411 Movies Interview: Michael Stahl-David of Cloverfield Posted by Tony Farinella on 04.21.2008
411's Tony Farinella sits down with Michael Stahl-David of Cloverfield for an exclusive interview!
Cloverfield was one of the surprise hits of the January movie season. It was a surprise hit because we had no idea what to expect from the film. And that's a good thing, because it's always nice to be surprised at the cinema. Now, Cloverfield is about to hit DVD, and people are still talking about the film. In my interview with Michael Stahl-David, we talked about his character in the film, his relationship with Beth in the film, the monster, and a whole lot more. I hope you enjoy my interview with Michael Stahl-David, and if you missed Cloverfield in theaters, you need to check it out on DVD. Trust me, you won't regret it.
TONY: Have you had a chance to step back and fully absorb this whole experience? I'm sure it's been a crazy journey for you.
Michael Stahl-David: I guess so. Yeah, maybe I have. Yeah. I just got back from Japan, for the premiere there. They had a delayed premiere there; I guess they wanted to take some time to hype it up. And there was a lot of buzz about it and people were excited. So that was a totally bizarre and overwhelmingly awesome and crazy experience. It was nice to get a refreshing jolt of it.
TONY:Cloverfield is unique because the film doesn't feature a major movie star. In fact, some might argue that the monster is the star of the film. What was it like working in that environment?
Michael Stahl-David: It was great. Ensemble acting is kind of the tradition I come from, growing up around the theater and looking up to the folks at Steppenwolf. I liked that. And it was definitely a set where you didn't have to cater to egos, which was a relief. Not that I've had to do that very much ...but it's a good way to work.
TONY: I really enjoyed the chemistry that you had on screen with the Beth character. How did you guys find that chemistry?
Michael Stahl-David: A lot of improvising .... I think that's how we tried to find those natural moments. There was one thing that ended up in there where I'm throwing the strawberries in her mouth, and that's something that we just started doing on the day ... just kind of playing around. So, yeah, I would say that's how. And when we shot The Coney Island stuff, we were just two people on a subway train. We didn't have permission to shoot on the train at that time, so the crew was hiding their gear and beach bags and trying to look inconspicuous. There's only like six crew members and then the two of us, so that intimacy kind of helps too.
TONY: This is a question that I'm sure you have asked yourself a few times, but would you have done what your character did in the film? Would you have gone back for the girl?
Michael Stahl-David: This is the part where I have to say ....no, I wouldn't have gone after her. Probably not. (laughs) Honestly, I don't think I could possibly know what I would do in that situation. I'd like to think I would go back ... because the way I justified it for him was he just couldn't take in what was happening. He couldn't deal with the fact that his brother had died and that some fucking thing from whatever attacked the city. So he can't process it, he can't deal with it, and he gives himself a task to do. And, also, obviously, because he loves her. But it's just a way of not taking in what's going on and not really processing it. So if you're asking me if I would do it, probably not. I probably would not do it and then feel bad about it for the rest of my life. (laughs)
TONY: How did you balance all of the emotions of your character? He's going to Japan, he's leaving behind the girl of his dreams, and he's about to have a new job. Needless to say, that's a lot to handle.
Michael Stahl-David: One scene at a time, I guess. I guess I got a lot of help from the director on that, too, in terms of staying on track and plotting out how we want to do it. It was my first time doing something where I got to really have a strong arch and a lot of stuff. And it was a fun challenge. When you're shooting stuff out of order, you have to figure out, "OK, in this scene, I'm not gonna show that I'm upset about what's happened at all, because I know I'm gonna be crying in a couple of scenes. So I'm gonna wait, and I'm not gonna do anything here." You know, let the tension build or something. Once the stuff starts going down, I think you're kind of dealing with what's happening in the moment.
TONY: What was it like working with director Matt Reeves? He seems like a such a positive and energetic guy. As an actor, do you feed off his energy?
Michael Stahl-David: Yeah, it was like kids staying up all night and taking No-Doze or something. You needed that, because we were staying up all night and we were on this night schedule. His enthusiasm and his excitement about it was just contagious. The feeling that we were doing something that hadn't been done before, and, every once in a while, we'd step back and be like, "This is f'n crazy what we're doing."
TONY: What was it like dealing with the secretive nature of the film? Did you have a lot of friends and family members bugging you for information?
Michael Stahl-David: I didn't have to go retreat to a monastery in Tibet or anything. (laughs) Honestly, it was fun keeping it a secret. You didn't have to bore people by talking about work, and I don't like to do that too much. Also, anything I could tell them was gonna make it pretty much less interesting for them to enjoy the surprise and everything. So I got into that aspect of it. My family, in a way, could kind of care less. Not that they're not proud and totally supportive of me, but they weren't on that train.
TONY: How do you think the film will hold up on DVD? I mean, Cloverfield is such a theatrical movie.
Michael Stahl-David: You know what? I don't know. That's a good question. We watched it on the monitor a lot, so that's the only kind of experience I have of watching it. I think the momentum will still be there, and you'll probably notice things you wouldn't notice in the theater. Maybe the smaller interactions between people and the subtle stuff like that. I think it will continue to be this fun, exciting ride of a movie. Plus, some people got sick, so I don't think that will be happening on DVD, and I think it will be fun getting to tune into some of the more detailed stuff.
TONY: I'm a hopeless romantic, so please bare with me on this question. Do you think that one of the themes in Cloverfield is that you need to tell the girl how you feel about her before it's too late?
Michael Stahl-David: Yeah, definitely. It's definitely something I thought about a lot. And one of the reasons he has to get to her is also just because of how bad he feels about how things were left at the party. If she were just to die before he got to her, I think not having closure and not getting to tell somebody how you feel. The thing I kind of took from it is don't wait until the end of the world to get your shit together.
TONY: When did you first see the monster in Cloverfield, and what were your first impressions of him?
Michael Stahl-David: I guess we saw it on a laptop on set at some point, and I don't know, I just thought, "OK, that looks crazy." I was happy that it wasn't something that had already existed. I was glad we were making a new monster, so I was like, "Yeah, he's pretty handsome." (laughs)
TONY: What was the most challenging part about filming this movie?
Michael Stahl-David: It was the one takes. Everything had to be on one shot, and it was the fact that it wasn't about your acting necessarily. Some takes, yeah, it was the most important thing, but a lot of the times, there was so many other elements going on and you had this entire circus going on around you. And if that wasn't working in the right way and if the camera wasn't catching it in the right way, then you just had to do it again. So it was sort of like being a part of this dance, and if one element is off, it doesn't work and what you did doesn't matter, because no one's gonna see it. So that was hard.
TONY: What's your most vivid memory from shooting this film?
Michael Stahl-David: When we were in the subway, that was a really grueling couple days. We were in this real subway and just walking up and down these tracks and resetting, and it felt good, because I felt this bond with the crew and the other actors. It was nice.
TONY: Finally, what are your plans for the future?
Michael Stahl-David: Just do more movies. And I'm not sure what right now. Hopefully I'll do some theater. After I shot Cloverfield, I came back to New York and did a play off-Broadway called The Overwhelming, and I got this movie called The Project that's going around to some festivals. I'll tell you what I did .... I wrote a web comedy with a buddy of mine. It's a mockumentary where I play this weird version of myself after Cloverfield has come out, and I hire a documentary crew to film my rise to stardom. And I tell everybody that they sought me out, but, in fact, I'm actually paying them. So that's a fun thing to kind of make fun of myself and have some with. So, look for it online. We're basically shopping it around right now to some comedy websites, so that will be online soon, and it will be a fun thing for Cloverfield fans and stuff like that.
