In what could be the most significant twist of the franchise yet, it sounds as if ‘The Cloverfield Paradox‘ had already begun filming before J.J. Abrams had figured out it would even be a ‘Cloverfield’ movie. The reception to the movie has been a mixed bag with fans and critics alike as a disjointed and almost forced feel seemed to follow parts of the movie and now we might know why. I think I’m in the minority of those who felt it was an interesting concept but a recent Q&A on Facebook with Abrams, director Julius Onah, and two of the stars likely explained why this didn’t feel right to everyone.
According to Abrams, here’s the way the movie itself came about:
“Originally, it was written by Oren Uziel, who wrote a draft that was its own thing, and was around for a while. Then started to think, ‘What are ways that this might fit into the world?’ But when we started shooting the movie, it was still something we were thinking about. Because the idea for the Cloverfield series was not so much that it be this narrative throughline, but more that they be these really fun sort of thrill rides. Like, if you imagine an amusement park, that’s a Cloverfield amusement park, and every ride has a different purpose, but they all connect in some way or another.”
So, it still wasn’t set in stone that it would be part of the “Cloverfield” franchise even when production kicked off! Abrams continued that “while we were shooting, we were making adjustments. This was a movie that went through many different iterations as it went along.” In fact, Earth wasn’t originally involved at all in it, but the test audiences wanted to know what was happening on the ground while we saw the events take place on the space station.
By now you’ve likely seen the video where a fan synched up the monster’s first roar from both the original film and Paradox:
Abrams was asked if this was deliberate. While that would have been a fantastic little Easter Egg, Abrams insists that “No. It’s a bizarre coincidence.”
Now that is a shame.
Did you enjoy ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ or did you feel that the movie didn’t work? Does the explanation above explain what you felt was off about it? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: The Verge
