In recent interviews, JJ Abrams has stated that 10 Cloverfield Lane was based on a spec script that he received. The script was titled "The Cellar" and was leaked long before the move came out.
This has been a major spoiler topic over the last couple of months, but now that the movie has been released, it's interesting to see how the original script compares to the finished movie.
The core bunker story is essentially the same, although the characters and their motivations are all slightly different.
The changes are significant enough that I don't think we can draw any conclusions about the movie from the script, but it is an interesting read nonetheless.
btm29 at Reddit has posted the PDF version here.
Give it a read and let me know what you think!
UPDATE: Paramount has the script removed from dropbox with a DMCA takedown notice. If anyone has a mirror link or a torrent of this, let me know in the comments.
In the mean time, I'll post a brief summary of the script and the differences with 10CL soon.
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ReplyDeleteThe pdf isn't available - I'm getting a page that states "Restricted Content
ReplyDeleteThis file is no longer available due to a takedown request under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by Paramount Pictures Corporation Properties. Learn more about Dropbox's copyright policy."
I read the screenplay last week, after I saw the movie. I am happy that they made the movie the way they did. I would have like to have seen a showdown in the farm house, but the "Nate"character really didn't appeal to me. I thought the changes they made to Emmett were perfect.
ReplyDeleteI would have like to have known more about the daughter connection. Even the posts in the ARG from him and Denise don't give you enough information to conclude what happened to her. Is she still alive? Has he been forcing other girls to fill the role of his daughter? I would like to know more about Howard.
You bring up a good point that my friend and I debated and wanted clarification on. I'm not sure how spoilery this is because it's not a function of the major plot, but it was delivered so ambiguously that we couldn't understand what was happening.
DeleteThe yearbook photo and the polaroid, were they of the same girl? It was hard to tell because of the hair, posture, photo, lighting, and quit edit that made it hard to read. Was Howard giving different girls the earrings to wear, or was that the same girl? I really wish the movie explained that more, but I also appreciated the restraint because it was more looking at things through her perspective, that she now has reasons for mistrust.
It was a good little throw-in-there, but it really confused me while I was in the theater.
I was trying to figure that out as well. I believe in the Polaroid he was clean shaved and wearing the same outfit that he changed into when he gave Michelle the ice cream after "cleaning up" Emmett's mess. I think it was the same girl in the Polaroid and yearbook photo and he was reenacting whatever happened that moment or planning on it with Michelle.
DeleteI think you might be right. I was thinking that the earrings were his daughter's and he was passing them to the girl in the photo. Having said that, this was before the attack that Howard thinks has happened. What was the reason for taking the other girl.... That was the question I had in my head when it was unfolding. Again, really not the point of the movie. That part was to show a growing uneasiness and the untrustworthy nature of her rescuer/captor.
DeleteIf you still have the screenplay, could you drop us all a link? It's disappeared off of Dropbox; hell, it seems to have vanished from EVERYwhere online... :-(
DeleteWhile I was watching the movie, I though the girl in the Polaroid was really Megan, and the second girl was the high school girl that he kidnapped to "replace" Megan. She has the earrings on in her yearbook picture and lost one when she was writing the Help sign on the window. I do wonder if MegAn died years before and that's partly why Howard is so crazy.
ReplyDeleteYou could be right. It was just such a difference in photos it was hard to tell if it was the same girl, but I like your idea.
DeleteEpic Fan here. Love this site and everything you have compiled. I knew there had to be others like me... are we called Cloverfans? I can't seem to download the file and have a flight tomorrow I am hoping to read this on. Any chance someone can tell me how to access ithe? PDF isn't working.
ReplyDeleteOh and my flight is to get more Bad Robot JJ Abrams tattoos. I already have Clover! Now I need... well... you know "fuck"
Epic Fan here. Love this site and everything you have compiled. I knew there had to be others like me... are we called Cloverfans? I can't seem to download the file and have a flight tomorrow I am hoping to read this on. Any chance someone can tell me how to access ithe? PDF isn't working.
ReplyDeleteOh and my flight is to get more Bad Robot JJ Abrams tattoos. I already have Clover! Now I need... well... you know "fuck"
Can't find any RP cloverfield characters on twitter. I started a Marlena account but idk if it'll just be me.
ReplyDeleteFollow @twistedclovie it's my Michelle
DeleteI'm pretty sure that Cloverfield is done with. The ARG has stopped entirely with so many unanswered questions, and the idea that a 3rd film is in the works is not enough for me. I was a huge fan of the 1st movie, but after 8 years of waiting with hope for a universal connection and some more clues/hints to unlock backstory - I am left empty.
