After building a career with roles in shows like Friday Night Lights and movies like Carol, Chandler has become one of the most solid on-screen presences. This year, he starred in HBO’s widely praised Lanterns, expanding the DC universe and delivering the definitive live-action take on Hal Jordan. It also delivered another great instance of Chandler as a reluctant father figure.
Years before mentoring John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), Chandler perfected the grumpy dad in an overlooked movie from 2011. Written and directed by J.J. Abrams and starring a cast led by talented kids (among them, Elle Fanning), Super 8 is one of my favorite Abrams movies.
It’s still the only original film that Abrams has directed. One of the best parts about Super 8 is how indebted it is to Steven Spielberg, who serves as one of the producers. Set in 1979 in a small town in Ohio, Super 8 follows Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), a 14-year-old boy who’s just lost his mom.
His dad, Jackson (Chandler), is the deputy sheriff, and, in his grief, he winds up unable to really interact with his son at all. Jackson spends his days working, leaving Joe to fend for himself and spend the summer out of the house, riding bikes and making movies with his nerdy friends. It’s a full-on Amblin throwback that feels a lot like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
That’s absolutely on purpose. Joe and his friends are hard at work on a zombie movie. He’s in the makeup department while the rest direct, shoot, and star in the project.
Miraculously, they manage to get Alice (Fanning), the school’s mysterious cool girl, to play one of the lead roles. But during a late-night shoot, the group witnesses something inexplicable. As they’re filming a scene with a train passing in the background, a truck veers onto the tracks, with the collision sparking a massive explosion.
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