J.J. Abrams top-secret OverlOrd sees a troop of US soldiers parachute into France and down a rabbit hole of unspeakable genre horrors. TF interrogates producer Abrams, director Julius Avery and the cast to uncover the terrible truth
The first thing you need to know is that Overlord is not a Cloverfield movie. Such were the whispers when motes of information first started to drift around the internet, and the scuttlebutt only intensified when the first trailer dropped in July.
“No, it’s not a Cloverfield movie, and it never started off as a Cloverfield movie,” says Australian director Julius Avery, on the phone from his home in Queensland, where he’s relaxing after a hectic couple of years. “This is something completely outside of that franchise. I can’t speak for what people think, but maybe because it had the Bad Robot logo on it, and the Cloverfield franchise is really super-cool. Why not think everything is a Cloverfield movie?”
Producer J.J. Abrams is even more to the point. Calling from the set of Star Wars: Episode IX, semi-shouting to make himself heard over the yells and clatters of the crew, he states, “It was always an original pitch from Billy Ray called Overlord.”
Their careful phrasing doesn’t altogether quash the possibility that perhaps, not at the start, not at the end, but at some point during Overlord’s long gestation period, it was discussed whether it could be migrated into the Cloverfield universe. But even if that was never the case, it’s not hard to see why the whispers started.
This story is from the October 2018 edition of Total Film.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 2018 edition of Total Film.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Dune: Part Two – Desert Power
Like a colossal sandworm racing towards the rhythmic beat of a thumper, Dune: Part Two is almost upon us. And this time, it's war. Total Film returns to Arrakis with writer/director Denis Villeneuve and his (inter) stellar cast to spill the spice on the sci-fi event of the year.
Here Be Dragons
DAMSEL – Millie Bobby Brown fights fire with fire in the bedtime story that’s finally being told the right way.
Back to School
MONSTER – Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest takes us into a child’s viewpoint once again...
JESSIE BUCKLEY
Catapulting to fame over the last five years, instinctive Irish actor Jessie Buckley has wowed in films (Wild Rose, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Men) and TV (Chernobyl, Fargo S4). She was Oscar-nominated for The Lost Daughter, won a Laurence Olivier award for Cabaret and now she's spewing wild profanities at Olivia Colman in hilarious period comedy Wicked Little Letters.....
Marty me
Thelma Schoonmaker has edited every Martin Scorsese movie since 1980's Raging Bull. The three-time Oscar winner tells Total Film all about their legendary relationship, and why movies like Good Fellas, The Departed and Killers of the Flower Moon are a cut above...
FRISKY BUSINESS
Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan star as queer friends being chased by dumb male criminals in Drive-Away Dolls, a road movie/ romantic comedy/crime caper by husband-and-wife team Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke. Total Film hitches a ride with the directors and stars to talk dark laughs, dim crims and dildos…
JACK MY LIFE IN PICTURES BLACK
Over the years he's made us laugh as rockers, animated critters and videogame avatars. As he prepares to go full Dragon Warrior again in the fourth Kung Fu Panda movie, JACK BLACK riffs on some of his biggest hits with Total Film
DOG DAYS
Pablo Berger's animated silent’ movie brings the noise.
BEHIND PARADISE
RED ISLAND A coming-of-age-tale that creatively explores France’s colonial past.
THE SIXTH SENSE
MADAME WEB Dakota Johnson brings wit and grit to Sony’s clairvoyant-superhero-origin-story thriller.