Author John Berger has observed that the only other living things that will survive alongside human evolution will be those which humans eat (like cows and chickens) and the cockroach. As Ralph, the lead cockroach in John Payson's unconventional feature film, Joe's Apartment has prophesied, after the bomb drops, roaches will rule the world. The idea of using the most universally loathed insect as a means to examine the landscape of human relatedness to other humans and the world they inhabit, questions the belief of human vitality and longevity. As a species, we are extremely vulnerable to our environment and the condition of the environment is directly related to our degree of vulnerability. We are living in an apartment subject to nature's will of continuing our lease.

The cockroach buddies in Joe's Apartment created by Blue Sky Productions. © Geffen Pictures.

Joe's Apartment was inspired by Payson's 1992 short of the same name that aired on MTV. It represents the cable network's first venture into feature films (the second is the to-be-released Beavis and Butt-Head this fall ) and continues a trend of developing material already designed for one medium for all mediums. (Does television programming make for feature film material?) The film was written for the screen and directed by Payson who, at the time of the original short, was MTV's director of on-air promotion and animated I.D.'s. After devoting over a year to writing the script, the film spent another year in production, including shooting the live-action, stop motion and CGI elements. It stars Jerry O'Connell (Sliders) as Joe, Megan Ward (Party of Five) as the love interest, Lily, and Robert Vaughn (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), the corrupt Senator with a fetish for his daughter's costume jewelry among other things.

The film tells the story of a young man who moves from the Midwest to the Big Apple and lucks into a rent-controlled, tenement apartment in the East Village, whose tenants include 50,000 cockroaches. The building, however, sits on the site of a proposed prison. Joe falls in love with a privileged girl who loves flowers and whose father (the Senator) is involved with criminals who want to tear down the building. With the aid of the cockroaches the building is turned into a veritable paradise and the lovers live happily ever after.