A friend of a friend of a guy who knows somebody who overheard somebody talking in the Pacific Palisades Gelson’s the other night says the following about JJ Abrams‘ Cloverfield: (1) Forget the metaphorical Hollywood Elsewhere don’t-show-the-monster angle. The monster will definitely be seen, I’m told, at roughly the 25-minute mark. (2) The origin of the film “has nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 or a terrorist metaphor.” (Of course not!) The origin of Cloverfield, I’m told, was Abrams being in a toy store with his son and looking at all the Godzilla toys and thought to himself, ‘Hmmm…why can’t I do one of these…?’ A little brainstorming and voila, Cloverfield was born. (I actually made the Gelson’s part up. This actually comes from a homie of one of the Cloverfield higher-ups.)