (live and "prehistoric," simulated by crane fly in "amber") The Temp 1993 Wasps, scorpions, cockroaches Meet the Applegates 1991 Praying mantis, tarantula Arachnophobia 1990 Spiders, crickets, etc. Back to the Future Part II 1989 Various insects (pinned etc. in displays) The 'Burbs 1989 Bees Fright Night II 1989 Mealworms etc. Police Academy 6: City Under Siege 1989 Cabbage white butterflies (as "moths") A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 1987 Dragonfly, fly The Golden Child 1986 Monarch butterfly The Goonies 1985 Leech (scene cut) Exorcist II: The Heretic 1977 Locusts (grasshoppers)

TV movies and series

TV production Year Featured "bugs" An Inconvenient Woman c. 1991 Fly Bernie Mac Show, The 2003 Mealworm beetles Boy Meets World c. 1997, 1999 Snails, bees Buck Rogers in the 25th Century c. 1980 Dragonflies Chicago Hope 2000 Tarantula Criminal Minds 2012, 2013, 2013 Maggots, flies, waxworms, praying mantis CSI: NY 2006 Mealworms Family Matters c. 1995 Giant mealworms Kung Fu: The Movie 1986 Grasshopper Larry Sanders Show, the (Emmy-nominated "The Spider Episode") 1996 Tarantulas Laverne and Shirley Reunion 2002 Cockroaches etc. Life with Bonnie (The Bonnie Hunt Show) 2004 Honey bee MacGyver 1991 Cockroaches Mentalist, The 2013 Monk 2005 Bees Power Rangers 1994 Praying mantis, cockroaches Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo 1977 Tarantulas Women of Brewster Place, The 1989 Cockroach Wonder Woman 1978 Ants The X-Files 1999, 2005 Flies, moths The Young and the Restless 1991 Ants

Music videos

Artist Project Year Featured "bugs" Paula Abdul Butterflies (in display case) Christina Aguilera "Fighter" 2002 Moths Alice Cooper Welcome to My Nightmare Scorpions, mealworms Godsmack "I Stand Alone" 2002 Scorpion M.C. Hammer 1992 Butterflies Billy Idol "L.A. Woman" 1990 Cockroach, mealworm Janet Jackson "Together Again" (Deeper Remix) 1997 Butterfly Michael Jackson "Stranger in Moscow" 1996 Wasp Korn 1996 Cockroaches No Doubt Don't Speak 1996 Fly, mealworms

TV and online commercials

Market segment Brands Featured "bugs" Automobiles Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Honda, Hyundai, Jeep, Kia, Lexus, Mini Cooper, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen Bees, beetles, butterflies, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, ladybugs, scorpions, spider webs Consumer electronics Apple, Dell, Goldstar, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, Kodak, Nintendo Game Boy, Panasonic, Polaroid, Sega, Sony, TDK, VCR Plus Ants, bees, butterflies, flies, moths, praying mantids, snails Consumer goods (misc.) Adidas, All, Anderson Windows, Avia, Dial Soap, Dockers, Evinrude, Galoop Toys, Gladlock, Hallmark, K-Mart, Kleenex, Levi Strauss, Lowes, Nike, Northern Bathroom Tissue, Omega Watch, Revlon, Sears, Snuggles, Standard Brands Paint, Stainmaster, Sunlight Detergent, Swatch Bees, beetles, butterflies, caterpillars, cockroaches, flies, ladybugs, mosquitoes, moths, spiders Energy Chevron, Florida Power and Light, Mobil, Sempra Ants, beetles, butterflies, flies, ladybugs, spider webs Entertainment Cartoon Network, PGA, Virginia Lottery, WCW Ants, beetles, cockroaches, flies, mealworms Fast food and other restaurants Applebee's, Carl's Jr., Dunkin' Donuts, KFC, McDonald's, Seven-Eleven, Souplantation, Taco Bell Bees, butterflies, moth cocoons, praying mantids Finance and insurance Blue Cross, Capital One, Chase, Fuji Bank, Hartford Insurance, Interstate Bank, Premier Insurance, Tri-County Health, Barclay's Bees, butterflies, caterpillars, ladybugs, millipedes, walkingsticks Food and beverages Gerber's, Bud Light, Dr. Pepper, Dryer's, Gallo, Jolly Rancher, Mauna Loa, Michelob, Milk Advisory Board ("Got Milk?"), Moet, Orida potatoes, Pepsi, Planter's, Reese's Pieces, Rath Blackhawk bacon, Smith's Markets, Snickers, Zima Ants, bees, butterflies, caterpillars, flies, Jerusalem crickets, moths, tarantulas and other spiders, wasps Industrial and commodities Alcoa, Georgia Pacific, Monsanto Ants, butterflies, moths, spider webs Pest control Combat, Orkin, Ortho, Scott's Ants, butterflies, cockroaches, grubs, termites Public service announcements (PSAs) AD Council, Partnership for a Drug-Free America Bugs (misc.), leeches Telecom AT&T, Atlantic Bell, Bell Canada, Qualcomm, Telecom Italia, Verizon Bees, beetles, butterflies, cockroaches, mealworms, mosquitoes, praying mantids, scorpions, tarantulas

Steven R. Kutcher

Bron en licentie