‘Cloverfield’ Sequel Not Coming Anytime Soon; Filmmakers Still Trying To Find An Idea They Like
EXCLUSIVE: This time last year, we were being pretty vociferous in our opposition to Matt Reeves‘ “Let Me In.” As an Americanized remake of a recent, widely acclaimed Swedish film, “Let The Right One In,” it seemed to symbolize everything that’s wrong with contemporary cinema, and we were dreading the thing. This means we’ve been left happily eating crow for the past few months after the film hit last fall and turned out to be terrific: deeply personal, beautifully crafted on every level and yes, superior to the original.
It marked the arrival of a major directing talent in Reeves, who made a mark with his sophomore directorial feature, the J.J. Abrams produced monster movie “Cloverfield,” but showed enormous growth in his sophomore effort: almost every time a hot directing project has come up around town, including, “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies,” “Superman” and “The Wolverine,” Reeves’ name has been mentioned, although he’s yet to sign to anything.
The Playlist managed to talk to Reeves yesterday to get the skinny on what might be next, and while he doesn’t appear to be any closer to a decision, there were some useful tidbits. Firstly, despite reports of a sequel to the modest hit “Cloverfield,” that doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon. “Well, ‘Cloverfield 2‘ we haven’t really decided what that would be yet,” Reeves told us. “So that won’t be next.” We can’t say we’re surprised — with Reeves being so in demand, we can’t imagine a return to the found-footage genre being particularly enticing considering how virally that technique has spread into common movie grammar.
Instead, Reeves is spending his time fielding various offers, as well as trying to get a long-time dream project, the period drama “The Invisible Woman,” off the ground: “But ‘Invisible Woman’ I’m trying really hard to pull together. And I’m also reading a lot of scripts. One of the great things about the reception of [‘Let Me In’] is that there are a lot of interesting projects being sent my way. So I’m reading stuff and hopefully in the next couple of months I’ll choose exactly what I’m going to do and probably try and find a way to marry, with the schedule, a way to do ‘The Invisible Woman’ as well. So that’s what I would love to do.”
It certainly sounds like Reeves is cooking up a plan and that he would consider helming a big studio film to leverage a way to get his passion project off the ground, but we’ve already got a penny jar labeled “The Invisible Woman” in the Playlist office just in case. Despite sounding like a genre picture, “The Invisible Woman” is in fact a Hitchcockian thriller, mixed with a character drama, which at one stage had Naomi Watts attached, although that’s no longer the case.
There were no hints at what offers might be coming Reeves’ way, but with Mike White vacating the “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies” director’s chair recently, it’s possible that Lionsgate might make another approach. Meanwhile, with J.J. Abrams still unconfirmed (and potentially wavering) as the director for “Star Trek 2,” it’s feasible that he could turn to his longtime cohort if he decides not to make that film, which should go before cameras this summer. In the meantime, “Let Me In” hits DVD & Blu-Ray next Tuesday, February 1st, and even if you were one of the many who missed in theaters, it’s worth picking up sight unseen. — Reporting by Drew Taylor
