J.J. Abrams tells us why there’s no Shatner cameo in new Star Trek movie
Q: How do you react to William Shatner’s ire at not having a role in the movie?
A: It was very tricky. We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn’t quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn’t want to do a cameo. We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves. The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It’s funny — a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that.
- from Scifi
Star Trek and Lost Producer Damon Lindelof on Entertaining the Masses
Q: You’ve said the episode of Lost where Desmond travels through time is an homage to Star Trek. Did you approach the upcoming film as a fanboy?
A: I had a real reverence for the material, but more importantly, for the world and how special that world is, and how long it’s persevered. I watched a fair amount of the original and I really watched a lot of Next Generation. The first series of meetings we had were along the lines of: What is the State of the Union of Trek, and has it been brought to a place where people will resent our involvement because we’re coming from the outside? I think it’s like how with Batman, it got to the point where there was more press about the nipples on the Batsuit than there was about the characters, and the franchise needed a reboot.
Q: William Shatner has been very vocal about his displeasure in not having a place in the film. How did you react?
A: Mr. Shatner created Kirk, so I understand and sympathize with his feelings about what his role — or lack of a role — in our movie was. That being said, Kirk died; he fell down a cliff face. That made it incredibly challenging for us to tell the story we wanted to tell and figure out a way for William Shatner, who is now several years older than Kirk was when he died, to be in the movie. It’s an incredibly ambitious movie on a technical scale. I can say with confidence that we achieved what we set out to achieve, and that’s all you can ask for.
Q: When it comes to Lost, you seem very willing to respond to audience demands about what we want to see. Why?
A: We’re writing a television show that’s supposed to be consumed by the masses. In the same way that a gladiator in the Roman arena lived or died based on whether or not he was entertaining, we feel like an instantaneous thumbs up, thumbs down response is huge for us. More importantly, the majority of the writers on Lost are fanboys. There’s a ripple effect that occurs where we say, “Nikki and Paolo are not working. We don’t like them, the audience isn’t going to like them.” By the time the audience starts complaining about Nikki and Paolo, we’ve already written a script where they get buried alive.
- from AMC
J.J. Abrams And ‘Star Trek’ Writers Reveal Film Has ‘All The Gadgets You Could Want’
The writers, directors, and producers behind the “Star Trek” reboot guard the secrets of the upcoming movie like it’s their own Prime Directive. Mention anything that could reveal a plot point — like say, moments with Kirk and Spock’s mothers — and they immediately employ defensive maneuvers.
“The what? What flashbacks?” writer/director J.J. Abrams asked. “I never said flashbacks.”
“We didn’t say there were flashbacks!” teased writer/producer Alex Kurtzman.
But that didn’t mean they aren’t willing to give something up — in the spirit of diplomacy, of course. Plot and character development might be off limits (they all refuse to answer the question, “Where does the movie start” except Abrams, who teased, “In the fu-ture”) — but gadgets aren’t. “We intentionally don’t talk too much about the story,” said producer Bryan Burk, “but there’s all the gadgets you could want. No replicators,” since they originated in “Next Generation,” “but there’s warp speed and transporter beams and tricorders and communicators and everything you could want. All the gadgets.”
“It’s one thing in ‘Star Trek’ to get all excited and freak out about communicators, but to them, it’s like it’s the new iPhone,” Abrams said. “These are just the tool they’re using.”
- from MTV
J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek plot revealed
Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman feel like the most omnipresent writers in the industry. Part of it is how many geektastic projects they’re on, but part of it is also their willingness to talk, talk, talk. How long before they’re directing?
The latest place that the duo yap is a Fox Movie Channel show, Life After Film School. They’re on the show to flog the Fox show Fringe, but the preview clip is all about… Paramount’s Star Trek! Fox knows how to get the eyeballs, I guess.
They discuss the Star Trek canon, but first they go out of their way to say that this film, while it features the earliest days of the Enterprise crew from the original series, is not a prequel. And you know what? They’re sort of right. In fact, Star Trek blows through all the paradigms that we have for film franchises. Here’s why:
The movie begins in the Star Trek present - some time in the The Next Generation timeline. Romulans head back in time, either to kill Kirk or his father (or both, just to be safe. This is known as “The Terminator Gambit”) and Spock follows them into the past, back when the Enterprise crew were young. These events change the history of the Trek universe, either creating a parallel timeline that the films will now follow or simply overwriting everything else that we know as Trek history.
J.J. Abrams’ Earthquake!
J.J. Abrams wants to make the earth move for you.
The producer and David Seltzer, the screenwriter of the original “Omen,” are working together to shake up audiences with a disaster flick for Universal involving an earthquake.
