Michael Stahl-David Interviews

As January 18, 2008 draws ever closer, Paramount will surely make a push to get all the free publicity they can. Friday brought us four seperate interviews from Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. Earlier today, Sci Fi Wire interviewed producer Bryan Burk.

MTV and IESB interview Michael Stahl-David (he plays Rob) about Cloverfield. Be warned, there are some mild spoilers.


About Rob:

So, Rob is a 20-something guy who is not a very extraordinary guy. He kind of has amounted to about as much as people thought he would. But now he’s got this great offer for a job in Japan so he’s gonna leave his friends and this girl that he’s always kind of been in love with but has been too afraid to do anything about and go to Japan. And that’s what the movie is about, at the beginning. We’re seeing a going away party for him. When catastrophe strikes, things become clear kind of quickly what’s important to him. Then he spends the rest of this movie trying to get to this girl.

Who is in the film:

"[My character] is someone who's not a big risk-taker or somebody who's very spontaneous," Stahl-David revealed. "And then there's Hud, the man behind the camera [played by T.J. Miller], who's loud and funny but not the most tactful guy, definitely — he really cares about his friends. Then there's Lizzy Caplan [as Marlena], who randomly gets stuck with us — she's not in our close circle of friends ... she's the outsider in our midst. Then there's Jessica Lucas [as Lily], who is the caretaker of my brother Jason [Mike Vogel], who is wild and reckless. She's the only reason he keeps his sh-- together.
"Then there's Beth [Odette Yustman], [and] I've always felt like there's something there between us," he explained. "We've been friends for a long time, but whenever I'm single, she's been seeing somebody and vice versa. We've never really connected, until a few weeks before the tape begins to roll — but I'm leaving, so it was just going to end where it was."

Acting opposite the monster:

In certain scenes, if you could physicalize something, it would give the animators something to do. Give them something to play off of really strong. Normally in a scene, you’re thinking about what you give your scene partner to play off of, but in this there was this invisible scene partner that if you did some big motion that was really going to help them, you know, it might feel ridiculous for you, in the moment, to do it but it was really to help them.

The monster is scary looking:

We got to see renderings that they had on the computers and, in one case, a really amazing model. A wax model they had built that looked just terrifying. So we had somewhat of sense. We got to know the style. But they were good about that. Of letting us have some idea of what it was going to be.

(Possible Spoilers)

Slusho! may be more than a drink:

"The concept of Slusho! is something that I'm not at liberty to discuss," he recited robotically, only half-kidding. "I think [my character] might've been better off if he found some Slusho! [during the attack], but that would've been too much like Popeye eating his can of spinach."

The end of the movie:

We did, however, learn that the monster is not named in the movie ("We took to calling it Clover ... when the movie comes out, people are gonna name it"); that Cloverfield contains Speed-like nonstop scenes as high-adrenaline as the clip ("There's a couple points where we can't run anymore and we have to sit with ourselves, but other than that, the movie is about you being with us, and us trying to survive"); and that a climactic scene takes place in the NYC subway system.
"The whole scene in the subway," Stahl-David said when asked for his favorite moment. "Once we go in there and get stuck and have to walk through those tunnels ... it's not a nice place to be ... I can't wait for the world to see that, and to hear their reactions."

More Cloverfield Production Shots

BlackBookMag.com has updated their interview of Lizzy Caplan with more production shots.

Still Confusion on 1-18-08 Monster Details

There's still a lot of confusion about the details of the monster(s) in Cloverfield/1-18-08. First there were some smaller monsters, then there weren't.

Now Dark Horizons has some details about the movie that were apparently confirmed by "two agency sources." Can it even be called a spoiler? I'm going to take all this information with a grain of salt. And until there is absolute proof, I'm probably not going to report on this topic again. There's just too much speculation, and even after we have a dozen "agency sources," the details are still not fully understood.

Paramount Lawyers Confirm Cloverfield Call-Sheet as Real

As we reported earlier, someone from New York Magazine was handed a call sheet detailing a scene from the upcoming 1-18-08 movie. It appears now that Paramount Pictures has confirmed the call sheet was real by taking action against a number of Web sites that displayed the call sheet.

Slashfilm has posted an article detailing a letter that was sent to their Web site from Paramount lawyers. The letter itself doesn't reveal much, but if you'd rather stay away from possible spoilers, don't read the full article at Slashfilm.

From the letter:

This letter is being written to you on behalf of Paramount Pictures Corporation (hereinafter “Paramount”). Paramount is the owner of rights in and to the motion picture known as “Cloverfield,” as well as all rights to the unpublished “Cheese” call sheet (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Paramount Properties”). No one is authorized to copy, reproduce, distribute, or otherwise use the Paramount Properties without the express written permission of Paramount.

Despite Paramount’s clear rights to the Paramount Properties, Paramount has learned that you are reproducing, displaying and distributing the “Cheese” call sheet on your website at http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/08/08/cloverfield1-18-08-call-sheet-leaked-reveals-movies-ending/ . You are hereby put on notice that the reproduction, display and/or distribution by you of Paramount Properties constitutes copyright infringement as well as an unauthorized misappropriation of a protected corporate document. Further, your conduct would constitute an improper receipt of a corporate document.

Cloverfield Principal Photography Wraps?

New York Magazine reports that principal photography has wrapped on JJ Abrams' secret Cloverfield Project.

We knew that J.J. Abrams's top-secret monster movie Cloverfield (a.k.a. Overnight, a.k.a. Monstrous, a.k.a. 1-18-08, etc.) was shooting in Manhattan this week under the fake name Cheese. So, in an unprecedented move, one of Vulture's editors actually left his computer and went outside. While we were near the film's set on the southwest corner of Central Park, a random crew member handed us something interesting: a call sheet for "day 33 of 33" of shooting that appears to give away Cloverfield's ending — and alternate ending! Major spoilers ahead, obviously.

Since I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, if you'd like to read more and see the scan of the call sheet, please click this link.

1-18-08 Central Park Set Photos

Slashfilm has a wonderful article with a couple reports from the set of Cloverfield/1-18-08, which shot on Monday in Central Park.



(Minor Spoiler Warning)

According to nooneimportant77, the first sequence involved (minor spoiler warning) a very bloody Rob and an unidentified girl (presumably Lily, played by actress Jessica Lucas) huddled under an over pass in Central Park. They exchange some lines, before Rob starts saying “look at me look at me”. Cue dust and bricks which fall on them while they scream. Then the production crew hoisted a big black tarp over one side of the over pass, which our source thinks was used to simulate more rubble falling.

Sounds like our friends from the trailer may play a bigger part than some people have speculated. And after watching some of the video, my thought is that the black tarp was used to block out the light. It's possible that the tarp could be used to simulate the monster(s) walking by. I'm sure time will tell.

Another interesting tidbit is that they were shooting with professional film or HD cameras, and not a consumer/prosumer grade camera.

The videos are now on YouTube. Thanks again to nooneimportant77.



Check out the full set report for more details, photos, and some video.