Filmonic » J.J. Abrams

J.J. Abrams will direct Star Trek 2. If his family let him.

Liam — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:50:15 +0000

While promoting the release of Star Trek on DVD and Blu-ray (get your copy here) director J.J Abrams spoke to ComingSoon about the possibility of returning to direct Star Trek 2. While he’d love to, it’s not set in stone yet:

The truth is, the idea of anyone else directing the next “Star Trek” film breaks my heart. I had the most fun ever with these people. But, it’s impossible to know when the script is done. That’s the time to look at it and ask, “is this the right thing for the movie? Is it the right thing for me? My family?” and all that stuff. It’s so hard to know a year out with no script in existence if I should direct the movie. I look forward to making that decision when the time comes.

J.J Abrams needs to return. Who else will be able to lens flare my retinas to high hell?

J.J Abrams on Thor’s Chris Hemsworth

Liam — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:50:43 +0000

Before Chris Hemsworth landed the lead in Thor (and a part in The Avengers) he had a small role in J.J Abram’s Star Trek as George Kirk. He was the heroic guy who sacrificed himself to save the crew members and his pregnant wife at the beginning of the movie. Director J.J Abrams recently spoke to MTV and commented on Hemsworth’s ‘leading man look’, and he always hoped that Star Trek would give the actor more opportunities.

“He’s so crazy handsome and he’s so strapping with the classic leading man look. I sort of wish I had dirtied him up a little bit, messed his hair up a little bit.”
“The guy’s hair up until the last moment is sort of perfect. In retrospect I look at that and am like a little smudge or a hair out of place would have been a good thing,” he said. “The guy is a sweetheart and terrific actor.”
According to Abrams, the last time he had a chance to chat with Hemsworth was prior to his “Thor” announcement, but he knew the actor was destined for big things.
“[Hemsworth] was in a moment where he was trying to figure out what his next thing was going to be and he stayed strong in terms of what his commitments were to various projects. I knew that he was going to be given a lot of opportunities sooner or later and I was hoping it would be off of Trek,” said Abrams.

Chris Hemsworth will be picking up the hammer in a few months as Thor is expected to start filming early next year.

J.J. Abrams talks Star Trek sequel

Liam — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:12:18 +0000

Star Trek director J.J. Abrams recently spoke to SCI FI Wire about Star Trek 2, and while he didn’t reveal any plot details, he did talk about what the story should involve.

“The ambition for a sequel to ‘Star Trek’ is to make a movie that’s worthy of the audience and not just another movie, you know, just a second movie that feels tacked on. The first movie was so concerned with just setting up the characters — their meeting each and galvanizing that family — that in many ways a sequel will have a very different mission. it needs to do what [the late 'Trek' creator Gene] Roddenberry did so well, which is allegory. It needs to tell a story that has connection to what is familiar and what is relevant. It also needs to tell it in a spectacular way that hides the machinery and in a primarily entertaining and hopefully moving story. There needs to be relevance, yes, and that doesn’t mean it should be pretentious. If there are simple truths — truths connected to what we live — that elevates any story — that’s true with any story.”

He also said that they have “a really cool story” for Mission Impossible 4 and they should have the first draft of the script ready by the end of the year.

JJ Abrams Talks Star Trek Sequel, Cut Scenes Revealed!

Dave — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:37:02 +0000

A little burst of Star Trek sequel news for everyone, especially since there seems to be a small groundswell of journalistic activity questioning if Michael Bay is really going to step away from Transformers 3 to direct a “smaller movie.” The argument is that Transformers: ROTF stands to make Bay a butt-load of money and that a third film in inevitable. The problem is that pre-production should start in a couple of weeks to make a timely sequel, and screenwriters Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman are busy working on the upcoming Robert Downey Jr action flick, Cowboys and Aliens as well as actively being in discussions with JJ Abrams about Star Trek 2.

That’s right, stepping away from the Michael Bay question, Orci and Kurtzman have expressed interest in running away from the Transformers franchise, but have promised Paramount a draft of Star Trek 2 by this holiday season.

In a video from Collider at the Saturn Awards, Steve Weintraub asks JJ Abrams about his involvement with the Trek sequel…

[Note: You can watch the video embed, directly to the right of the title in the "media box" area, or you can CLICK HERE to check it out at the source.]

If that wasn’t enough to quench your Star Trek thirst for awhile, or if you’re still blaming Orci and Kurtzman for the failings of T: ROTF (instead of rightfully blaming the WGA Strike), check out THIS POST at TNMC that discusses the scenes cut out of the first Abrams Star Trek film, including a whole Klingon subplot…that actually makes a lot of sense.

J.J. Abrams producing Mission Impossible 4

Liam — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:25:28 +0000

With the success of Star Trek it looks like J.J. Abrams will be kept busy over the next few years with the sequels (if he wasn’t already busy enough with Lost, Fringe and a bunch of other stuff) but that hasn’t stopped him from joining even more projects. Spoiler TV scanned a magazine article which quoted Abrams as saying:

“I am incredibly honored that Tom (Cruise) has invited me back as a producer on Mission Impossible 4. says Abrams. “Tom and I have come up with a really cool idea we are pursuing.”

Unlike all the other quadrilogies/fourquels in the works (Spider-Man 4, Bourne 4, Pirates 4, Shrek 4) there doesn’t seem to be that many people screaming out for a Mission Impossible 4. M:I 3 made around $400 million worldwide, most of which was made overseas, however I think many more people would have seen it if it weren’t for Tom Cruises’ antics. After 3 years Cruise has slowly been working on his reputation, with a bunch of serious stuff and then Tropic Thunder. Maybe a return to his most well known role is what he needs?

