posted 06-13-2011 01:21 PM                

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Now that Super 8 is out in theaters with a healthy $38 million opening weekend under its belt, it's probably no longer a secret that a monster plays a central role in the film. If you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know more, though, stop reading now-- The Montreal Gazette has dug up some interesting information about the beast that's best left unrevealed until after you've seen the film. So, SPOILERS FOR SUPER 8 ahead, though if you've seen the movie, by all means keep reading.

So you may have actually noticed this if you stuck around for the film's credits-- stalwart character actor and Star Trek star Bruce Greenwood is credited in Super 8 as "Cooper," but if you go through the film looking for Greenwood's face, you won't find it. That's because Cooper was the set nickname for the alien monster that is revealed in the third act of the film, a CGI creation who's your usual Predator/Alien/Cloverfield monster-esque insectoid alien. Greenwood actually contributed to the film by doing performance capture work, which helps explain the alien's lifelike facial expressions when he faces off against our main character Joe in one of the final scenes. Greenwood had never done mo-cap work before, but here's what he had to say about the experience:
“It’s not your typical acting exercise at all, because you’re really the only person in this room with all these cameras in it. It was a very weird thing to offer up all this big emotion while . . . the rest of the people in the room are picking away at the craft services table.And you never really how it will turn out because it’s all left in the hands of the artists and animators who are putting your work together.

“The other part that was really memorable was that I saw a bunch of other (big name) actors who were doing the same thing in other studios . . . and there we were: In one-piece Danskins with our pot bellies and saggy asses hanging out."
So now that we know Greenwood had a secret cameo-- and a really major one at that-- where was Abrams stalwart Greg Grunberg? He found a way to include the actor in Star Trek only as a voice, and you'd think among the many townspeople in Super 8 there would have been space for him. Anyone with sharp eyes catch him yet?

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