The project is untitled and not intended to be a remake of Universal’s 1974 movie “Earthquake.” That film, released in the middle of that decade’s disaster-flick frenzy that famously used “Sensurround” — really just cranked-up bass — to enhance the experience and became part of its popular studio tour.
Details of the story are being kept in a seemingly tremor-proof vault, though as is Abrams’ modus operandi, relationships will be at the core of the project. Abrams arguably rewrote the rules for disaster flicks with “Cloverfield,” which thrust the big story to the background by making the audience see the bedlam through the prism of a personal relationship.
- from THR
First Cut of Star Trek Complete - Paramount Preview Goes Well
Four months after wrapping principal photography JJ Abrams and his editors Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon have finished their first cut for Star Trek. Late last week Abrams screened this cut for studio boss Brad Grey and other big shots at Paramount and according to sources it went very well.
The Paramount buzz on Star Trek went into high gear last week. One source tells TrekMovie that first cut showing was “a hit.” Another old studio hand who isn’t even working on the projects called the cut “very impressive.” And yet another source said that the reaction in the screening room was “far beyond expectations” and as we know expectations have been high at the studio since the powers that be decided to move it from a Christmas 2008 release to their first summer tent pole of 2009.
- from TrekMovie
JJ Abrams’ Star Trek Poster! First look at Spock.
star trek poster
Harry Knowles has seen some of JJ Abrams Star Trek
From AICN:
After that shot, JJ wrestled with what else he had that he could show. Talking with his partners in the room – he didn’t know quite what to show. Yoko and I just looked at each other – we were kinda like deer in the headlights – just waiting to absorb whatever was shown. At this point I was a bit anxious because while I liked the first two clips – they didn’t really show anything recognizable to the timeline of Trek that I knew.
That’s when JJ had his “EUREKA” moment – he didn’t actually say “EUREKA” – but he knew what he wanted to show. He went over to the big Editing computer thingamabob and was trying to get something up, he pulled up a scene that looked like it was shot in an enormous hanger – There looked to be well over a hundred Starfleet graduates standing in the center of the room – with a couple of shuttlecrafts (old school) that looked like they were ready for boarding… the voice over was basically assigning cadets to the ship they would be serving on. The shot was huge, but oddly sparse… that’s when the editor said they had a newer version of the scene and then worked with JJ to pull it up.
Oh Wow.
The newer version was much much grander. It feels as though some Intergalactic Pearl Harbor has happened and all the cadets are anxious to get underway. You’d see cadets running to meet their shuttles – and as shuttles filled up, they took off to take their crews to their respective starships. They hold on the long shot – we hear Leonard McCoy being assigned to the Enterprise – You catch Uhura being assigned to a place… not the Enterprise. You see Chris Pine as Kirk demanding to know why his name wasn’t called out – apparently Kirk is in trouble. You remember that Kobayashi Maru thing he got a commendation for creative thinking for? Well, he isn’t smiling about it here. It seems his entire future career in Starfleet is in jeopardy – and he might miss out on whatever is going on. In a way it plays like the reality of legend. The truth behind the mythology of Kirk’s youth. How is Chris Pine? He’s young. The scene I saw wasn’t a strong KIRK scene, but a proto-KIRK scene. To see a character called Kirk that isn’t comfortably calling all the shots is a bit strange, but welcomed at the same time. I can’t wait to see how JJ takes the character and thrusts him into “greatness” – which has to happen in this film.
Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams are going house hunting.
The studio has paid mid-six figures for a New York Times article written by Penelope Green about a Gotham home whose owners discovered secret panels and hidden clues that led them on a mystery-filled scavenger hunt.
Abrams will produce the film via his Par-based Bad Robot shingle. Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky have been tapped to write.
The Fifth Avenue home, described as a giant ’20s-era co-op with Central Park views, was gutted several years ago at the behest of a couple, who later moved in with their four children. An architectural designer who oversaw the rehab job left behind a series of messages, games and treasures, unbeknownst to the family, who eventually unraveled a mystery that featured a poem, a book, a soundtrack and a host of historical figures.
- from Variety
Cloverfield Sequel Not Certain Says J.J. Abrams
We’re talking about it,” J.J. Abrams said of Cloverfield 2 during an interview at the Fox upfront presentation for advertisers in New York on May 15, where he was promoting his upcoming SF TV series Fringe. “But the truth is there’s another idea that I’d rather do with the same people than do a sequel. It’s a whole new thing.”
Abrams added, “So my dream is to work with [Goddard and Reeves] again, but do something that’s [new]. Having said that, Drew and Matt both, separately, have really good ideas for what [Cloverfield 2] could be. So I don’t know. We’ll see. I know the studio wants it.”
- From SciFi