Riley Griffiths (Charles Kaznyk) played an April Fool's prank on director J.J. Abrams during filming: "On the verge of crying, I told him I had lost my script, lost it at a mall in L.A., somebody took it, and it's online. He totally fell for it... I think I might have been more scared than J.J. I was trembling."
As teenagers, J.J. Abrams and his friend Matt Reeves (director of Cloverfield (2008) and Let Me In (2010)) were hired by Steven Spielberg to restore some of his Super 8 home movies.
Steven Spielberg (a producer of the production) was reportedly on set many times throughout the course of filming. Director J.J. Abrams and Spielberg have both gone on record stating that the filming of this production was some of the most fun they have ever had on set.
It was very difficult for Joel Courtney to film the scene where he had to shout at Kyle Chandler (who played his father). Since Joe Lamb was naturally very quiet, J.J. Abrams had to coax him into shouting loud enough.
J.J. Abrams insisted that the train station scenes were actually shot at night outside, instead of in a studio.
Dakota Fanning: During the town hall meeting, for a brief second you can spot Elle Fanning's older sister among the assistants.