When watching the beginning of “Cloverfield” (2008), you don’t really know what to expect, but you can put together the pieces with the help of found footage and seeing the plot unfold behind a camera lens. In this article, you will learn a bit more about the movie through trivia and facts concerning this mystery, science fiction, and thriller.
The Plot
In what’s left of Central Park, the United States Department of Defense locates a videotape that highlights footage of a group of friends celebrating the departure of a friend. The party takes place in an apartment in Lower Manhattan, where a young man is gearing up to relocate to Japan for a new job. His friend is behind the camera, recording messages from his friends. What they believe to be an earthquake interrupts their festivities, as well as news of a ship capsizing in the nearby harbor. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the accident, they are instead met with explosions. The building goes powerless and taking to the streets, they run in an attempt to save themselves, as a monster is attacking New York City.
Interesting Facts and Trivia About “Cloverfield”
To capture the interest of movie-goers, the first trailer for Cloverfield appeared before the start of Transformers (2007). With no title, people saw a huge explosion in the center of New York City with the head of the Statue of Liberty rolling down a street. All along, a hand-held video recorder was responsible for the shot.
The director Matt Reeves provides the voice for the person yelling, “I saw it! It’s alive! It’s huge!” in the teaser trailer and as the mysterious voice on the radio broadcast that plays after the end credits.
In the tunnel scene, the rats were actually specially trained and marked with a dark, charcoal-like substance to give them the same look as wild, dirty tunnel rats. Computers generated the final shot involving the rats.
Some of the filming of the movie was shot by the actors themselves.
It took 34 days to shoot the movie in both New York and Los Angeles. On the first day, the Ferris wheel scene was filmed, while production for the scene that takes place inside of Beth’s parents’ apartment took place on the last day.
Interestingly, the film has no music score, and if you pay attention, the music for the end credits doesn’t start until 1 minute and 30 seconds has passed after the credits start rolling.
As people poured into theaters for the first weekend of the movie’s release, they were met with posted signs that warned them that the hand held camera movements could lead to motion sickness.
John Carpenter’s ‘Escape from New York’ (1981) served as inspiration for the scene that shows the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty lying in the street.