Cloverfield
Whatever it is, it's winning.
Cloverfield (2008)
Production
Budget
$25 000 000
Revenue
$170 764 026
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Lizzy Caplan
Marlena
Jessica Lucas
Lily
T.J. Miller
Hud
Michael Stahl-David
Rob Hawkins
Mike Vogel
Jason Hawkins
Odette Annable
Beth McIntyre
Anjul Nigam
Bodega Cashier
Margot Farley
Jenn
Short description
Five young New Yorkers are gathered in a Manhattan apartment for a farewell party honoring Rob Hawkins, who is leaving for Japan. The celebration is interrupted when the building shakes and the guests pour into the street, where an enormous creature has appeared among the skyscrapers and is tearing through the city. As the military struggles to respond and Manhattan is sealed off, the friends try to stay alive and reach someone trapped near Central Park. The whole experience is recorded on a handheld video camera carried by Hud, one of the guests, so the film unfolds as found footage of the group's flight through the chaos.
Matt Reeves directed Cloverfield, his second feature after The Pallbearer and the film that preceded Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes and The Batman in his filmography. Drew Goddard wrote it, and J.J. Abrams produced through Bad Robot. The cast includes Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel and Odette Annable.
Made for around 25 million dollars, the film earned roughly 171 million worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from more than 443,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.7 out of 10 from over 8,000 votes. A critics' rating of 7.2 out of 10 from 214 reviews places it slightly above the TMDB audience score and close to the IMDb figure.
What's left behind the scenes
- The first teaser trailer was released before the screening of the film 'Transformers' (2007). At that time, the project did not have a title.
- The second trailer was shown to the public on November 15, 2007, before the screening of the film 'Beowulf' (2007).
- As part of the project's promotional campaign, fictional news reports about the crash of the 'Chuay' oil platform were prepared in 7 versions – in Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, French, English, and Russian.
- The original title of the project ("Cloverfield") is actually just a code name for the film. It's the name of a boulevard in Santa Monica where the offices of Bad Robot studios were located during production.
- Production of the film itself began after a teaser trailer had already been shown to audiences. Filming took place in Los Angeles and New York – the Los Angeles shoot operated under the fake code name “Slusho,” while the New York shoot was known as “Cheese.” The New York shoot took 33 days – from July 7th to August 8th, 2007.
- The Dharma Initiative logo (central to the TV series “Lost” (2004-2010)) appears briefly at the beginning of the film.
- At the beginning of the film, during the party scene, the Gorillaz song "19-2000" plays in the background; the music video for that song also features a giant monster and the theme of alien invasion.
- The film was shot in 34 days.
- The film begins and ends at 6:42 AM (stated by the operator himself, and the time is displayed on screen).
- At the end of the film, Rob states a number and day of the week – May 23rd, Saturday. This date falls on the year 2009.
- In the final release of the film, the size of the Statue of Liberty’s head is one and a half times larger than the real one. According to the visual effects supervisor, this had to be done due to complaints that the head was originally too small.
- Lizzy Kaplan (who played Marlene) was sure that she was about to film a romantic movie until the second round of auditions. It was before the second round that she was given one of the scenes from the future film to read, and that's when she found out it would be a horror film, and that the actors were not given the script until they were approved for a role in the future film.
- The film's runtime without credits is approximately 80 minutes, which is roughly the length of videotape cassettes.
- During the initial screenings of the film, many cinemas displayed warnings that the footage from a handheld video camera could cause nausea and dizziness in viewers.
- Some scenes of the film were shot by the actors themselves.
- During rehearsals, director Matt Reeves told the actors involved in the film that the most important thing for them now was to get to know each other better and, if possible, become friends, so that their relationships would look natural on screen.
- According to Annie Pomerantz (who was the visual effects producer), puppets were used in the scene with the 'parasites' in the subway tunnel. However, it soon became clear that computer graphics were also necessary. Director Matt Reeves called the scenes with the puppets 'idiotic'.
- Whenever something happened to the cinematographer, another member of the film crew, or actor T.J. Miller (who played Hudson) during filming, it was included in the film for realism. In the scene of the crowd fleeing from the bridge and Hudson's fall, cinematographer Mike Bonville actually fell while filming. Some cinematographers in similar situations were injured.
