411 Movies Interview: Lizzy Caplan of Cloverfield Posted by Tony Farinella on 04.23.2008
411's Tony Farinella sits down with Lizzy Caplan of Cloverfield for an exclusive interview!
It's not every day that an actor signs on for a film without even having read the script. That being said, when that film is being produced by J.J. Abrams, all of the rules go out the window. And that was certainly the case with Cloverfield. Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lizzy Caplan, and we talked about what it was like working on this very unique film. I hope you enjoy my interview with Lizzy Caplan, and don't forget to pick up Cloverfield on DVD on April 22nd.
TONY: When you first read your character in the script, what were your first impressions of her? Also, when you started filming, did those perceptions change at all?
Lizzy Caplan: Well, they told us pretty much from the beginning that whatever we saw on the page was very negotiable and they wanted it to seem as real as possible. We were encouraged to improv and add whatever we wanted to the text that was on the paper. So when I first read it, I was just kind of thinking of other things to say.
TONY: It seems like a lot of your characters have a certain sarcastic charm. Would you say that type of character finds you, or do you find the character?
Lizzy Caplan: (laughs) It's probably a combination of the two. I like playing characters like this. It gets a little frustrating when you want to try something new and you're sort of pigeonholed, but I think that's kind of the plight of most actresses. People see you as one thing, and you're pretty much relegated to doing that. So you have to try as hard as you can to find somebody who will let you do something a little different.
TONY: I really enjoyed your love/hate relationship with Hud. Did you guys add that to the film on your own?
Lizzy Caplan: Well, we wanted to make sure that there were moments, because there's just not a ton of dialogue in the script, so there aren't these fully fleshed out scenes where we can really develop this deep relationship with each other. So we wanted to find little moments where things got across, like a little smile or something that builds a relationship over the course of the movie. So, yeah, we really did work hard on that, because there wasn't a lot to work with, and we wanted people to care when we didn't end up together.
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?
Lizzy Caplan: It's a lot a safer to be in that environment, and everybody's egos are sort of checked by everybody else's egos. It wouldn't work if we had one ridiculously famous actor among the rest of us, and I think that they did it on purpose for a few reasons. One being ...Mike Vogel is the most movie star looking guy in the whole world, if not for sure the cast, and he's the one who kicks the bucket earliest. And I think that they did it on purpose. They wanted it to seem like your friends. While I think that movie stars maybe would want to do something like this, they wouldn't be able to, because, also, the conditions of working were kind of brutal and you didn't have time to complain and go to your trailer.
TONY: What was it like working under those conditions? On the DVD, it showed how they put a lot of make-up on you and a lot of blood and dust.
Lizzy Caplan: The blood in the eyes, that was my most favorite day. (laughs) I dunno, it was weird. The party scene, that's what we shot first, and that was just kind of hectic, and we were trying to figure out how to make this movie. All of us: The crew and the actors. So everything was taking fifty, sixty takes with trying to figure out the camera movements and get those done. And we all kind of agreed that this is probably gonna be the worst week of the movie, because we're trying to figure it out, and it's taking forever and it's really hot up here and kind of complaining a little bit. And then every week after that, it was like, "Oh, and, now, I'll be covered in dust for the rest of the movie. Well, this is a little bit worse than the party, I guess." Then it was like, "Oh, blood made of corn syrup on top of the dust. This is probably the worst." So, every week, it just topped itself. But it was fun.
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?
Lizzy Caplan: A few. But I'm a fortress of secrets. I enjoy a good secret, and I don't feel the need to tell people. But, yeah, I think all of us got a lot of like, "Who am I gonna tell? What do I care? What do you think it matters to me?" They were trying to spin it a little bit. But it was pretty easy to not tell people. I didn't even tell my agent what it was about.
TONY: What kind of expectations did you have for this film, and did the film exceed your expectations?
Lizzy Caplan: Yes, I would definitely say they were exceeded. There's not a lot of people, at least for me, where I would sign on to something having not read a script and not really knowing anything about the film. And there are a few that I definitely would ... a few directors and producers that I respect, and J.J. was one of them, and it was like a no-brainier. Of course I'm gonna do this, even though I have no idea what it's about.
TONY: Since the film was such a mystery, did that add to the experience as a whole? In the film, the characters are pretty confused, and I'm sure it was the same for you at first.
