Wolf Rilla had worked on several films before he got the job of a lifetime when he was offered the opportunity to direct Village of the Damned (1960).

During an interview with Fangoria, Rilla explained that while he enjoyed the creative elements of working as a director, he was not enthused about the more professional elements.

“Directing as a profession leaves a lot to be desired, simply because one seems to spend a lot of one’s time not directing, but trying to get pictures to direct,” said Rilla. “The directing part, I think, is marvelous. However, everything that goes on around it I find less than marvelous. I haven’t got that kind of temperament and personality; that’s perhaps why I haven’t made as many movies as I should have. Therefore, as a profession, I’m not mad about it; but as an occupation, a creative activity, I think there’s nothing to beat it.”

Luckily, there was barely any time to get caught up in the more trivial matters of directing.

“I was rung up one day, asked if I’d like to do Village of the Damned, and given a script to read," said the director. "Six weeks later, we were on the floor shooting it.”

Luckily, Rilla was a fan of John Wyndham, who wrote The Midwich Cuckoos, upon which Village of the Damned was based.

“I’ve read all of Wyndham’s works," said Rilla. "I’m quite a science fiction enthusiast. He wrote the kind of material I have the greatest interest in. The great thing about Wyndham was that he used to postulate an extraordinary situation; then everything else was strictly logical. That kind of logic appealed to me.”