Cloverfield’s Michael Stahl-David Stars in Hollywood’s Best Kept Secret, a Monster of a Movie Thriller and a Provocative Post-9/11 Paranoia

By Lee Shoquist

Four days before Cloverfield is set to open, Michael Stahl-David, the film’s novice young star making his film debut in the lead role of the season’s most anticipated and guarded movie, is still holding the film’s many secrets close.

When I chatted with the energetic actor this week, press had yet to screen the film. Having since seen the picture, I can say without reservation that Cloverfield is a true movie nightmare, a paranoid freak-out that lives up to the internet fanfare preceding it, with a terrific performance from its fledgling leading man at the center of the film’s 9/11-influenced urban nightmare.

As Cloverfield’s heroic Rob Hawkins, navigating the impact of a catastrophic monster attack on Manhattan, he delivers a performance of initial charm turned frantic pathos on a trek to rescue another survivor—the girl who got away. Talk about your obstacles to true love.

With the film about to open, Stahl-David’s enthusiasm is catching, obviously thrilled to be in the center of it all.

Lee Shoquist: This must be a really exciting week for you.

Michael Stahl-David: Yeah, a little bit!

LS: We still have no idea what Cloverfield is going to be, and it has been that way since May when the first teaser was released.

MSD: I didn’t know what it was going to be at that point either, really!

LS: And still nobody knows. This has been the best-kept movie secret in a long time. Were you even able to let your family in on it?

MSD: No! I could have gotten away with it, but I didn’t want to. At first it was like, if I tell anybody I’m going to be made to disappear! It was very fun. But they were also very serious, like "This is what we are doing. Don’t screw it up for us."

LS: What was the reason for this secrecy?

MSD: I think to engage the public in this huge game of catch me if you can; this public hide and seek on the Internet. It was a tease to everybody: "Can you figure it out?"

LS: Well let’s jump off from what we do know, which is that this film begins at a party and you are about to leave Manhattan for a job in Japan. Clue us in to what is not part of the gag order.

MSD: A lot of it is fun to put together in the plot, but basically there is this relationship that is going on, kind of like anybody or somebody you’ve liked for a long time. Something happens, but you have to leave for a job. So it’s that situation; the awkwardness and kind of like having to cut something off before you want to. We don’t go that much into it but you can see that is happening.

LS: Let’s flash back to your audition. Were you able to audition with scenes from the film? Did you even know what you were auditioning for?

MSD: When we auditioned, the movie hadn’t even been written! A lot of the audition stuff was not what ended up in the movie. The auditions were focusing on Rob’s love for Beth and his awkwardness a little bit and the sweetness of that relationship before everything goes down, which is a very short part of the movie. So that is what they had us reading at the audition, and a scene from Alias. It was this crazy, convoluted scene where they were like, "Okay, you’re a spy, and you’ve been knocked out. And all of a sudden you wake up in China! And you’ve got to run!" It was really difficult to act! I think they recognized that, but they needed to see us in an extreme situation, so literally, in the final callback, J.J. Abrams went to his office and wrote a monologue and handed it to me. I had a couple minutes to look at it and he was like, "Whenever you’re ready!"

LS: And that became part of the film or was just something he wrote off the top of his head?

MSD: No, it didn’t end up in the film. That moment happens, but it’s a much shorter moment.

LS: I understand the film is very innovative in how it was shot, by a handheld camcorder with one of your fellow actors doing most of the shooting at the street level, running around with camera in hand. It must have been a challenge to create a character under those circumstances, not knowing when your face would be on camera.

MSD: You said it. And that’s really hard! You’ll be doing stuff that the camera is not catching, over and over sometimes, and maybe the one time you are not doing it, the camera gets your face. If the camera was too conveniently capturing our emotions or the flickers across our eyes, then it would give away this idea that this is a character (filming), a live human being dealing with what’s going on around him. They really stayed true to that throughout the movie, which is what I think is so exciting about it.

LS: I hear you guys did some process called pre-visualization regarding acting with elements of the film that were not in place at the time, such as effects shots. Today it seems like we can’t tell anymore, with such seamless effects in movies. Were you often acting without certain elements?

MSD: Of course! We were lucky on the days we were in a somewhat real location. We did shoot some things in downtown LA and the lots are actually really nice. They put you on these back streets that are these "New York City" streets. And there was some green screen there. But it actually feels like a street. But then we had some days of pure green screen. So the weird thing is to go back an watch it feels like, "What is this movie?! That wasn’t there!"

LS: You live in New York now, right?

MSD: Yeah, I live in Brooklyn.

