Friday, December 14, 2007

Cloverfield Director Matt Reeves Interviews

Cloverfield's director Matt Reeves is making the rounds giving interviews around the blogosphere.

Matt Reeves, seen on the left, is probably best know for his work on Felicity with JJ Abrams, seen on the right.



Enjoy some light reading this weekend and check out the following articles.

MTV: ‘Star Trek’ Trailer Boldly Goes To ‘Cloverfield’ Audiences
... “Cloverfield” director Matt Reeves has told MTV News that Paramount has picked his monster flick as the venue to unveil the “Trek” trailer ...
IGN: Exclusive: Cloverfield Director Speaks!
... when the first draft of the script came out it was Cloverfield. It's always been Cloverfield ...

... anyone who has seen the clips from the film knows that "Cloverfield" is the case name that the government has assigned to whatever or whoever is doing all that destruction in New York ... "In the way that the Manhattan Project was the name of that program, that's what this is" ...

"We really wanted to make a movie where essentially, at the end of the day, it's this giant monster movie, ... and do it in this very [realistic] style as if it was found footage. [You] get to know these characters, and in a certain way [we got to] make a character relationship film."
IGN: Exclusive: Cloverfield Director Speaks! Part Two
"The inspiration came from the poster of Escape from New York," says Reeves of that darn head. "The poster had an image on it of the head of the Statue of Liberty and that image was nowhere in the movie! And it's an incredibly provocative image. And that was the source that inspired [producer] J.J. [Abrams] to say, 'Now this would be an interesting idea for a movie.'"...
...The idea, according to Reeves, is that since this footage has been found and is unedited, every time the camera cuts out indicates a jump forward in time. And in fact, the only cuts in the film are when the camera gets turned off...
... "That's the way that our film is incredibly different from Blair Witch ... So you're going to see the monster, you're going to see huge-scale destruction, you're going to see a lot of crazy stuff!"
ShockTillYouDrop: Cloverfield Director Speaks!
At the last minute, when we were shooting the trailer, we wanted people to know - 'cause we hadn't created the monster yet - that it was a giant monster movie, we wanted a tease of that. I jumped to the microphone and said the line, "I saw it! It's alive! It's huge!" And one of the most amusing things is I had come home and someone on the web had taken that section and started to do an analysis on it and thought I said, "It was a lion."
IESB: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Cloverfield Director Matt Reeves!
[Slusho is] a connection, obviously, back to a reference to Alias and it's part of the involved connectivity between that and there's a - I don't know what you could call it - a sort of “meta-story” that is part of - almost like an origin story - that is connected.
Is it true ... the date in the film is actually [1-18-08]? No, that's not true. The two ways people referred to the movie where by its codename, Cloverfield, because there was knowledge of that, and just by the date. ... The date is just the date we come out and when everyone gets to see the movie.
AICN: Capone interviews Matt Reeves - Director of CLOVERFIELD!
One of the movies that I saw recently that I thought was applicable, too, in terms of mood was the way CHILDREN OF MEN has those continuous takes. And you get this kind of building dread, and you experience that kind of thrilling, terrifying sense of continuous action that’s going on all around you, and you’re right in the middle of it ... There was something almost Kubrickian about the way it impassively turned; it was very haunting and evocative. But in this case, we knew that it was going to be so point-of-view driven that if the character fell, if the character went through any trauma and he was holding the camera, you were going to see that. ...I think we all felt from the beginning that you would have a particular connection with the person who was filming it, who you would see for very little of the film, ironically.
* Also, don't forget to keep your eye out for TidoWave's upcoming "event"!

32 comments:

  1. Final nail in the "It's a lion" argument right there.

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  2. Oh my gosh, I'm pretty sure that analysis on that line came from RIGHT HERE.

    I definitely remember someone saying that a couple of weeks ago...

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  3. Alright, let me see if I can properly articulate this... The thing that Matt Reeves seems to be adament about is the style in which the movie is made, meaning from a personal point of view with a Handicam. In all these interviews he repeats numerous times that the cuts in the movie are made at times when the handicam is turned off by the operator, accidentally or on pupose. So let me point out this... in the second trailer, we see a shot of the headless Statue if Liberty from the air, also we see there is filming going on inside the helicopter which appears to be going down, do these things happen in the same scene? As in they go up in the helicopter, film by the Statue, then start to crash? Or could it be that someone with the camera eventually gets away? Many of us have been led to beleive that the scene with Rob and Beth in the tunnel is the final scene, but maybe it's not, maybe they fly off? OK, sorry for the long post, just had to get it all out.

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  4. Listen to his saying that is linked to alias HUH?

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  5. The interview where he says "it's almost like tentacles that grow out of the film" is a nice teaser. Also AWESOME to be guaranteed that we will see the monster and there will be a Spencer's Gifts version of the thing to buy as it were.

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  6. If Slusho turns out to be a Rambaldi object, I'm going to be pissed!

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  7. First. I will NOT buy the Alias DVD series to see a connection.
    Second. If the video is "unedited" why is the face of the military man blurred on the trailer?
    Is really lame to say to your friend seated next to you on an interview: "dude, i´ll use your movie to promote mine!".
    "Cloverfield" because is the name the "goverment has assigned"right..
    and final word... if this camera was found.....WHO MADE THE SHOT OF THE AIRPLANES FROM THE TRAILER??

    Hugs Guys!!! and grab the widget!

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  8. I still don't get the significance or purpose of someone saying, "It's alive." Obviously, if some Thing is running around the city and knocking buildings down, it is alive. Does he mean that It was thought to be dead, but that It's still alive? ((which hints at a previous knowledge of It before this incident)) Or does he mean that It is alive and not a mechanical robot? Just wondering.

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  9. capcom, you are so right, there are very weird things, and i hope for the best and for THEM this is not some Sh"#$% from something that already existed.

