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Think you know who caused the Statue of Liberty to lose her head? Think again, as Cloverfield director Matt Reeves tells FOCUS who was really responsible. More than two million people have seen the film since it opened in cinemas in January, but if you’re not one of them be warned, there are plot spoilers ahead.
The destruction wrought upon New York in Cloverfield stands out as one of the most striking elements of the cinematic year so far. Produced by JJ Abrams and directed by Matt Reeves, the film developed an obsessive, internet led viral marketing campaign, but had the essential qualities necessary to ensure audiences did not feel short changed by the unfolding tale of a mysterious attack on the city.
And yet, only six and a half years since an equally vivid and far more horrific event in that place, it would be natural to ask whether a film dramatising such events was being made a little too soon.
"Sure," says Reeves, "but the thing about it is that the movie was really inspired by Godzilla. It’s meant to be a horror movie of its time in the same way that Godzilla was a reaction to the anxieties of a time post Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a movie very much about the anxiety of the atomic age.
"We felt that in doing a monster movie for our country and of our time that it would definitely be reflective of the anxieties we all feel since 9/11. So that was definitely something we were aware of from the beginning, although at the end of the day we were also aware that what we were making was a fantasy.
"I think that all the really interesting genre films tend to reflect the anxiety of the time in which they were made. Obviously horror films and sci-fi films reflect our deep seated fears and are often very reflective of the times in which they were made. So we were very conscious of it, absolutely."
Shot on a combination of Handicam digital recorders and the state-of-the-art Thomson Viper, Cloverfield has the feel of a shocking event captured on the ground by people caught up in the terror and confusion of it all. But actually the shocking events portrayed on screen owe their realism and believability to the work of a British company based in Soho.
Double Negative have grown rapidly in recent years into one of the leading effects houses in the movie world, with other recent projects including Atonement, The Bourne Ultimatum, Stardust and Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix.
"They’re amazing," Reeves enthuses. "What impressed me so much with them, I think if you see film there are many scenes where you’ll look at it and say: 'that was an effect,', 'or that was an effect...'. But there are so many shots in the movie that you would never think are visual effects and that’s a testament to how good their work is."
Not that visual effects supervisor Mike Ellis and his colleagues are spending much basking in the warm glow of such effusive praise. They're too busy for one thing, as such high quality work inevitably draws attention within the business and helps attract new clients.
"Exactly," says Ellis, "there are so many companies out there doing visual effects. Mostly in America of course, but there are five or six companies here in London. You do tend to get a little bit typecast at times. We're definitely well known for doing that kind of stuff, cityscapes and stuff, while other companies get typecast for doing other kinds of stuff. But we’re all capable of doing pretty much everything."
Ellis acknowledges the impact of Cloverfield's most symbolic image, Liberty's disembodied head crashing through the streets of the Big Apple. Yet while it had no physical form, having been created in the computer and brought so impressively to life on screen, even experienced industry professionals have been fooled by it.
"It's an image that is such a powerful thing to see," Ellis notes, "for New Yorkers in particular. There’s a couple of shots like the head in the street, and Liberty standing on her own without her head. Seeing that kind of destruction obviously strikes a particular chord with a lot of people. We knew it was an important thing to get right. And it worked really well.
"We spent a lot of time creating that computer generated head coming down the street and landing and rolling, kicking up all the dirt and dust. All of that interaction on the street was CG, such as the way it hits the car. And then the camera punches into it full frame, and that was fully CG as well, all the way through. We had some really nice compliments from the studio, some of the executives even asked if they could get hold of the actual head. That," he adds, "was really nice."
ANWAR BRETT
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