Hollywood Popular Artists

Apr 24th 2013, 19:30

Director of all geek movies that have nothing to do with superheroes, J.J. Abram, gave an extensive interview to Playboy (site is NSFW) in the weeks before "Star Trek Into Darkness" hits theaters and we finally, finally find out if the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch's character was worth obsessing over.

The interview itself is full of some interesting tidbits and non-answers about both "Trek" and "Star Wars," a plus of Abrams saying "Here's the thing" a lot.

Check out our highlights from the interview after the jump!

He's not openly commenting on Jar Jar Binks...
"You won't like this answer, but it's so early it would be insane to discuss details or get into plot points about what this unfilmed movie will be. And I'm not going to give my opinion on the original movies or characters."

...but he knows some stuff didn't work in previous "Star Wars" movies.
"With 'Star Wars,' one has to take into account what has preceded it, what worked, what didn't. There are cautionary tales for anything you take on that has a legacy—things you look at and think, I want to avoid this or that, or I want to do more of something. But even that feels like an outside-in approach, and it's not how I work. For me, the key is when you have a script; it's telling you what it wants to be."

"Star Wars" has to look different from "Star Trek."
"As with anything, because these are very different worlds, they shouldn't feel the same aesthetically. They can't. You're right. But again, I don't apply aesthetics first and fit a movie into that aesthetic. If I had come into 'Star Trek' with those eyes, I would probably have been paralyzed."

He's a big "Looper" fan.
"Rian Johnson. I love what he did with 'Looper,' the scope of the movie and the emotion—and that moment when we discover who the Rainmaker is is one of the most chilling, awesome moments I've seen in movies in a long time. He has a big career ahead of him."

Abrams looked online after the "Star Wars" news broke.
"A little. With 'Star Wars' I glanced at some things here and there just to make sure I wasn't getting my ass kicked, and the response was kinder than I expected, which was nice. It's a funny thing. I feel very analog as a human being, which is of course ironic because I love editing, sound design and visual effects."

He might come back for "Star Trek 3."
"No. I would say it's a possibility. We're trying to figure out the next step. But it's like anything: It all begins with the story."

"Cloverfield II" might depend on how well "Pacific Rim" and "Godzilla" do.
"Part of me just wants to let it go, though we've had a couple of discussions about cool ways to do it. I'm looking forward to seeing 'Pacific Rim' this summer. It feels like there are some really big monsters coming down the pike that could inspire something we do."

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