ST09 Creative

As part of our ‘get to know your Trek XI team’ series, here are some clips from IFC’s Dinner for 5 shot In the summer of 2005. There is nothing about Trek in this, but shows JJ Abrams in a more relaxed setting.

Before JJ Abrams was selected to write and direct Mission: Impossible III, the job was in the hands of Joe Carnahan. The director of such films as Smokin’ Aces spent around 15 months working on the film until he had a falling out with Paramount and Tom Cruise. When Abrams came on board he threw out the Carnahan script and started from scratch. Now Carnahan claims his version would have "kicked the s**t out" of the Abrams version. Carnahan touts how his M:I:III would have had a gun toting Carrie-Anne Moss, a sexy Scarlett Johansson, and Kenneth Branagh playing the villain (none of whom were ever officially signed on to do the film). Although Abrams’ film did fall short of hopes, it still grossed $400 Million before DVD sales and was regarded by most critics to be the best of the franchise. 

At last week’s Cinequest Festival JJ Abrams did talk a bit about Star Trek XI, but didn’t reveal any details. However, he did discuss his passion for the script and the project: If I talk about this movie, everyone else who is involved with it knows where I live and will use that and, er, kill me. I can say that when the script came in it was so well written, it was so emotional, it was fun, and big and I found myself unable to not direct it! I couldn’t give it up. I think it’s going to be great. If in my gut I felt there was nothing else to offer, I wouldn’t do it. It’s not a business decision, I would rather take no money and do something inspiring. I hope it ends up being both a really cool, original, emotional ride and comes from something that we’re familiar with.

The first news that JJ Abrams would be working with Stephen King on an adaptation of The Dark Tower series set off a series of ‘he wont direct Star Trek XI’ rumors. Now that all that unpleasantness is behind us there still is news related to Abrams and The Dark Tower. At a panel discussion last weekend Stephen King himself confirmed he had optioned the book to JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof for $19! Apparently King really likes Abrams and Lindelof’s work on Lost and according to a report at AICN,  King says that he ‘trusted’ the pair to make his film work on the big screen. Things are still very preliminary and it is clear that there isn’t even a script yet so this looks to be a project for the Trek XI producers to tackle after they bring Trek back to the big screen. AICN’s Quint also has a new interview with King where he talks about the project. 

We still don’t know if JJ Abrams will direct Star Trek XI, but we do know that he directed an episode of The Office. When TrekMovie.com interviewed Abrams last year he mentioned how much he loved the hit NBC comedy, so much so that he squeezed in directing one in between the million other projects he has going. It will be interesting if we see Dwight make a reference to Lost again. The JJ Abrams created show has come up on The Office and Dwight even has a blog posting about what would happen if the Battlestar Galactica crash landed on the Lost island (best line ‘first of all, they would have lasers’). In other Lost news, after seeing a big dip in ratings Lost has started to climb back up but is still off from its highs of the past. Regarding Trek XI, still cannot confirm if Abrams has made any decision yet regarding directing. Abrams good taste and ability to direct comedy is perhaps a clue that we may see some of that TOS trademark humor in Star Trek XI. Abrams’ The Office episode "Cocktails" airs tonight on NBC at 8:30. More info and a preview at TV.com.

As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, JJ Abrams will be the Executive Producer on a new medical drama just given the green light by HBO. The Hollywood Reporter describes it as is "a hospital drama that explores the battle against cancer from the patients’ point of view." It is based on a book "The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness". This is the first show that would be part of Abrams deal to develop new TV shows for Warner Brothers and would make it the 4th show he would be currently producing. It is also reported that Abrams may direct the pilot episode of the untitled medical show. The Trek XI writer/producer is already slated to direct episodes of The Office and Lost this year, but has still not committed to directing Star Trek XI. More info at The Hollywood Reporter.