Sorry, Cloverfield fans. As expected, the next feature from Let Me In director Matt Reeves won’t be a sequel to his 2008 alien invasion hit. Deadline is reporting he has signed on to write and direct a feature adaptation of Ray Nelson‘s sci-fi thriller short story 8 O’Clock in the Morning for Universal Pictures.
While the basic story was used as a foundation by Universal for John Carpenter‘s They Live, that film will have nothing to do with Reeves, which is “about a man who awakens one morning with the crystal-clear realization that we are surrounded daily by the presence of aliens that are controlling society.” Check out what Reeves had to say below.
“I saw an opportunity to do a movie that was very point-of-view driven, a psychological science fiction thriller that explores this guy’s nightmare. There could be a desperate love story at the center of this. Carpenter took a satirical view of the material and the larger political implication that we’re being controlled. I am very drawn to the emotional side, the nightmare experience with the paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers or a Roman Polanski-style film.”
Reeves created a fantastic sense of paranoia in Let Me In, and Cloverfield, to an extent, so I can’t wait for him to take it a step further. I wasn’t a fan of last year’s remake and much of it had to do with my attachment to Tomas Alfredson‘s original. But I still think Reeves is an ultra-talented up-and-coming filmmaker. Producer Eric Newman shared similar thoughts about Reeves’ skill:
“Whether it was the POV of the camera in Cloverfield or the young boy realizing that a vampire was living next store in Let Me In, Matt’s work shines at that. There is a paranoid element to this, but the audience is in lock step with this guy, seeing the aliens from his point of view.”
While Cloverfield collaborators Drew Goddard and J.J. Abrams stay busy with The Cabin in the Woods, Super 8, and Star Trek 2, this sounds like a great next step for Reeves. As for Cloverfield 2 he re-confirmed, “if we crack a story we all love, we’ll do it.”
Reeves will begin working on the script soon, but don’t expect the film to hit theaters for another few years.
What do you think about the next project from Reeves? Have you been a fan of his other films?