‘Super 8′: JJ. Abrams gives us a tour of the film’s pop-culture artifacts << new cosplayers

Rabu, 15 Juni 2011

‘Super 8′: JJ. Abrams gives us a tour of the film’s pop-culture artifacts

‘Super 8′: JJ. Abrams gives us a tour of the film’s pop-culture artifacts: "

"Super 8" (Paramount)

The film “Super 8” is a valentine to amateur moviemaking, vintage coming-of-age films and the pop-culture texture of the late 1970s and early 1980s — so, essentially, the sci-fi thriller is also a tour through the mind and heart of writer-director J.J. Abrams. Nowhere is that more evident than the “Super 8″ scenes that follow the young characters into their rooms at home; the walls, floors and desks are cluttered with carefully chosen artifacts from the long-gone era of vinyl and polyester. Abrams and I sat down with some movie stills and he talked about the retro backdrops that are, for him, touchstones from the movie of his own memories.

Batman Joker Marshall Rogers Detective 475

Aurora “Hunchback of Notre Dame” model: In the photo above, Joe Lamb (portrayed by Joel Courtney) is painting a classic Aurora model. “In the movie we have a whole scene, a whole page [in the script], about dry-brush technique, and that’s all about the stuff I used to do. I never had one of those magnifying glass things — pretty fancy — but these Testor paints and the kits were like everything for me. It was hours and hours. There’s a whole series of Aurora models — the Invisible Man, Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolfman and Dracula — there’s one with Batman hanging on a tree with a batarang and Superman, I think. I painted that Hunchback one. They were just the best models.”

Cassette player: Down on the bottom right corner of the photo above you can see the buttons of a black tape deck. ”My grandfather used to have a cassette deck like this that we would always use to record stories, little audio plays, when I was a kid. We would just talk, too, and go back and listen later.”

“Detective Comics” No. 475: Hanging on the wall in the photo below is a copy of a classic Batman image – the Joker “fish-gun” cover by the late, great Marshall Rogers. The 1975 issue was part of a landmark run that collectors are still celebrating but Abrams picked it with less calculation.”I just thought it was cool looking.”

Captain Action vintage toy (Antiques Gallery)

Captain Action toy: The jaunty blue figurine at the top of the photo above is Captain Action, the toy hero that could be outfitted with separately sold accessories to look like Batman, the Lone Ranger or the Phantom. ”I was never big into Captain Action but people on the set were freaking out that we had it. I just liked the look of him.”

R2-D2 action figure: A toy version of the beeping, barrel-shaped hero of ”Star Wars” is perched on the shelf in the photo above, right next to the red cup with pencils. “He’s always in everything I do. We’ve hidden him in various things. He’s in ‘Mission: Impossible III’ and ‘Star Trek.‘ We also had a cover of a ‘Star Wars’ magazine [in another room scene].”

Othello board game: Right underneath the Parcheesi box in the photo below is Othello, the black-and-white strategy game with 64 squares and 64 discs. “Othello was a big one — Shakespeare’s greatest contribution to board games, although I have to say Parker Brothers’ Lear wasn’t so bad either.”

Super 8 projector: Abrams said he was surprised how fast his childhood skills came back to him when he reached for the projector in the photo below. ”I had a different model but very similar and it was weird on the set how I walked over to it and just started threading the film, the sense memory of it. It was like I had done it 10 minutes ago.”

"Super 8" (Paramount Pictures)

“Famous Monsters“: The magazine pops up several times in the movie. “What I was most grateful for as a kid was that Dick Smith “Do-It-Yourself Monster Make-up Handbook” issue that one of the kids in the movie talks about. There was some kind of falling out years ago between Smith and ["Famous Monsters" founder] Forry Ackerman but that issue was so important to so many people. I loved that magazine. I own the first issue. We had Creepy and Eerie and the Warren magazines in there, too. Vampirella with that costume. You know you can’t spell titillating without…”

“Earthquake” poster: “I was obsessed with the design of the poster for ‘Earthquake’ so we have it in one of the kid’s rooms…it was an image of people just falling. I can’t tell you how many times I just drew it. I was just massively obsessed. We also had ‘Logan’s Run‘ up there, a poster. What is conspicuous is how we don’t have Steven Spielberg posters. We don’t have any evidence of Spielberg in these rooms, which is a little funny to consider.”

– Geoff Boucher

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