    I do belaive that the blair witch is totally a different thing, they shouln´t mention it at all...is like saying "this is better than matrix" every movie has it´s time..let´s hope for the best JJ´s movie lasts in the memory of people for the content and not for the viral...

    Hugs

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  10. Ok,according to ign's interview the movie is done through 1 camera,since we believe this is true how does rob get a hold of the camera in the trailor and Hud is nowere to be seen,since Hud has the camera in the beginning of the trailor and teasor,what happened to him,did he die or get lost.....idk just an observation.

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  11. capcom said... I still don't get the significance or purpose of someone saying, "It's alive." Obviously, if some Thing is running around the city and knocking buildings down, it is alive. Does he mean that It was thought to be dead, but that It's still alive? ((which hints at a previous knowledge of It before this incident)) Or does he mean that It is alive and not a mechanical robot? Just wondering.

    Hi Capcom :)

    I think that they might have thought it had something to do with the tanker capsizing and exploding, or a bomb, or a terrorist attack. If you saw something blow up in your city, you wouldn't think "oh noes, a giant monster is attacking", you would think it something else.... until you saw it, then you might say something like:

    Dude, it's not a bomb...I saw it, it's alive... some monster is attacking us.

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  12. i think the significance of saying "it's alive" is in regards to the early newsreports as, seen in the trailer, claiming the destruction and capsized tanker was the result of earthquakes in manhattan. the guy yelling it's alive and huge would be what clarifies for the viewer, who presumably hasn't gotten a good view of the monster this early in the film/trailer, to know that it is some kind of living monster.

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  13. sorry dennis, i posted that before yours got up. but i was thinking the same thing, i guess.

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  14. Capcom.. He was the only one who saw the monster. Nobody else knows what's going on. People all think it's a terrorist attack or something like that. They're not going to jump right into thinking "OMG Some giant monster is attacking NYC!" He dind't believe his eyes himself "Did you guys see that? Did you guys just see that"


    cburgess_ccrunner, he gives it to him or it's taken by him at some point. At this point there's no way of knowing the when, why, or how. No point on speculating about that really imo

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  15. lol we all answered that same question :]

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  16. Ahhhh, OK, thanks everyone! Heheh, many heads are indeed better than one! :-)

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  17. i have a thought....

    maybe the tanker is a ship bringin the slusho to america, and then some monster falls in to it and then he swallows the sea nectar and gets big like the woman that expands...but this one does not explode...jejejej

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  18. I don't think this is going to be a man-made creature ala Godzilla (created by our nuclear waste). I guess I shouldn't read too much into it, but the new tagline for the movie is "Some thing has found us." That sounds like something that had no contact with humans meeting us for the first time, instead of something we made.

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  19. Lol I can't believe after all this time and all that shouting at the "Lion" wing of the Cloverfield party, it was Reeves who said it!

    He also said we would see the monster in "intimate detail", which probably means it gets close enough to kill all the characters. But another thing he said makes it sound like they hid under a car and maybe poked the camera out.

    Hopefully they don't end up climbing it or something.

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  20. he also said that the events do not take place on 1-18-08. so the ARG might go on after the movie is out. then we will have more information on the next phase of the arg. just straight out guessing. idk

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  21. So if the events in the movie don't take place on 1-18-08, what's up with the timestamps on the photos over at www.1-18-08.com ???

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  22. wow. that seems kind of lame...when you are so keen on all of the viral marketing thing, and then just peepee on it with saying that the date had nothing to do with it. Maybe that is some military time-stamping on all of the found cameras...blahblahblah...poop

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  23. i guess i was always under the impression that 1-18-08 was the movie's release date.

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  24. Is it true ... the date in the film is actually [1-18-08]? No, that's not true.

    Can we really, really be certain he's not just confused about this? Why the hell has all the viral marketing been taking place in real time, if we don't have a set date for the attack to occur?

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  25. I honestly never saw the point of putting so much grief and work dissecting that same "It's alive" line. Has anyone else thought that maybe the guy doesn't fully know what he's saying, I mean I'm sure not EVERYTHING you say while running from a giant monster that just rose from the ocean is going to make perfect sense, you wouldn't have much time to think about talking. haha.

    Much quicker than screaming "Hey, guys! You saw that tanker on the news right? Well guess what? It's actually the work of something that just rose out of the ocean! Hurry! Run in my general direction so we can casually talk and trade formalities!"

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  26. There's another little problem with the date thing - international release dates.

    We all knew it as 1-18-08 because of the trailer, right? Now, us non-Americans are willing to forgive Americans quite a few sins, and would probably be happy enough if the events are on the 18th of January, irrespective of the actual release date. If they take that away, then one of the only things we had to latch on to has absolutely no meaning.

    What do I care if the film comes out on the 18th in the US, when it comes out on the 17th here in Australia?

    And the timestamps on the photos will throw it off, too.

    As for the filming that's non-handicam - I'm willing to bet we see the aftermath first, with nice cinematography, and then work up to the handicam (or sections thereof), as characters are shown it. Tarantino-ing it up, as it were.

    Just a theory. Can't wait for the 17th!!

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  27. I've been thinking about a link between the capsizing oil tanker and the huge explosion in the middle of the city from the teaser... Maybe the tanker was tossed from the water into the city by the super strong monster!!! Crazy.

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  28. elrey75, that's exactly what I've been thinking. That would be totally kick-ass!! :D

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  29. I don't think that anyone put that much grief into the comment Thatguy. :-)

    But we are engaged in something ARG-ish that requires more than passing thoughts about most of the details in this movie that would normally be ignored or not even noticed in any other movie preview and buildup.

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  30. He said Cloverfield was always the title, where did the other titles come from, Paramount or fans??

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