Zoe Saldana compares Star Trek and Avatar directors

Liam — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:54:43 +0000

There are two big sci-fi space movies being released this year and actress Zoe Saldana managed to bag a role in both of them. She will burst onto everybody’s radar with the release of Star Trek next week, and then in December we will see her again in Avatar (although it is possible we physically won’t, as she plays an alien and will be all CGI/motion-captured up). Saldana recently spoke to MTV and gave praise to the directors of both films, and she also reveals she has high hopes for James Cameron’s Avatar.

“It’s amazing for an actor to work with J.J. and Jim,” Saldana gushed. “They are similar in that they are exquisite at what they do, and they are young at heart.”
When comparing the two A-list directors, Saldana said: “J.J. has made a very important place for himself in Hollywood by being an exquisite writer. And Jim has done the same by being an amazing voyager and visionary, and a great filmmaker.”
Of the Oscar-winning Cameron, Saldana said he is the true Captain Kirk. “He goes where no man has gone before.”
The futuristic tale revolves around humans who discover life on another planet in a distant solar system, leading to a war between the two species as they go head-to-head in a battle for survival.
“‘Avatar’ by far is the most physically strenuous film I’ve ever done,” Saldana, no newbie to the biz, admitted. “A role had never challenged me to the point where it freaked me out and scared me. And ‘Avatar’ definitely did that.”
With so much riding on a film that James Cameron has been envisioning since 1997’s “Titanic” but was put on hold for almost a decade due to sky-high production costs, everyone involved seems to have a sense of nervous apprehension. “I really have high hopes for it,” Saldana explained. “Because for two years I gave every bit of me in that part.”
When asked if Saldana had seen the film, she admitted to glimpsing an early cut. “I have, yes,” she revealed, struggling to find words to describe it.
“I can’t curse so I’ll just say it looks nice,” she laughed. “What I really want to say is going to get bleeped out.”

In other Avatar related news ComingSoon spoke to Ocean’s Eleven trilogy director Steven Soderbergh who also had a few things to say about the footage he’s seen:

“I’ve seen some stuff and holy sh*t. It’s the craziest sh*t ever.

Avatar has a habit of causing people to use this type of language, or gives them the urge to. I wonder if December 19th 2009 will win the ‘most profanity used in a single day’ award.

J.J. Abrams admits some of the Star Trek lens flares are “ridiculous”

Liam — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:31:29 +0000

If you’ve seen the trailers and TV spots for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek then you will have noticed the film contains quite a few lens flares. Personally, I think it looks quite cool, although in some cases it appears they got a little carried away, to the point where you can’t see the actors faces. Thankfully it’s not just the fans and future trekkies who have noticed the excessive flare use, director J.J. Abrams acknowledges he went a little overboard.

From io9:

I’m curious to hear more about why you decided to use so many lens flares, and exactly when you decided to use them?
[Smiles] I don’t know what you’re talking about. [Laughs] I’m kidding. I know what you’re saying with the lens flares. It was one of those things… I wanted a visual system that felt unique. I know there are certain shots where even I watch and think, “Oh that’s ridiculous, that was too many.” But I love the idea that the future was so bright it couldn’t be contained in the frame.
The flares weren’t just happening from on-camera light sources, they were happening off camera, and that was really the key to it. I want [to create] the sense that, just off camera, something spectacular is happening. There was always a sense of something, and also there is a really cool organic layer thats a quality of it. They were all done live, they weren’t added later. There are something about those flares, especially in a movie that can potentially be very sterile and CG and overly controlled. There is something incredibly unpredictable and gorgeous about them.

To read the rest click here, and to see an example of the lens flares in action watch the clip below!

Chris Pine auditioned for Avatar

Liam — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:22:48 +0000

There are two big space movies being released this year. The first is J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, and the second is James Cameron’s Avatar. Both are looking like they will be big hits, and the lead actors in both movies have a bit of buzz surrounding them. As well as Avatar, Sam Worthington also has a large role in Terminator Salvation, and is being touted as the next big action star. Chris Pine is also getting similar attention for his role as James T. Kirk in Star Trek, however he told Vanity Fair that he actually auditioned for Avatar (possibly for the role Sam Worthington eventually won):

“There have been, like, three auditions in my life where I feel like I’m in a Saturday Night Live skit. One was for Avatar”—James Cameron’s upcoming science-fiction epic—“which was probably the worst audition I ever gave. Another was for 10,000 bc, where I was just, like, on my haunches pretending to be in a loincloth in Burbank.” Pine laughs. “Then the other one was Star Trek. It was all this jargon talk of torpedoes and photons,” which, needless to say, didn’t quite trip off the tongue. Fortunately, he got a second chance seven months later and nailed it.

Even though he didn’t land the Avatar job two things are clear: He has a good agent, and he was obviously destined to be in big sci-fi movies. There are even rumblings that he could end up playing Hal Jordan in The Green Lantern, although nothing is official yet.

The best Star Trek trailer ever online!

Liam — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:24:59 +0000

To confirm March 3rd to March 7th as the best week for trailer releases in a long while, Paramount have released an epic new trailer for J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek. Before I thought I may or may not end up seeing this, however this trailer has swayed me completely. Either Paramount have a new guy in the trailer department who can make non-Trekkies have mental stimulation like no other, or J.J. Abrams and the crew have actually made a great looking movie.

Watch it below!

Star Trek Super Bowl TV spot

Liam — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:31:45 +0000

Here we have the Super Bowl TV spot for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. There is lots of new footage to feast our eyes on. Watch it below!

The film stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Marlene Forte, and Jimmy Bennett, with a release date of May 2009.