BUZZ! HYPE! MYSTERY! J.J. ABRAMS PLANTS THE SEEDS FOR ‘CLOVERFIELD’
Cloverfield, a.k.a. The Untitled J.J. Abrams Project, has fanboys and dedicated Lost followers abuzz.
Long story short, there is a brief trailer for Cloverfield playing before The Transformers (which I have no desire to see). I watched it on YouTube a few days ago, but it was promptly yanked by Paramount (who, in an interesting twist, have denied the actual existence of this film). My initial impression of the trailer? The Blair Witch Project meets War of the Worlds. Sweet.
Rumor has it that the creative team behind this film are familiar names to those of us who have watched every J.J. Abrams show; Cloverfield was written by Drew Godard (Alias & Lost), is being directed by Matt Reeves (Felicity) and produced by Bad Robot (Abrams’ company).
According to IMDB, this is a “monster movie that is shot using home video cameras from the point of view of people who are experiencing an attack on New York City,” and that the actual monster is called The Parasite. And in a not so surprising reveal, Cloverfield is in fact a fake name (due to relentless spoilers and aggressive bloggers, Abrams has been known to code name his projects).
Is it mere coincidence that J.J. Abrams is also in pre-production for the next Star Trek movie, also to debut in 2008? I seriously doubt that they are one and the same, but you never know with The Hatch Master. Can you imagine a better way to reinvigorate that franchise than a sci-fi thriller featuring the Enterprise crew battling a mysterious monster in NYC? Hey, anything is better than watching Captain Kirk time traveling in San Francisco and rescuing humpback whales (1986′s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home).
A few vague Cloverfield-related sites have popped up online, adding to the intrigue:
The official film site
http://www.1-18-08.com
The following two blogs lead you to an extraterrestrial DaVinci Code-like device in front of a bleak future cityscape. On one, you click on the symbols that pop up from the glowing orb, mimicking the order in which they appear. That delivers you a blurry video diary, presumably from a character in the movie. On the other, you move the symbols around the circumference and over the top of the orb with your mouse for the next clue (click on the far right star in the sky for a peek at the code’s alphabet). I haven’t ‘solved’ either site yet, but I’ll get to them eventually.
http://www.ethanhaaswasright.com
http://ethanhaaswaswrong.blogspot.com
I don’t know who Ethan Haas is, and I don’t care. I’m game. Literally.