Eagle Eye began, as so many movies do, as a story cooking inside Steven Spielberg's brain. But that was 12 years ago, and, well, the guy's been busy lately. So he handed it off to producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Fox's Fringe) and director Caruso (Disturbia), who helped shape the script into its current form: A young man (LaBeouf) and a single mother (Monaghan) are thrown together in a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game, orchestrated by a mysterious caller on their cell phones who seems to control every aspect of their lives. By the time the screenplay was finished, "the technology had finally caught up to the storytelling," says Caruso. "Everybody has a BlackBerry or an iPhone on their belt, and we think we're constantly being tracked. It's less science fiction than it was when Steven conceived it."
Caruso, who wanted to bring a gritty, 1970s-era sensibility into that 21st-century setting, shot a key chase sequence in a high-tech DHL package-processing hub without the safety net of CGI. "We were up kind of high on a conveyor belt," says Thornton, who plays an FBI agent pursuing LaBeouf and Monaghan. "And there are other conveyor belts going across them, so you couldn't [stand] up, because you might get your head knocked off." No kidding. While filming that scene, Caruso beaned his skull on a protruding bolt, a cameraman punctured his head (requiring stitches), and Monaghan got a nasty welt after a cable brushed her neck. "I did get a little injured, but I was totally fine," she says. "It's like Chutes and Ladders for adults. It was pretty dangerous, and a lot of fun."
OUR TWO CENTS LaBeouf's first post-Indy test at A-list stardom looks pretty solid—assuming that his recent car accident doesn't end up being a distraction. 9/26
DEEP DIVE On Sept. 5, Paramount plans to launch a tie-in game at eagleyefreefall.com that promises to put the player in the shoes of Shia LeBoeuf's character.
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