- The initial scenes of the party were filmed without music, and the extras in the background only pretended to communicate with each other. The music was added to the footage during post-production.
- During filming in Los Angeles, representatives of one of the film's sponsors, the company Sephora (founded in 1970, owner of a network of perfume and cosmetics stores), contacted set decorator Martin Whist and ordered one of the storefronts on the street to be made into their retail outlet. Residents of the surrounding houses were so happy that a Sephora store was opening nearby that the filmmakers didn't have the heart to explain the situation to them.
- The Coney Island scene was shot on location. Roba and Beth (played by Michael Stahl-David and Odette Annable, respectively) were genuinely filmed on a train while the actors were traveling to Coney Island. Several hours of footage were shot on the train, but only a second was used.
- Producer J.J. Abrams suggested to director Matt Reeves that he take a small crew and go to New York City to shoot undercover, without obtaining permission from authorities or notifying passersby. Abrams and Reeves decided that if enough footage was shot on location in New York, the audience wouldn't notice the use of green screens for backgrounds in some cases. Originally, filming on the streets of New York was planned for only two days, but the producers managed to change the shooting schedule to allocate a whole week to filming in New York. That’s why many scenes were actually shot on location in New York.
- Screenwriter Drew Goddard and director Matt Reeves understood that they would have to justify the characters' descent into the underground tunnels. Once, Reeves witnessed filming of a nighttime battle by a unit of the American army in Iraq. The drama of the situation, mixed with the fury of the clash and the general confusion, led to a scene in which a street battle between soldiers and the creature forces the heroes to seek refuge in the subway. The street battle scenes were not filmed in New York, but on sets and in studio pavilions in Los Angeles.
- Due to the tilted floor in certain scenes, many on set felt unwell. Viewers assumed the camera was simply tilted, but the filmmakers actually constructed a sloping set. Reeves later admitted he regretted not being able to film a tilted apartment for one of the characters in such a way that the audience could fully experience what the actors and crew felt during filming.
- The return of the parasites to the high-rise building was filmed during post-production, after principal photography had wrapped. The idea was suggested by a friend of director Matt Reeves, who saw an early version of the film and suggested that the city should be teeming with parasites.
- Initially, it was planned that the Brooklyn Bridge would be destroyed by one of the monster's hands, but then they decided it should be destroyed by a random swipe of its tail.
- After watching an early cut of the film, Steven Spielberg suggested hinting to the audience at what awaited the creature. As a result, a message transmitted over the radio and the sound of air raid sirens were added to the film, which preceded the activation of the Hammerdown protocol, which involved destroying the entire city.
- Originally, it was intended that Hudson, played by T.J. Miller, would survive, but he was eaten at the suggestion of producer J.J. Abrams. Initially, they wanted to show Hudson being eaten immediately after he turned around, but it was decided to give the audience a better look at the monster, so the monster first leaned down and examined Hudson before consuming him.
- At Rob's farewell party, we can see Jason, his brother, wearing a t-shirt with the inscription “Slusho”, which was a code fake name for the film.
- One of the reasons for the absence of children and the elderly in the film was that the creature attacked at night, when children and the elderly are usually already at home. As for children, the filmmakers had some additional considerations: child actors could not be filmed at night due to regulations governing the filming of children. Children are more likely to reveal confidential information. Ensuring the safety of children requires additional effort and, therefore, expenses. The presence of underage actors on the set invariably requires additional permits. Audiences in the US do not like it when children suffer in the plot. In fact, both children and the elderly are present in the film – viewers see an old man in the scene when the head of the Statue of Liberty falls to the ground, and at the beginning of the film, a baby’s cry can be heard.
- The tracks in the underground tunnel were laid over a relatively short distance, so the actors in the corresponding scenes had to walk first in one direction, and then, turning around, in the other, to give the audience the impression of a long underground tunnel. The lanterns under the tunnel vault were deliberately moved, which added tension to the atmosphere. Director Matt Reeves was told that the rats delivered for filming in the tunnels had already appeared in films from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. He had never filmed animals before and was worried about staying within the allocated filming time, but the rats turned out to be obedient, and all of Reeves’ concerns were unfounded.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