ReplyDeleteEven the cinematography was all wrong.
Cloverfield felt like a true alternate world that was so immersive and realistic, not just because of the camera style but the color grading, the plot structure, and how the events seemed entirely random but with the backstory in mind, it seemed coordinated.
This movie just seemed too pretty. Too many still shots, too much focus on human interaction, and nothing about the world in 10CL seemed real. I was able to leave the universe behind so easily because it seemed shallow and uneventful in terms of realism.
The 3rd movie, if it does happen, must tie in the first 2 movies somehow. The 3rd movie must now be an entirely new 3rd style of cinematography, an entirely new 3rd style of human/psychological interaction in the script, and an entirely new 3rd style of plot structure with an entirely new 3rd style of ARG, only then will it seem worthy.
And with that said, I feel like that's too much stress and effort and care all for a studio that gave us Lost, Alias and Fringe, each lacking in their own rights.
10CL and its ARG following really turned me off as a Cloverfan. I feel so disconnected from the 4-5 year obsession that I had over the 1st film's universe that I don't want to get back into it.
Yeah Im with you 100% I dont think The Bad Robot team understood how great that first film was. The fact that they made us wait 8 years for a follow up film only for it to have almost no connection the previous film is unforgiving. JJ would have to do some serious damage control in order for me to spend my money on their movies again.
DeleteWhats crazier is that this site hasnt updated in quite a while neither has the ARG. The Cloververse (if I can even call it that) is now dead.
I feel completely let down and robbed. I am an avid comic book movie fan and it would've been refreshing to see a film universe that didnt have anything to do with comics.....oh well now.
I can understand how you feel that way. Abrams thinking on this may have been parallel to his thinking about Super 8. Combine two things together that wouldn't really fit otherwise. Super 8 worked, for me at least, because the ARG worked really well with the movie. This film was acquired and they had the thought after to try to connect it to Cloverfield. I think if they had an original idea to compliment the first film, it would have worked much better all around. It probably would be completely different, but throwing in the envelope for the mysterious company and having that be pretty much the only connection (for me at least) and that connection would be lost on anyone who wasn't following the ARG of EITHER movie.
DeleteI appreciate the inventiveness and the awesome marketing, but it didn't quite have the payoff I was expecting and my expectations were rather low for connectivity to begin with. I just felt there could have been more imagination and mystery and debate.
Also, side note, for me, the movie should have ended just as abruptly as it started. Having her say "Oh, come ON!" and the smash cut to credits would have been a great ending. For me, her arc was complete once she completed her journey and the twist would have been the punch out ending. It felt more clever to me that way.
The rest after that line is just kind of silly and a bit eyerolling. Like it was an obligatory inclusion and I feel probably wasn't part of the original script. Haven't read it, mean to soon.
All in all, I was happy for the most part, but that little bit of wish fulfillment still lingers.
The ending was a bit eye-rolling because we've seen it all before! We've been watching alien invasion movies with high gloss special effects since the freakin 90s! All the more proof that Abrams doesnt care for this franchise as much as the fans do. You mean to tell me out of all the things you coulve thought of you decide to make this about aliens? Give me a break!!!
DeleteI suppose he's ok with it as long as hes still getting those Star Wars checks. smh
I didn't mind the reveal at all, it was the execution and you're right, once that stuff started happening, I turned to my friend and said, "Well, welcome back to another boring, dull, action-y, 'splosions filled flick." It was disappointing to have this really great character study and then kind of roll back on the rote instead of really trying to stick that landing.
Deletewhat's worse, the whole last part of that film is almost so incoherent, as far as geography, designs of the creature and what's really happening, that it seemed almost not worth it to me.
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ReplyDeleteBefore the movie released I called the Emrgency Essentials 1800 number and left a voice mail trying to check up on Megan. I just now got a call back and the man was helpful. He needed her last name and zip code to track down a delivery. I told him I didn't have it. That her father is very unstable and may have hurt her. That no one has heard from her in days and no one knows where the bunker is that her father made. It could be life or death. He was helpful but I didn't have answers.
ReplyDeleteHe is either an actor and the ARG is still going... or I just freaked out some employee.
That's awesome! Wouldn't her last name be the same as Howard's & zip code in the Chicago vicinity? If he had that info - I wonder if he would provide some answers?
DeleteDennis? It's been 10 days. Are you dead? Something big happened. Like, Easter Eggs big.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened?
DeleteCloverfield 3 was announced. Ish.
DeleteIf you are talking about "The God Particle", I don't believe that is a Cloverfield sequel
DeleteWhat???
ReplyDelete