1-18-08 Project Cloverfield - Warning! Spoilers

This week's episode of 'INSIDER INFORMATION' , in which mild mannered contestants pose as industrial moles and enjoy giving movie secrets, comes from mysterious John Murphy who likes to post on forums at SteakNBJ.com.

What's Cloverfield found this little tidbit of information in a post from John Murphy, who just happens to have the storyline from the first 1/3 of the movie. As usual, John is going out on a limb and having to mask his identity and computer trail to give us this information, so the least we can do is lend him an ear.



So, here's John's story. I'll post it below but be warned (in case he's telling the truth) that it contains SPOILERS!!!

"Here is the first third of the film…About one billion (yes billion) years ago, life on Earth was still at the multi-cell level and they remained mostly in their habitat. One of the organisms was more passive and preferred a symbiotic relationship for their survival.

Another (and there were more) was more aggressive and preferred to control larger beings for their survival. Back then, the world had only one continent. The two organisms were separated, for the most part, by land.

But the aggressive organism had developed a taste for the passive one and tried to feed on it as often as possible by going around the land mass. Until a cataclysmic event changed things, burying most of the ancient organisms under the oceans. The surviving organisms either died off or evolved (later becoming humans and what not).

Fast forward to present day and we have Japan discovering the passive organisms buried off their coast and eventually came to the conclusion that the American continents (North and South) had drifted over the aggressive organisms (more on them later) during the past billion years.

Japanese scientists begin studying this passive organism and find that it is a perfect nourishment supplement to humans. Grown in an agricultural field on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, these organisms create the appearance of cloverfields. The scientists learn that these organisms are beneficial symbiotic parasites that give us additional nourishment and make us feel happy. Thus humans and the parasites become one.

They are kept cold to prevent them from dying from exposure until they are introduced into their host. Thus the development of the awesome and delicious drink – Slusho! (It makes me happy).

Rob is a college graduate who has been hired by Slusho and has just accepted an offer to work in their technologies division in Japan. Rob also knows the basics of the organism, the story that Slusho “invented” as a marketing campaign and has recently been informed that the scientists have found trace amounts of the aggressive organism.

This aggressive organism likes to pool up into a larger being, control it, own it, even change it. It also eats the smaller passive organism much the same way a whale will eat plankton. Slusho is now one of the most popular drinks. In it’s own right it is a tasty meal that does not add fat and is proven to be healthy with claims that it cures cancer and many other diseases.

Slusho and it’s by-products are now being flushed (literally) into the sewer systems and drained out to sea by way of urine, fecal matter and just straight unconsumed Slusho. This builds up on the ocean floor and eventually awakens a very hungry and aggressive organism.

This aggressive organism, hungry and well, aggressive, follows the sewer trail back to New York and emerges through the sewers breaking and igniting a natural gas pipeline in it’s effort to feed on the passive organism, which is now us."

1-18-08 is an upcoming science fiction movie nicknamed "Cloverfield" and being produced by J. J. Abrams, directed by Matt Reeves, and written by Drew Goddard. Paramount Studios is carrying out a viral marketing campaign to promote the film. This post will help catch up those that are looking for some more information into the production of the film.


First information on the movie surfaced during advance screenings of the Transformers movies which was released during the July 4th, 2007 week. So far, the top secret project nicknamed 'Cloverfield' is slated for a January 18, 2008 release.

Although the story should take place mostly in New York City, various shoots occurred in different parts of L.A. which are thought to mimic scenes in New York City that weren't feasible to be shot in Manhattan. Military crews arriving in the city and numerous explosions and firefights were reported to be carried out in these scenes. The crew then headed to finish up the film in New York City where they were centered around destroyed city street sets (see Say Cheese ! 'Cloverfield' Being Shot Right Now in NYC ), a shoot at Coney Island, and a shoot in Central Park. ( see Cloverfield Central Park Shoot Videos )

1-18-08 Cloverfield Working Titles and Set Notes

The "Untitled J.J. Abrams Project" is called either 'Cloverfield' or '1-18-08' in most circles. However, when filming in L.A. and New York City the production team used many fake names like 'Chocolate,' 'Cheese,' and 'Slusho.' Hardcore fans of Abrams' "Alias" may remember "Slusho," a Slurpee-type beverage, from the second episode of the series when Vaughn offers one to Sydney.

IGN was able to get a copy of a shooting description during the L.A. 'Slusho' days that explained : "Exterior dialogue. Driving scenes. Occasional traffic & pedestrian control. Camera & equipment on sidewalk, street and property. 200 extras. Military vehicles. Destruction aftermath. Weapons brandished. Emergency vehicles with flashing lights. Exterior dialogue on fire escape on 8th floor." (see 'Slusho' Filming )

During the NYC shoot, a copy of the call sheet for the movie was snagged and published by New York Magazine. The movie shoot for that part of the movie involved scenes from Central Park and was being filmed under the fake title 'Cheese.' (see Paramount Cease and Desist )

The Cheese call sheet revealed a 33 day shoot with possible plot spoilers. Since the publication of the call sheet, Paramount's lawyers have officially sent out Ceased & Desist letters for the publication of the Cheese call sheet which gives weight to their being legit.

