The Cloverfield Star You Don't Really See

Posted on January 23, 2008

We loved Cloverfied: it was scary, exciting and totally compelling. Sci Fi talked to T.J. Miller, the actor who plays Hud. Hud is they guy holding the camera during the events of Cloverfield. Most of the time, the action is seen from his viewpoint. We hear his voice a lot, but we don't see him too much.

Yet Miller had to be on hand during the entire production and figures prominently as one of a group of young people fleeing a huge creature ravaging Manhattan.

"I have to convince people I'm in the movie, because I'm on screen such a small amount of time," Miller said in an interview. "It was really strange. When I found out that I wasn't going to be on camera, it was kind of jarring. When I first saw that in the script I thought, 'Well, how am I going to make any impact? No one's going to relate to this character. It's going to be a forgettable character in the film.'"

In the end, Miller doesn't think that happened, as Hud serves as the eyes and ears of the audience. "I think that he's just as much a part of this as anything else, even though you don't see him," Miller said. "I actually tried a lot to get myself in front of the camera, because I wanted you to relate to me and know who I was. And I found out, finally seeing it, that [producer] J.J. Abrams and [director] Matt [Reeves] were correct in keeping me to a minimum of screen time, because that's jarring."

Miller and the rest of the cast were unknowns when they were hired, but they all do a great job. If you haven't seen Cloverfield, go out and see it now. Even if you don't like monster movies, you have to be able to talk about this new pop culture reference.

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