Temple Grad Directs Sort-of-Sequel to J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield
The trailer for the upcoming 10 Cloverfield Lane — which the Inquirer reports was released without warning on January 15th — is downright eerie, to say the least. We have first-time director, Philly area native and 2003 Temple graduate Dan Trachtenberg to thank.
Everything seems fine at first. Three people pass the time with puzzles and board games in a cozy bunker set to “I Think We’re Alone Now” — until we see that something more sinister is going on.
As per IMDB, in Trachtenberg’s sort-of-sequel to Cloverfield (2008), a woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) hunkers down with two men, (John Goodman and John Gallagher Jr.) but her suspicion grows that she has been abducted. They insist that a chemical attack has rendered the outside world uninhabitable and that they saved her life after she was involved in a terrible car accident.
Before receiving the keys to 10 Cloverfield Lane, Trachtenberg directed commercials for Nike, Lexus and Coca-Cola, and he also created the tremendously popular short film, Portal: No Escape. Based on the video game Portal, Trachtenberg’s 7-minute piece has more than 17 million views on YouTube since its release in 2011.
Trachtenberg was also behind the web series Ctrl + Alt + Chicken, which its website describes as a cooking show where “the chefs don’t know how to cook!” 10 Cloverfield Lane will be his first major project as a director.
For the film, which was formerly known as Valencia and hits theaters March 11, Trachtenberg collaborated with J.J. Abrams, whose fame skyrocketed after the massive success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Star Wars director produced this “blood relative,” as Abrams calls it, of Cloverfield — in which a terrifying monster brutally terrorizes New York City.
Although Cloverfield‘s antagonist may not show its face this time around, the newest installation’s tagline declares that, “Monsters come in many forms.”
Follow @BretttKlein on Twitter.
