JJ Abrams has been discussing his jump between the two greatest franchises in the world of sci-fi; STAR WARS and STAR TREK.
His greatly anticipated second outing with the crew of the USS Enterprise is just around the corner, and we know he is way more into the Wars than the Trek, hence his sensational hiring as director for Episode VII. Will his fandom create a different approach to his next project?
‘I don’t know because we’re just getting started. So it’s a great question that I hope I’ll have a good answer to when I know what the answer is. There are infinitely more questions than answers right now, but to me, they’re not that dissimilar. Though I came at these both from very different places, where they both meet is a place of ‘Ooh, that’s really exciting.’ And even though I was never a Star Trek fan, I felt like there was a version of it that would make me excited, that I would think ‘that’s cool, that feels right, I actually would want to see that.
How we were going to get there, what the choices were going to be, who was going to be in it – all of those things I knew would have to be figured out, but it was all based on a foundation of this indescribable, guttural passion for something that could be. It’s a similar feeling that I have with Star Wars. I feel like I can identify a hunger for what I would want to see again and that is an incredibly exciting place to begin a project. The movies, the worlds could not be more different but that feeling that there’s something amazing here is the thing that they share.’
He seems pretty keen. Surprisingly, Abrams had previously turned down the opportunity to fill Lucas’ director’s chair, maybe because it looked so decrepid. So what changed his mind?
‘My knee-jerk reaction was that I’m in the middle of working on the Star Trek movie and I can’t even consider it. But then time went by and I got further along working on the movie and getting to a place where I had done most of the heavy lifting. So when I met with Kathy Kennedy we just started discussing it and I was able to actually engage in the conversation. I went down to tell Katie, my wife, and I said “I had just a very interesting conversation with Kathy.” That was the beginning.
I will say that Steven [Spielberg] was very encouraging of Star Wars. It’s funny because I talked to him about it and it turned out he knew all about what was going on.’
That’s Spielberg for you.
It’s fair to say that we’re all either excited or intrigued as to what JJ will bring to that galaxy far, far away. But let us not forget is his journey (or ‘trek’, if you will) into darkness before then. Click here for some brand new stills, here for the superb latest poster and here for the most recent trailer.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is directed by JJ Abrams. It stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Karl Urban, Bruce Greenwood & Alice Eve. It will arrive in UK cinemas on 10th May, and in US cinemas the week after on 17th May.
Source: Empire
