J.J. Abrams, 46, is probably
best known for his many TV series and for reviving the Star Trek franchise
with his very entertaining reboot.
This month he is again returning to the Star Trek universe with Star Trek Into Darkness.
Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise must engage in a perilous mission
after a dangerous terrorist – a man who attacked Star Fleet from within. This
is a mission the Enterprise might not come back from. Abrams is working with
the same creative team on the film as the first and the actors portraying the
Enterprise crew all return. New the series are Benedict Cumberbatch
(awesomely playing the villain), Alice Eve, and Peter Weller.
Check out the trailer here.
Early Career:
Abrams got his start in Hollywood
teaming with writer Jill
Mazursky to pen a treatment for Touchstone Pictures that would become Taking Care of Business. Abrams
was still a senior in college at the time. He next wrote Regarding Henry for Mike Nichols, and
then Forever Young (which in
retrospect, does feel like an Abrams’s film – though I never knew he wrote it
until doing some research; I saw it when I was eleven). Working again with
Mazursky, he wrote the laughably bad comedy Gone Fishin’ before getting to
work on his first big project: Armageddon
(he was one of six writers to work on the film). Abrams was also getting
involved on the production side as well. He produced The Pallbearer (which was
co-written and directed by frequent collaborator Matt Reeves – his
feature debut) and The Suburbans
before writing and producing the horror/thriller Joy Ride. In 1997, Abrams
decided to switch his focus to television.
TV Projects:
For his first venture into
television Abrams reteamed with his pal Matt Reeves to co-create the young
adult drama Felicity for the
WB. The series starred and launched the career of Keri Russell
(Abrams has since been known for his knack in discovering great female leads).
The show is both loved and hated by fans, and what is probably most interesting
about it looking back is how different it is to everything he has done since.
Abrams is one of the most recognizable creative forces in science fiction and
action (not mushy young adult melodrama). It is also worth noting that the show
starred Greg
Grunberg as well (he was Abrams’s ‘good-luck charm’ for a number of years
appearing in some way in seven of Abrams’s projects).
Abrams then created his own
production company called Bad Robot – its first project was his new show Alias, an action spy drama
about a CIA operative who finds out she has been secretly working for the enemy
the whole time and plots revenge from the inside. Like with Keri Russell,
Abrams again discovered a fantastic female lead for the show in Jennifer Garner.
Alias aired on ABC and the
network had a new project they were kicking around but did not quick know how
to make it work. So, Abrams and his co-creators Jeffrey Lieber and
Damon Lindelof
came up with some ideas for what would become Lost. Abrams directed the
two-part pilot episode (his first stab at directing anything big – he did
direct a two part episode of Felicity five years earlier). The result was one
of the most beloved pilots in television history, perfectly launching the
series. However, that was really his last involvement in the show as he passed
off creative control to Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.
Sticking with science fiction,
Abrams next created a mystery cop series for Fox with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (who
would go on to write the Star Trek films for Abrams) called Fringe. It is about an FBI
agent who is tasked with investigating strange phenomenon that begin popping up
across the country (it is a bit like The X-Files). Again,
Abrams found a brilliant female lead in Anna Torv. (In my
opinion) it is his best show to date.
Wanting to return to the action
spy drama genre, Abrams co-created Undercovers with Josh Reims for NBC
and he even directed the pilot. However, it was a complete failure both
critically and commercially – the first failure of Abrams’s TV career. He has
not created a series since.
After the disaster that was
Undercovers, Abrams decided to take more of a backseat role and be involved in
the creative process only at the beginning and then step away. Lending his name
to a project would give it clout for networks, but he could primarily focus on
his budding film career. His first major series as executive prouder came with
the mystery drama Alcatraz
for Fox – billed as the new Lost. It never really found an audience and was
cancelled after one season (first being delayed to midseason start). Abrams now
had two failures.
However, he also executively
produced another mystery crime drama for the same TV season with creator Jonathan Nolan
(the brother of Christopher
Nolan who co-wrote The
Dark Knight) called Person
of Interest. The series has more of an action aspect to it than Alcatraz
(and to some extent the lead characters feel like Batman split into two men –
the rich smart Bruce Wayne type and the brute force that is Batman). The show
is a hit for CBS.
Abrams’s latest TV project is Revolution for NBC, which he is
executively producing for creator Eric Kripke (the
man behind the brilliant Supernatural).
