(Warning: Spoilers below.)
"10 Cloverfield Lane" is a mysterious movie. After taking the almost two-hour-long winding road that essentially wraps up with the titular mailbox at the film's end, you complete the viewing journey with more questions than when you started. All that you can really know for sure about this somewhat sequel to 2008's "Cloverfield" is that ridding the monsters from your world can be really, really hard. Also, maybe, that scotch can save your life.
But now that it has been more than three months since the March 11 debut of "10 Cloverfield Lane," John Goodman is doing another round of interviews to promote the movie's Blu-ray release. Meaning, there's another shot at getting answers.
Although Goodman didn't give much thought to the aliens that show up to destroy the human race -- he simply stated, "I like the monsters" -- the actor did at least give more explanation for his own monstrous character, Howard, in a phone interview with The Huffington Post.
In the movie, Howard traps Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and, by accident, Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) in a bunker of his own creation. He tells his prisoners that the human race above the fortification is dead, due to an attack by either a foreign country or extraterrestrials.
From just watching "10 Cloverfield Lane," it's unclear whether Howard ever intended to leave the bunker or if his real goal was to spend the rest of his life in close quarters with his prisoner. Howard seemed to express real fear about leaving his safe haven and witnesses a woman dying outside the bunker's window with Michelle. But as he put his own life at more risk to keep Michelle, and killed Emmett so that they could be alone, it appeared as if Howard was content with living out the rest of his days down there.
Still, Goodman was adamant about the fact that although Howard wanted to control Michelle, he was also sincere when he said they'd leave the bunker at some point.
"I think he would have spent a year down there and then taken a looksy," said Goodman.
The actor also shared his interpretation of Howard's previous prisoner, Brittany, and whether he had mistakenly thought the apocalypse had come before.
"I think, in his heart, he was wishing for something to happen so he could be proven right," said Goodman. "I also think he was a sociopath who was very lonely and took it out on women. And who knows how many young girls he went through." The actor added, "The character had been a survivalist for years. He was very well prepared for this. [Because] he was very paranoid."
Goodman was able to shoot this movie in New Orleans, where he typically lives with his wife of almost three decades, Anna Beth Goodman. When asked if it was jarring to start the day at home and then have to get into the bunker set where he was asked to play a monster, Goodman responded jovially, "Oh, hell no!" He said it was a joy to be in the company of the cast, Winstead and Gallagher.
"It was a snap. We had fun at work."
"10 Cloverfield Lane" is now out on Blu-ray.
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