Only a handful of inexperienced and young actors have been confirmed for the 1-18-08 cast. The only major actor confirmed to take part in the film is Greg Grunberg (see Greg Grunberg Will Be In ‘Cloverfield’ ), who currently stars as police man Matt Parker on the hit NBC show, HEROES. Grunberg and Abrams have been friends for many years and it is almost a sure thing that Grunberg will pop up with a cameo in any Abrams project.

The lead role is slated for Michael Stahl-David who will play character Rob Hawkins, a businessman who is having a party at his NYC apartment the night before leaving to Japan.

Other cast members include Odette Yustman, Mike Vogel, Lizzy Caplan, Greg Grunberg, and Blake Lively.

MySpace profiles (see 1-18-08 Picture #5 And New Characters )have been created for the characters and can be found here:
http://www.myspace.com/jamielascano
http://www.myspace.com/robbyhawkins
http://www.myspace.com/lily_ford
http://www.myspace.com/beth_mcintyre
http://www.myspace.com/jj_hawkins
http://www.myspace.com/marlenadiamond
http://www.myspace.com/hudsonplatt

1-18-08 will be directed by Matt Reeves. Previous work by Reeves include writing movies such as The Pallbearer, The Yards, and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Reeves worked for JJ Abrams for the show "Felicity" for which Reeves not only wrote for but also directed a handful of episodes.

1-18-08 was written by Drew Goddard, who is another Abrams alumni. Goddard wrote and produced episodes for Abrams projects "Lost" and "Alias" as well as writing for cult favorites "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spin off, "Angel."

Bryan Burk helped produced and his previous experience include working with Abrams on all his projects since "Alias"

J.J. Abrams created the 1-18-08 film for his Bad Robot Productions. Abrams has been the catalyst for multiple hit Television shows including "Alias," "Lost," and "Felicity." He made his feature film debut as director for Mission: Impossible III, which was the highest budgeted film for a first time director at around $200 Million.

"I have nothing against larger budget films, but as someone who's worked in television, I know that some pretty powerful stories can be told for somewhere under $200 million," Abrams said.

Although Abrams will direct the upcoming Star Trek film, he has expressed an interest in creating smaller budgeted films. Last summer Abrams signed multi-year movie deals, five years for Paramount and six years for Warner Bros., to make Abrams one of the highest paid writer-producers in Hollywood.

The 1-18-08 poster released during the 2007 Comic-con featured an image of the Statue of Liberty as seen from behind and having it's head ripped off. A water trail, evidence of something big, leads toward Manhattan where a gap of smoke and destruction open up. Prior to Comic-con a bootleg pic of the poster was revealed with the title 'MONSTROUS' at the top. (see 'MONSTROUS' Poster Explained )

This led many to believe it to be the title of the movie. However, JJ Abrams debunked that theory by saying that was not the title and it was one of 4 posters mocked up with adjectives describing the movie. Other titles are FURIOUS, TERRIFYING, and BARBAROUS with all but the last having been found.

1-18-08.com Contains photos which are draggable around your screen and now can be flipped over to reveal messages selected . Each photo is time stamped with the date 1-18-08

Slusho is a fake Japanese drink company. Think of it like a Slushee but apparently made from ingredients found from the bottom of the ocean.


More sites with 1-18-08 information:

• 1-18-08 (2008) - MovieWeb



• Cloverfield - From Wikipedia



• It's Alive: 1-18-08 The scoop on J.J. Abrams' top secret project.



• Apple - Trailers - 01-18-08



• Untitled J.J. Abrams Project (2008)



• Cloverfield / 1-18-08 Video Secrets and More!



• 1-18-08 Video Clips, Previews, Teasers & Trailers - MovieWeb
  1-18-08 (2008)

Cloverfield Clues is making us all look bad. Not only did they get the Slusho shirts already but they have also made up avatars ( here) based on the Slusho site.

The odd assortment of characters you find on Slusho will probably never be fully explained. Of course, how could you explain why a cartoon horse is thinking of cheese or an oven mitt?

Slusho Newspaper is Nikkan San

The Slusho shirt Cloverfield Clues received in the mail the other day was wrapped in a Japanese newspaper and even had an odd reference to 'Godzilla!'

They have determined it to be the Japanese newspaper Nikkan San (here) or Japanese Daily Sun, a free paper from Hawaii.