As teenagers, J.J. Abrams and his friend Matt Reeves (director of Cloverfield (2008) were hired by Steven Spielberg to restore some of his Super 8 home movies.
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."
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.
J.J. Abrams insisted that the train station scenes were actually shot at night outside, instead of in a studio.
In the summer of 2010, Joel Courtney visited his brother, an aspiring L.A. actor, attended one of his brother's acting classes, fell in love with acting, auditioned for a television commercial in L.A., was urged by an acting coach to answer a J.J. Abrams casting call, and after eleven call-backs landed the lead role of Joe Lamb.
Dakota Fanning: During the town hall meeting, for a brief second you can spot Elle Fanning's older sister among the assistants.