Last weekend about 46 million dollars were spent by the general public to see what all the Cloverfield hype was about. Seeing it for the first time as well (only about a week ago) were the movie's young stars Michael Stahl-David, Jessica Lucas, and Odette Yustman.
"I didn't know what it was going to be like to go through the experience. I mean I was really excited by was the pace. How quickly everything, one thing led to the next and to the next. And that was really exciting for me and made me feel like very proud," said Stahl-David, who stars as protagonist Rob Hawkins, in regards to viewing the movie for the first time.
"And that was a huge challenge to get the shot, get the, you know, sometimes you got a great take but, you know, it looks too perfect," Stahl-David said.
When asked about special effects and specifically the antagonist monster, the actors revealed they didn't know much during production.
"I only saw cartoons and animations for the first part. And the afterwards they would show us, you know, bits and pieces," said Yustman, who stars as Rob's love interest Beth.
And while the special effects of the final project blew the stars away, it was the narrative achievement, in regards to the monster genre, which was also complimented.
"I'm just so proud that, you know, that they never really cheesed out. You don't see any Hollywood movie moments throughout the film," Yustman said.
However, the actors were quick not to downplay the power of the post-production effects, which succeed in making the whole experience seem realistic, despite the ridiculous storyline.
"I mean just to say sort of you feel like an idiot. You know, and then they, the special effects guy go in and make you look good," Stahl-David said.
Just as important as the post-production aspect of the film was the pre-production aspect, which involved an extensive amount of mysterious tricks and treats by the filmmakers, the first of which was the now infamous, untitled teaser that premiered ahead of Transformers. The teaser was actually filmed before the actual shooting began, the actors knowing about as much, if only a little more, than the confused, intrigued viewers watching a piece of the Statue of Liberty roll down the NYC streets.
Months went on, the Web waves chock full of predictions, rumors, gossip, and all-around discussion, further hyping an unknown film, known only as J.J Abram's "1-18-08" project, the film's release date.
"I think [viral marketing] speaks more to today's generation. I mean the Internet plays such a huge part in our lives. It only makes sense to market it that way," Lucas said.
In an age of Facebook and text-messaging, the idea of "word of mouth" advertising has expanded far from simply talking about something. Now, people are typing about it and texting about it.
"I think it's cool and interesting how much the fans become part of the advertising. I mean the message board becomes such a huge part of promoting the movie...citizens becoming such huge players in the industry at least collectively," Stahl-David said, in regards to viral marketing.
When asked if he drew any research or inspiration from previous monster/horror flicks, such as Godzilla or The Blair Witch Project, Stahl-David dismissed the predecessors, explaining he hoped to create something newly realized and free from past attempts.
"I also felt like I didn't want to do a monster movie like they've been done before. I didn't want to like, well I'll have a really good scared face that I kind of saw in this other movie that I have in my head."
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
