Matt Reeves certainly has a way with the lens. Knowing exactly how to get his audience to feel exactly what he wants, his directorial abilities are truly commendable. While his most notable work has become Robert Pattinson’s Batman, he has been making masterpieces long before that. There is no better example than his 2008 film, Cloverfield.
The film was praised immensely by critics and audiences, being the perfect representation of The Blair Witch Trails, but set in New York with monsters roaming about. To call the film scary would be an understatement and it would seem that Steven Spielberg was also effected by its horrors.
Matt Reeves Was Summoned By Steven Spielberg
On Cloverfield’s 15th anniversary, Matt Reeves gave an interview with ComingSoon.net, where he talked about the film as a whole, revealing small facts here and there. Interestingly enough, he revealed that he had a hilarious interaction with Steven Spielberg after the film was released.
Bryan Burk, who produced the film, called Reeves out of the blue while he was working on a Star Trek project. It would seem that Spielberg was present there and asked Burk to meet with the director of the 2008 film.
Bryan Burk called me from the set of Star Trek, where [Spielberg] was sitting down with J.J. and the writers and Bryan, and he was saying, ‘Oh hey, where’s the director of Cloverfield? I want to talk to him.’ So Bryan was like, ‘You better come over to Paramount right now. Spielberg is asking where you are.’ I was like, ‘Oh! Okay!’
Spielberg has been regarded as one of the most respected and talented filmmakers in Hollywood. When someone of such high stature summons someone who is starting out in the film industry, they show up. Burk called Reeves and asked him to come to Paramount Studios and meet the director. Naturally, Reeves went and was faced with quite an interesting situation.
Matt Reeves Scared Steven Spielberg
Matt Reeves rushed to the studio and was met with the entire group of people. Steven Spielberg seemed to be aiding the writers with the script of the film and the Cloverfield director just sat and watched. All of a sudden, Spielberg turned to Reeves and told him that his 2008 film terrified him. It is safe to assume that the director did not expect that.
While many would have apologized, Reeves seems to be quite proud of himself. Spielberg is known for being one of the most skilled directors of all time. With this, the fact that Reeves was able to scare him is a compliment of the highest regard.
So I went over there, and I’m just sitting there, and then he turned to me, and after he’s talking, he was giving them a lot of input on the script and stuff, and he was really lovely. Then he turned to me, he goes, ‘Wait, so you directed Cloverfield?’
And I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘You scared the hell out of me.’ And I was like, ‘Oh.’ That was awesome. There was no higher compliment I could get than that. I scared Steven Spielberg. That was cool.
Reeves said exactly this, mentioning how happy he was when the Saving Private Ryan director said those words to him.
Cloverfield is available for streaming on Paramount+.
