From MTV.
From the L.A. Times:
Three titans of sci-fi/action movies –- J.J. Abrams, Michael Bay and Jon Favreau –- found some time to chat backstage Sunday night at the Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards. It was all light talk and photo ops until the ceremony began, when the filmmakers wandered in separate directions, pulling pieces of paper out of their pockets –- speeches they had written for presenting awards to collaborators on recent projects. Abrams asked to borrow a pen from a publicist, making some final revisions. Favreau stood some feet away, mouthing his speech to himself.
The awards, presented by the Hamilton Watch Co. and Los Angeles Confidential magazine, honored several filmmakers for their work this year. There also was a lifetime achievement award for Vic Armstrong, best known as Harrison Ford's and Christopher Reeve’s stunt double. At the event held at the Conga Room at L.A. Live, presenters were filmmakers and actors who had collaborated with the honorees on various projects.
Abrams presented the film editors award to his longtime collaborators Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, who were honored for Abrams’ summer hit “Super 8.”
From Museum of Sound:
Working on a J.J. Abrams production isn’t all secrets and mystery; there’s also a lot of joking going on too. “Super 8″ cast members Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee and Riley Griffiths shared their memories from working with the notoriously secretive director in this exclusive behind the scenes clip from the upcoming Blu-ray, hitting stores on November 22.
The clip also shares with us a peek of Abrams giving his young stars Courtney and Elle Fanning direction during a scene from this past summer’s homage to the early films of producer Steven Spielberg. “J.J. is super nice,” Courtney told cameras for the clip. “He’s very interactive in his directing, and he knows what he wants.”
ComingSoon has an excellent review of the Super 8 Blu-Ray/DVD that's coming out on 22 Nov 2011.
The cast of "Super 8" really brought these characters to life. I think the fact that they are mostly newcomers helped add to the authenticity of their performances. They didn't bring the excess baggage of recognizable faces in with them. But there's no doubt they'll be recognizable after "Super 8". Joel Courtney is a great lead as Joe Lamb. He brings childlike enthusiasm to the role along with the sad, depressed feeling of a child who had lost their closest parent. He's a great ‘every-kid'. And as he blushes at the sight of Elle Fanning as Alice, the audience can't help but be brought back to memories of their own first crush. Fanning and Courtney have great chemistry together.
The Christian Science Monitor has a huge article about Joel Courtney and Super 8.
Well worth reading.
J.J. Abrams’ new discovery, Joel Courtney, talks about keeping the secrets of ‘Super 8,’ feeling the shock waves from massive explosions and hitting Abrams with the perfect April Fools prank.
According to the UK's Female First magazine, Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning are one of the top Sci-Fi couples of 2011.
Joel Courtney & Elle Fanning (Super 8)
It’s been a while since we had seen a J.J. Abrams directed movie on the big screen until he returned this summer with the highly anticipated Super 8 - which proved to be one of the best movies of the year.
Abrams risked a lot giving the central roles to young an inexperienced actors - but the young cast that were assembled were nothing short of superb.
Joel Courtney is a very engaging lead character as he struggles to cope with the death of his mother. It’s a very innocent relationship that develops between Joe and Alice - which is a real breathe of fresh air to this genre of movie.
From Capsule Computers:
The actors behind the characters were amazing, especially the two mains Joe (Joel Courtney) and Alice (Elle Fanning). Both characters go through an amazing and intense emotional journey, and they both pull it off effortlessly.
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For the Triple-play Blu-ray release there are seven more featurettes including The Search for New Faces, Meet Joel Courtney, Rediscovering Steel Town, Scoring Super 8, Do You Believe in Magic? and The 8mm Revolution. On top of this there is Deconstructing the Train Crash and the deleted scenes.