Lyon Metropolis. Video. She saw in real life the animal with bulging eyes that inspired Gremlins

Joe Dante’s film Gremlins was released in June 1984, 40 years ago. It told the story of a very nice mogwai, a small animal with enormous eyes. But a glass of water accidentally spilled on him leads to the birth of many other gremlins, very aggressive and even murderous. It is little known that, for this work, the illustrator Chris Walas was partly inspired by one of the tiniest primates in the world. The tarsier is no more than 15 centimeters high and weighs barely 150 grams. Very rare, it is only found in a few forests in Southeast Asia, such as those on the island of Bohol, in the Philippines. Liz Maquet, president of the Filipino association Lyon Pinoy’s Best, had the chance to observe it several times. We ourselves were able to see it and photograph it in this same place, in 2013.