It remains to be seen if this action adventure show will be good (it is not particularly great so far).
Film Projects:
After the abysmal Mission: Impossible II, Tom Cruise and Paramount
Pictures had been pursuing a sequel that would freshen up the material and
reinvigorate the franchise (MI2 is pretty much unwatchable for those who have
not seen it). Meanwhile, after directing the fantastic Lost pilot Abrams was
looking to make the jump to features. Cruise met with Abrams who pitched him an
idea for the story (which he co-wrote with Kurtzman and Orci) and they decided
to move forward. Abrams completely reworked the story and brought in a whole
new cast (aside from series veterans Cruise and Ving Rhames),
including past collaborators Keri Russell and Greg Grunberg (who has a very brief
cameo). Additionally, Abrams hired composer Michael Giacchino and production
designer Scott Chambliss who
had worked with him since Alias and Felicity, respectively. With his team in
place and Cruise’s support, Abrams made one of the best and most entertaining
action films of the decade in Mission:
Impossible III – showing off his talent for quick pacing while still
managing to cultivate great characters. The film completely brought the
franchise back to life.
Seeing the masterful job he did
with Mission: Impossible, Paramount was eager to bring Abrams back in to revamp
Star Trek, which had all but become a joke cinematically and forgotten on
television (in terms of fans in general not liking the latest output from the
series). Abrams took the job, again using the same group that worked on MI3.
Growing up, Abrams had never been a Trek fan. Thus, he had no issue with
rebooting the material completely. While hardcore fans are not overly pleased
with the film, Abrams basically made a Star Trek film for the masses – one that
the masses and critics love – by making it an action adventure film first (and
not slow and cerebral like the past material). It was a great success.
Abrams had been handed the keys
to two floundering franchises and he had turned them back into box office and
critical gold. This gave him the ability to make pretty much anything he wanted
next. Paramount, of course, wanted a new Mission: Impossible and a new Star
Trek, but first Abrams wanted to make his passion project Super
8 – a love letter to ET: The
Extra Terrestrial and Steven Spielberg (who
would executively produce Super 8). Paramount funded the project and for the
third time Abrams made a great film that is both very entertaining and action
packed while also featuring wonderful characters.
Producing Projects:
As Abrams amassed credibility in
the industry built on the success of his films and TV series, Abrams began producing
films on a larger scale as well as executively producing television shows (see
above). His first big project as a producer came with sci-fi action thriller Cloverfield, which was directed
by his friend Matt Reeves and written by Drew Goddard (who
wrote on Lost as well). The film was well received by its intended audience and
was a box office hit on a modest budget.
Next Abrams produced the romance
comedy Morning Glory, which
seems like an odd choice of projects unless you remember Felicity. The film is
average and just about broke even at the box office.
While many fans of MI3 were
hoping Abrams would helm the next Mission: Impossible, he instead made Super 8.
However, he stayed on as the film’s producer, hiring writers Josh Appelbaum and
Andre Nemec (both
of whom wrote on Alias) to script it. Once he was happy with the screenplay and
had Cruise’s approval (as Cruise also produces the films), Abrams passed the
project on to director Brad Bird to run
with, who was an excellent choice to helm the film. Mission:
Impossible – Ghost Protocol opened to critical acclaim and box office
success (many saying it is even better than MI3, though I am not one of them).
Future Projects:
Abrams has a number of producing
projects on the horizon, including: Believe, a fantasy drama series
from Alfonso Cuaron
and Mark Friedman
(which sounds awesome); Almost Human,
a sci-fi drama series from J.H. Wyman (who
was one of the main creative people on Fringe); Infinitely Polar Bear, a comedy
feature from Maya
Forbes; the untitled
Cloverfield sequel; Mission:
Impossible 5, which Drew Pearce is writing (he co-wrote Iron Man 3 with Shane Black); and Star
Trek 3, which Abrams could still direct as well.
However even with all those
potential projects (as the TV series still need to be picked up), nothing
compares to the anticipation and excitement for his next directing gig: Star Wars Episode VII. Unlike
Star Trek, Abrams is a huge Star Wars fan. He originally did not want to direct
the film for this reason, but then realized that he had to be the one to do it
for the very same reason. Michael
Arndt is writing the script and Abrams is producing the film as well. It is
due in Summer 2015.
Career Highlights:
*Editor’s picks
No comments:
Post a Comment