Lizzy Caplan: A lot of people ask if it was weird to do stuff with the green screen, because we had been given rough drawings of what maybe it was gonna look like ... the size and the scope of the monster. But I dunno. The whole shooting schedule was just hectic and strange and we all shot at night and really had no idea what everything was gonna look like. And that mixed with kind of knowing what the monster's gonna look like but kind of having no idea, I think it did add to it. Whatever you can come up with in your head is better than any actual half-constructed puppet of a monster. And then the amount of extras running and screaming by you with the camera guy sprinting at you with the sixty-pound camera, the whole thing was total chaos.
TONY: When did you first see the monster, and what were your first impressions of him?
Lizzy Caplan: We saw really little bits and pieces of him throughout. They were working on him as we were shooting the movie. I remember from the first screening I saw to the second screening I saw that they had changed the monster even then. So it was kind of this huge work in progress. But one of the last days of shooting, like two days before we were finished and we were in New York, a few of us, because we would shoot at night and wrap in the morning, were walking across The Manhattan Bridge to watch the sun rise and it was very beautiful, and we were all exhausted, and we're looking at the city and arguing about how large the monster actually was. Is it bigger than that building? Is it small than that building? And this was two days before we finished shooting, so we had a rough idea, but we definitely didn't know for sure.
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?
Lizzy Caplan: For sure. These are some late nights that we were there, so him running around screaming and yelling was definitely something that helped us out. And those are the kind of people that you want to make a monster movie with, because J.J.'s the exact same way. They have this frenetic, excited energy where they turn into 8-year-old boys talking about these types of movies, and I think that's who you want.
TONY: When you're working at four in the morning, how do you stay focused?
Lizzy Caplan: We got kind of used to it, because we did it so much, and we just got used to sleeping during the day and being up at night. And our crew was amazing, so we're not gonna go to sleep if they're not gonna go to sleep, and we drank a lot of green tea and ran around a lot. There were definitely some tired nights, and there was a moment in the film where I'm maybe asleep when I'm not suppose to be, but I'm not gonna say where. (laughs)
TONY: How do you think the film will hold up on DVD?
Lizzy Caplan: People have such huge TVs these days that I think it will do just fine. Maybe fewer people will throw up watching it.
TONY: In Cloverfield, we get to see a number of unique gadgets and gizmos. For you, personally, what are some of your favorite electronic devices?
Lizzy Caplan: The iPhone and the iPod. Two separate ones for me. It's pretty pathetic ... We were just in Japan promoting the film, so I didn't have my phone, and it was really this liberating and great thing, because, most of the time, I just have my head down, and I'm looking at that and texting people. And you miss a lot when you do that, so I'm a little anti-technology right now. Although being at home, it's a little difficult to put it down, I'll admit.
TONY: Tell me something in Cloverfield that maybe we missed when we first watched the film. I'm talking about something within the film.
Lizzy Caplan: There is something that happens in the last couple minutes of the movie, and it took me five times before I noticed it. But just pay very close attention to the last two minutes of the movie and perhaps some questions will be answered.
TONY: What's your most vivid memory from shooting this film?
Lizzy Caplan: I don't know how much made it on to the DVD, but TJ Miller shot about the length of the film for extra footage of just us messing around, and that was really cool. We didn't get tired or crabby, because whenever we had any sort of break, TJ would be like, "OK, now we're gonna make a movie about this and this and this, so go!" It was a really cool experience, and he kept the energy up.
TONY:: While I was researching this interview, I couldn't help but notice your obsession with Saved by the Bell. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Lizzy Caplan: I don't know if I'd say it's an obsession ... I think I may have mentioned it once or two times, and now it's an obsession, I guess. Saved by the Bell, it's a funny show, man. Are those on DVD even?
TONY: Yup, the show is out on DVD. You can also purchase Saved By The Bell - Hawaiian Style.
Lizzy Caplan: Oh, really? See, I didn't even know that. How obsessed with the show could I possibly be? (laughs)
TONY: Maybe obsessed was the wrong word. (laughs)
Lizzy Caplan: It's cool. It's a classic show, and it reminds me of my childhood. I would watch it before going to play soccer.
TONY: Finally, when you were working on Mean Girls, did you have any idea that the film would go on to become such a hit? I know a lot of people who still talk about the film to this day.
Lizzy Caplan: Definitely not. I think we knew it was funny, and we thought that it was funny, and we were succeeding in that way. It was the first movie that I did, so I had no idea that people would still like it so many years later. It's really cool.