LS: So you guys actually recreated New York on a set in Los Angeles! That must have been rather surreal for you to go to work in your home city. On the other side of the country.

MSD: It’s the most bizarre feeling to be walking through a back lot of palm trees and stucco warehouses and turn the corner to see cobblestone streets and fire escapes! The detail of the set guys is really impressive!

LS: Does it really feel real when you are there? I assume that many of the buildings are facades, but do you actually feel like you are on a soundstage or outside?

MSD: You are actually outside. The stages inside feel like stages. So it always feels more real than the sets onstage. A lot of times I’m acting onstage where the set is just suggested. You pull up a couple chairs and you’re in a car. I’m used to imagining with a lot less!

LS: You’re an experienced young theater actor trying to spread his wings in the movies, a fickle and difficult industry to work in for any extended period of time. What are your plans to continue working in such a business that is so disposable?

MSD: Gosh man, I don’t know. I’m going to have to be kind of figuring that out as we go along now. It’s very tempting to want to turn stuff down especially because I am a theater actor and I want to work, just for myself. I have to be productive in my days! But that being said, I had a fantastic experience on this movie and in the next movie, I want to have a different sort of experience.

LS: Have you seen this film in its entirety? And does it feel on the screen like what you felt when you were shooting it?

MSD: I saw it on Saturday. And no, it doesn’t. Shooting it was tedious. As much fun as it was and as nice as everybody was, to be completely honest, it was tedious. It was hard. It was extremely challenging to get the feeling of a handheld camera capturing these moments. That was very hard. It’s like when you watch an action sequence. It’s seamless and exciting and fun, but shooting it took weeks. This is like that for a whole movie! So watching the movie is so exciting!

LS: So when you talk about shooting those action sequences, do they ever get exciting when you’re in them? Does it ever feel as thrilling in the moment as it does when we see it?

MSD: Yeah. It’s definitely- surprises happen. The first time you do something, or just when guns are going off and tanks and crazy stuff is happening by you, it is definitely exciting. It’s also exciting when you feel like you’re going the right way with something: "Okay, that was a good one! Let’s go again! We’re on the path. We’re doing it right!" Then it becomes very exciting.

LS: Let’s talk about your Cloverfield director, Matt Reeves. J.J. Abrams is getting a lot of attention for producing this film, but I’m curious about your director. This has to be as exciting a time for him as for you.

MSD: Oh, I’m very excited for him. Matt Reeves is amazing. He is going to get offered a million big action movies, and that is not what he is about. Matt Reeves is about character. He is about people and that is what he wanted to do, and succeeded in doing with this movie—telling the story of friends and real people in this situation, from this really intimate point of view. He is a great collaborator and has no ego whatsoever. He was always open to our ideas and was like, "Let’s figure this out together." I don’t know how weird that is, but I felt like it was special and he is just relentlessly positive and a workaholic, which I guess he has to be.

LS: You have called Cloverfield a survival film rather than a horror film.

MSD: It doesn’t feel like a horror film, I don’t think. Granted, I don’t watch a ton of them but it isn’t this creepy, suspense build-up, "Aaahh!" It’s not that. It’s like you are watching a party and boom, the stuff starts to happen and it just doesn’t stop, and you’re going with it and crazy sh*t is happening and the pace is incredible—then it’s over. So you don’t have time to process it or catch your breath. It’s short which I think is really good. It’s not any longer than it has to be. Whereas in horror movies there is suspense and something gross happens in this little burst, this is more a steady- there are definitely bursts in little places, but you’re on this f*ck*ing night with us!

LS: Thrillers always reflect the fears of society at the time, from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the current onslaught of technology paranoia movies. Much has been made about the 9/11 parallels here. What do you make of that?

MSD: Yeah. Some of the imagery, how could you not? It’s also a monster movie. Those anxieties are there in our consciousness as a nation so they are going to be there. I don’t think it exploits that or runs away with that. It reminds you, "This is a monster." And also, the character of Hud is funny, and there is sarcasm, so it feels like a nice combination of excitement and a rush, but I don’t think it gets too heavy. I think being in that first person with us is extremely visceral.

LS: So beyond Cloverfield, what is the biggest secret you have ever kept?

MSD: Oh my god, do you think I’m going to tell you? Not likely!

LS: What’s the best part of your job?

MSD: The collaboration. Somebody giving you an idea that you hadn’t thought of before—that discovery.

LS: Listen, best of luck and we’re all really excited about Cloverfield and for you.

MSD: Thanks a lot.

Special thanks to Michael Stahl-David for this interview.