How Cloverfield Landed Michael Giacchino For Its Score, And The Emotional Moment It Gave Matt Reeves
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As Cloverfield confounded audiences that saw its memorable and nameless teaser trailer, no one knew what to expect from what some consider to be one of the best sci-fi movies of the modern era. Those expectations were equally open behind the scenes too, as director Matt Reeves and writer Drew Goddard had crafted the 2008 blockbuster's story just weeks before it was set to shoot. While that trailer unspooled with Transformers in 2007, Cloverfield’s script was still in progress.
For such an unconventional movie, there were a lot of twists and turns to be navigated, one of which landed Cloverfield a Michael Giacchino overture. As crazy as it may seem, that very piece of music wasn’t a given considering the found footage nature of the project. But when Matt Reeves heard the finished product, it led to an emotional reaction that sticks with him to this day.
How Michael Giacchino Landed Cloverfield's Music Duties
Initially, there was no plan for music to be a part of Cloverfield, as again, this was a found footage adventure. So if it wasn’t for Giacchino asking to do the music for the picture, we may have never been treated to the beauty of “Roar! (Cloverfield Overture).”
Speaking with Matt Reeves on behalf of the 4K Steelbook release of the Paramount film, marking its 15th anniversary since first debuting in theaters, we talked about how that piece of music came to be. Here’s what Reeves told CinemaBlend about how Clover got its “Roar!”:
That was very early on. I think one of the things was of course, you know, Michael, that was the first time we actually worked together and we've done five movies now together, which is kind of amazing to think back on. … At the time we met I was a real fan of his music, everything that he had done on Lost, and everything that he and JJ had done. I was just like, ‘Wow, he's just so talented.’ And he was like, ‘God, I would love to score this movie,’ and we're like, ‘Yeah, there's a problem. We can't have any score.’ And so early on he was like, ‘Well then I'll write the music that would've been in the movie and that will be this final suite.’
Playing over the end credits, Cloverfield’s overture sounds like a tribute to the work of composer Akira Ifukube, who gave the classic Godzilla franchise its own iconic theme. If the film actually had a soundtrack playing over its events, this is definitely what you’d expect to hear from a monster movie with a Michael Giacchino score.
Matt Reeves’ account above is pretty accurate, but there’s another version of the story that adds some extra context. When I interviewed Michael back in 2020, on behalf of his album Travelogue Volume 1, I took the time to ask about his own memories of becoming a part of the Cloverfield experiment. As you’ll read below, the really fun part about how Giacchino tells the story is the reason why he asked to create “Roar! (Cloverfield Overture)”:
I was on set, I was watching them film it, because Matt [Reeves] and I, and J.J. [Abrams], we were all friends. So I would just go and hang out on set and see it. And it was me that was like, ‘What is going on with the music in this film?’ [JJ] was like, ‘There’s no music in it.’ I’m like, ‘What?! You’re making a monster movie, and I don’t get to write a score for a monster movie? I love monster movies, that’s like my favorite.’ I said, ‘How ‘bout this? How ‘bout I write the end credits suite which will be the score that would have been in the movie, had the movie had a score?’ And I had this idea already for what that could be, and it was just about like ‘Great, we’ll use that.’ So yeah, that came out in a very strange way, but it was fun. It was fun to have a piece that was sort of a reflection of what you just saw. It was great, I loved that movie.
All involved have a lot of pride for how “Roar!” ties the entirety of Cloverfield together. That said, if there was anyone who appreciated it the most, it was definitely Matt Reeves. You can’t blame the man either, as the intense experience of production on his third directing gig was something he had never experienced before. That fact would eventually hit him during post-production, and just about when he was finally exposed to “Roar! (Cloverfield Overture)” in the context of the full movie.
Why Matt Reeves Had Such An Emotional Reaction To Roar! (Cloverfield Overture)
As Cloverfield’s iconic marketing campaign continued to weave its spell, the movie itself moved through its paces at breakneck speed. With a soon-to-be blockbuster in his hands, Reeves found himself in the same maze of post-production editing and mixing every director has to endure to create a finished film. That experience, and Michael Giacchino's music, led to the following story about Matt Reeves putting it all together:
And I just remember mixing the whole thing … that's one of the most emotional things too, you know, to go through that. We made the movie so quickly and so intensely, and one of the most vivid memories is to feel like the whole thing was over in a blur. And to be mixing the movie at the end and then putting in that music and just standing there going like, ‘Wow, we just made this movie before you could even blink, and here's this beautiful music by Michael.’ And it was just, it was really cool.
Even as a viewer, getting to the end of Cloverfield and hearing that epic booming music was something that cemented it all as a memorable theatrical experience for the ages. While the viewer may feel exhausted from taking the journey for different reasons that Reeves had directing it all, the musical finale from Michael Giacchino hits the same way.
The more we learn about just how this 2008 hit came together, the clearer it becomes that this movie was a product of love, speed and ingenuity. For a film that started without a script, in a format that wasn't used to including big-time special effects, and within short and tight constraints, it seems as if it was as much of an adrenaline rush to watch as it was to make. Michael Giacchino got his monster movie score, and it only lead to even greater projects, including Giacchino's directing duties on Marvel's Werewolf By Night.
15 years later, and with a direct sequel to Cloverfield currently in development, we might just find out more about what happened during and after the events of the original film. Perhaps there’s an opportunity in there to flesh out the themes of that score that never was, provided Michael Giacchino isn’t too busy with his own monster movies to return. In the meantime, fans of Cloverfield can pick up that 4K Steelbook reissue at their earliest convenience, as it’s currently on shelves.
