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2 New TV Spots for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Shows New Footage of Bane, Batman, Alfred, Catwoman and the Bat-WingSteven Spielberg & J.J. Abrams Talk SUPER 8
by Phil Brown Posted:May 26th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
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In just two short weeks we’ll finally get to see J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg’s alien conspiracy collaboration Super 8 and yet unlike most blockbusters in the pipeline, we still know very little about it. Much like on Abrams’ Cloverfield, the marketing department has wisely played their cards close to their chest and audiences are going to get the increasingly rare experience of walking into a major blockbuster without knowing exactly what they’ll see.
That said, the mystery surrounding Super 8 has only raised the demand for info on the project and today anyone hungry for details about the movie will have their desires met by none other than Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams. The pair rarely ever speak to the press these days (as only filmmakers of their considerable box office clout can), but a video interview with the dynamic duo has surfaced on the internet today that reveals some fresh and thankfully spoiler-free tidbits on the highly anticipated project. Geeks can officially start salivating. Hit the jump to see video footage of this rare sighting of Spielberg and Abrams together, hereby crushing rumors once and for all the Abrams is actually Spielberg going through a Benjamin Button-style reverse aging process.
Here are some interview highlights for anyone who doesn’t have 13 minutes of sweet video watching to spare, but still wants to hear what Abrams and Spielberg have to say about Super 8:
-The film came out of Spielberg and Abrams’ nostalgia for shooting 8mm movies as kids.
-The movie was initially conceived as a story about fledging child filmmakers discovering they accidentally shot a Zapruder-type film with something in the corner of the frames that will unlock a mystery. It was always intended to be a personal film about Abrams’ childhood filmmaking days with a genre element added to give it a wider appeal. Initially it was going to be a heist movie before Abrams decided to combine the idea with another concept for a sci-fi/monster movie that he was working on.
- Sound designer Ben Burtt (Star Wars) worked on the film and brought in a super 8 movie he made as a teenager that incorporated a real train wreck which was eerily similar to the film the kids make in Super 8. Spielberg also revealed that his first 8mm movie was of a train wreck with model trains.
-JJ Abrams claims the movie wasn’t intended to be a direct homage to Spielberg movies from the 70s and 80s. It was always meant to be an homage to a time in Abrams’ life that was so important to his development as a filmmaker, but that time was hugely impacted by Spielberg’s movies. So the homage to movies like ET and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind was never deliberate, but it felt right.
-They wanted to set the movie in the 70s because so much more craft was involved in physically making amateur movies at that time. Spielberg thinks digital technology is a great outlet for young filmmakers today, but in the 70s it required more passion and effort to make 8mm movie and that seemed more dramatically interesting for the film. JJ also enjoyed the fact that kids making movies at that time would be more oddballs and outcasts than kids doing it today.
- Both Spielberg and Abrams admit how difficult it is to create an original movie monster these days, but relished the challenge and are quite pleased with their results. Abrams said that he was also very influenced by Alien in terms of holding back on seeing the monster until the very end to derive more fear and suspense out of the unknown.
Here’s the video clip courtesy of Empire:
All in all, it was a pretty great interview. It’s so rare to see those guys speak that it’s always a pleasure. The fact that the movie has a personal element to it is promising in an age of product driven blockbusters, so hopefully that ends up being as integral to the film as they suggest. It’s also great to know that Abrams will continue to use the “fear of the unknown” as his guiding principle for the suspense and scare scenes in Super 8. Considering how well he pulled that off in Cloverfield and Lost, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Super 8 definitely looks promising and it’s nice to know that auteur driven blockbusters haven’t died out entirely. Abrams is one of the few directors in Hollywood who can put together a big movie with no stars and market it with his own name and it’s great to know that he’s taking advantage of that. With the ultimate blockbuster auteur Spielberg working on the movie as a guiding hand, the potential for this sucker to entertain on a grand scale is through the roof. Hopefully it can live up to the hype. We need at least some genuine summer blockbusters without The Rock these days. We really do.
