The poor old Statue of Liberty. Over the years we’ve seen it consumed by a tidal waves, submerged in ice and buried under sand, all for our cinematic pleasure. Now Lost creator JJ Abrams has decapitated it for his latest feature Cloverfield, which premieres on January 18 after one of those lengthy, teaser viral campaigns which at first intrigues but rapidly goes stale and starts to stink the internet out.
Writing in the New York Times last week, Sewell Chan wondered what the compulsion was for us constantly to see New York destroyed onscreen. Former mayor Edward I Koch thinks it’s envy. But for anyone who’s seen the Cloverfield trailer (has anyone not by now?), there’s one overriding emotion – and it’s neither envy nor a sense of vengeance. Clouds of dust and filthy smoke buffeting through downtown Manhattan? Citizens sheltering from falling debris in shop doorways? All shot via hand-held cameras and mobile phones? This is a re-enactment of September 11. There’s no coincidence: Abrams (and director Matt Reeves) have gone out of their way to recall the panic of the terrorist attack on New York in order to sell us this film. Only this one has monsters in it too! Even better than the real thing!
When the planes hit the Twin Towers, countless witnesses interviewed live said it was “like a movie”. Now we have endless movies referencing the defining moment of the 21st Century so far, and not one has managed to capture the raw fear, panic and astonishment of that day. Because the whole world saw it happen, for real, with their own eyes. Anything Hollywood comes up with is nothing but strained artifice in comparison. Why bother?
When those posters for Schwarzenegger’s Collateral Damage hung impotently in the New York skyline on September 11, there was a lot of talk of a new seriousness, of the Western World being woken from its slumbers. But no; turns out it was just another disaster movie blueprint in the making. Apparently we still want to watch New York destroyed for our entertainment. Seeing it happen for real hasn’t sated our appetite one bit.
Source: Catch of the day: Cloverfield
The British Times has gotten word that Bond 22 will be filming a scene next week at the Barbican, a performing arts center in the north of London. The center is typically used to host music concerts, art exhibitions and theater productions, and according to the paper the “a sign has gone up giving warning that next week it will be the venue for the filming of a scene from the next James Bond film, currently working title Bond 22, which will again star Daniel Craig. Relax, ladies, Craig won’t be there as far as I know, but in the Sculpture Court … they will film a man talking on a mobile phone, the sign says. We’ll have to wait for the release of the film, set for November, to see why it was necessary to go to the Barbican to film someone talking on their mobile phone.” And that’s it. At first blush, this sounds to me a lot like the Miami Body Worlds scene in Casino Royale, doesn’t it?