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Forum index » Archive » Archive: Cloverfield (1-18-08) » Cloverfield: Reference / Press / Questions

[Press] Daily News Article

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Lawlbringer
Veteran

Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 146
Location: Brooklyn, NY

[Press] Daily News Article
VERY INFORMATIVE

Was on the train this morning, reading the paper on my way to work.

Turned the page and there are 3 pages dedicated to many new yorkers' disgust at the use of the city in disaster movies, especially after 9/11. The 4th page was a an article about Cloverfield.

It went on to ramble about how they're keeping the monster under wraps, how people have disected the teaser, and mentioned that the movie is more character driven and the monster is not the focus of the movie.

Oh yeah, they also mentioned that it's not about Voltron.

I wouldn't have known, otherwise.

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:35 am

dalphx
Entrenched

Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 801
Location: Partying in Batcave with Lily & Beth!

Re: [Press] Daily News Article
VERY INFORMATIVE

this one......

Filmmakers view New York as a disaster waiting to happen
BY GINA SALAMONE

Wednesday, January 9th 2008, 4:00 AM

Skyscrapers submerged by explosions, the Statue of Liberty's severed head and panic in a subway station. These are some of the scary scenes in "Cloverfield," in theaters Jan. 18, but they're also the real-life fears of New Yorkers already on edge.

The film opens just a month after "I Am Legend," which follows Will Smith through a deserted and devastated New York. These flicks are only the latest of dozens to show our city besieged.

Some locals have had enough of Big Apple-based apocalypse.

"Maybe it's time to mess with another city," vents Meredith Blake, 28, who lives in Brooklyn. "My instant response to seeing the trailer was, 'Come on! Another movie where they destroy New York?'"

What bothered her most were the similarities to the most horrific attack on the city.

"I remember one scene of people running for cover in a deli, and there's dust and rubble flying everywhere," Blake says. "It's just so obviously an allusion to 9/11."

The poster for "Cloverfield" shows a decapitated Lady Liberty next to dark smoke billowing from the Manhattan skyline.

"I was at the 14th St. and Sixth Ave. subway station, and there was the 'Cloverfield' ad, and then I walk upstairs and then there's one for "I Am legend" with the [collapsed] Brooklyn Bridge," says Blake. "That was actually the tipping point. It was two at once. It's all these people in L.A. who are doing it and it's just like, 'Can't you blow up L.A., for once? Pick on your own city.'"

But don't expect the Big Apple to get a break anytime soon. It's the favorite setting for monster or disaster movies among film buffs, according to the results of a Fandango.com poll released exclusively to the Daily News.

Fifty-five percent of fans voted New York as the top film catastrophe site in the poll posted on the movie ticketing Web site last week. That was more than the combined total of those who liked London (14%), Tokyo (12%), Los Angeles (11%) and San Francisco (8%).

With all the destruction-based blockbusters set here, can you blame them?

In "The Day After Tomorrow," a global superstorm freezes the city and Jake Gyllenhaal waits it out at the New York Public Library. Global warming also struck in "Artificial Intelligence: A.I.," wiping out Gotham with floodwater.

In 1998's remake of "Godzilla," an iguana-like monster stampedes through Manhattan, crushing everything in its path before laying eggs in Madison Square Garden and becoming tangled in the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge.

That same year, the city succumbed to meteorites in "Armageddon," and a tsunami in "Deep Impact." And aliens attack in "Independence Day" and "Mars Attacks!" - both released in 1996.

As far back as 1951, Hollywood mutilated Manhattan with seawater in "When Worlds Collide." In 1968's "Planet of the Apes," Charlton Heston realizes he's on Earth only after finding the top portion of the Statue of Liberty poking out of the sand.

The list goes on and on, and "Cloverfield," about a mysterious monster butchering its way through the boroughs, is expected to be as big as the rest of them.

"It's clearly the most anticipated movie of the new few months," says Harry Medved, spokesman for Fandango.com. "We've had a lot of interest from film fans asking when tickets will go on sale."

After seeing the Big Apple stomped on, invaded by aliens, frozen over and flooded on film, why would audiences want more?

"New York City becomes a target for a variety of reasons, some more about successful film narrative and visual effects," explains Catherine Zimmer, director of Pace University's film program. "Some are more symbolic and political. First, given the sheer density of people, buildings and cars, if you want to show a tremendous spectacle, then that kind of urban density is the best location for maximum hysteria.

"These films are in large part masochistic fantasies about our own destruction, and New York has some of the most recognizable symbols of American power and notions of democracy," Zimmer adds. "You can't show the fall of the United States by leveling the Grand Canyon - it has to be things that are built by American power."

Medved thinks the city's character also makes it an attractive area to showcase in distress. "New York can be a strange and mysterious place," he says. "The city is so alive 24 hours a day. That's why it's so shocking to see it completely vacated in some of these nightmarish fantasies, like 'I Am Legend' and 'The World, the Flesh and the Devil' (1959). The movies always have a sense of awe when you see a completely vacant New York City, because any visitor who has ever been there has never seen Times Square completely empty like that."

Even some native New Yorkers can't resist.

"It had me wanting to go," Realtor David Calderazzo said after seeing the trailer for "Cloverfield." "I love these kind of movies. It doesn't offend me. It's a movie. And I've been here all my life."

Manhattanite Jay Goldstein agrees. "It got my attention," says the 40-year-old. "It looks pretty great."

Christina Aranda, 31, was a little wary after seeing the ad with a headless Statue of Liberty. But now that she knows it's a monster movie, she's open to seeing it. "It's not man messing up and spilling a plague all over or terrorists," she reasons. "You can see it from an entertainment value."

The allure of a Big Apple apocalypse doesn't seem to be dwindling, and it may be our own fault.

"It's such a great city as a location for a monster movie or disaster film because New Yorkers are so resilient and are so well known for fighting back," says Medved, "and also for taking care of each other in times of need."

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:40 am

Her
Decorated

Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Posts: 160

I liked the part that states that Goddard's script was printed on colored paper so it couldn't be photocopied.

There go all the script leaks......down the drain.

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:22 pm

CloverfieldClues.com
Entrenched

Joined: 03 Aug 2007
Posts: 757

Here's the link for that article: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2008/01/09/2008-01-09_filmmakers_view_new_york_as_a_disaster_w.html

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:12 pm

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