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this movie is gonna be a classic, it looks awesome no over the top micheal bay type explosion fest, very suspenseful done very tasteful
Look, I don’t want to be annoying about it, but Abrams had only a small role in developing Cloverfield and almost nothing to do with Lost past the third season. In fact, very little of his actual – not his attributed – accomplishments show that he has a knack for suspense at all. I’m looking forward to Super 8, but it’s important to give credit where credit is due.
You just proved the oposite point than what you were going for. LOST totally sucked after seasons 1&2 so clearly that proves how essential Abrams influence was to the suspense and awesomeness of the show.
Lost sucked after the 3rd season because the screenwriters runned out of ideas. You can’t stretch indefinitely the elastic.
Looking forward to this, I like that they’re not telling us much of anything, but I’m a bit concerned that the film might be too jumbled… there just seems to be something of a clash between the intense shots of the train hatch being blown open and screaming townsfolk being dragged away with the whole, well… “goonies” vibe. But maybe that’s just my preference; I want this to be more Cloverfield than ET.
Also, if anyone else wants to hedge some bets, I’m gonna guess that this alien is going to be a tiny little thing with mental powers instead of some hulking monstrosity.
That’s what I love about the whole mystery elements Abrams is known for because you think you have an idea of what it is, but you do not know what to expect.
Abrams is our generations answer to Spielberg.. they even look the same! JJ is a very smart man and knows how to play the public.. its really interesting that before the internet, the public knew very little about a movie before it was released.. i remember being a kid and my parents took me to The Goonies and Aliens and not having a clue what to expect.. and that alone plays to your imagination.. the anticipation of some kind of spectacle.. I think what JJ is doing is great.. he’s showing us how movies should be watched.. without any expectation.. (well, it does help if you’re as good a director as him though
Wow, some people are actually praising J.J. Abrams. The same big-nose tool who almost destroyed the Mission Impossible series and who only has one hit movie, Star Trek. And Trek was a success only in the US. Worldwide, it was anything BUT a blockbuster movie.
It’s hilarious how some people act like this guy is the next big thing.
Guys, you’re allowed to like Abrams all you want, but you sound more and more like these truly insane and delusional Nolan fans, who actually believe that the guy is the next Jesus. Don’t go there with Abrams, or you will lose your credibility.
And to that ‘drew’ guy above: how about you watch the movie first before calling it a ‘classic’, huh?
And since you mentioned Michael Bay, let me remind you that Abrams worked FOR Bay. He was one of the writers on Armageddon and a ghost writer on The Rock. Abrams said many times that he owes a lot to Bay.
Now, can he be as successful as Bay?
No. Hell, no.
Yep people wanting to lick Abrams ballsack has always confused me. I presume it’s the fans of his tv series, maybe a few star trek fans too.
If I could only pick one jock, I I’d take Bay over Abram any day of the week.
Are you kidding me? You must be a troll. Abrams’ mission impossible is the best in the series… but then again you are a Bay fan.
Glenny-boy, can you come up with a more fanboy-ish comment? Seriously, you fanboys are so predictable, it’s crazy.
Abrams’s MI movie was a complete joke. No wonder it flopped. The guy was obviously trying to make a Michael Bay-style movie, but he failed big time. And I agree with Alex’s comment: I would take Bay over Abrams any fucking day of the week.
Nolan and Abrams have one thing in common.. they know how to tell a good story.. Bay is a great technically but is heavily reliant on a tight screenplay to make something work.. then again he’s been known to mess a workable script just so it has more explosions.. But you probably like Monster Truck and Nicholas Cage too.. so everybody understands where you’re coming from..
Abrams is a visionary mind, Bay is a crafted technician, that’s all there is to say.
—–Pointless self-basting distractions as Hollywood
continues to BALK and RUN from the more relevant
by the day 60th Anniversary of the
————————KOREAN WAR————————–.