I hope he does end up directing, he seem’s to have a grasp on character and that is what Trek is desprate to have right now! It would seem that if Paramount is willing to pony the $$$ for a major new lift-off of the franchise then they would insist he does direct, at least I would????

Darth “I’ll direct the damn thing” Ballz

Still no answers re: Trek. When are they going to tell us?

That would depend partly on how important Paramount views a Trek movie as being relative to the “Dark Tower” adaptations.

damn… there goes the script i wrote for dark tower.

dark tower is an awesome book series which is pretty much King’s reaction to Tolkien and spaghetti westerns (aka sergio leone).

first two are really good. the last three were rushed though.

I think a good Dark Tower movie would be where all the casts for the different Stephen King adaptations got together for a King All-Stars film.

Ok, so that’s what….30 projects at once…

I always thought that there shouldn’t be a movie or mini-series based on the Dark Tower books, because it would lose something in the translation. On average, each book is around 700 or 800 pages. That’s quite a lot of story to fit into a movie or mini-series. Unless they did a 4-or-more-part mini-series for each book (like they did with The Stand). That might be okay. But I hope that they don’t mean ONE movie based on the ENTIRE series, because that would just be dumb.

#7 - I am with you, Canonista. Lost, Trek XI, “Cloverfield”, Dark Tower. Man, any one of those things is too much work. Maybe it would be best if he *didn’t* direct.

Well I feel if he doesn’t direct, they shouldn’t use his people’s script. I want to see a writer / director take ownership of Trek and be focused on telling a story (with words, effects, wardrobe, casting, etc). Especially since its a Prequel story.

I’ve said before I don’t like the idea, but if its going to be a prequel, then it should be a trilogy story told by a writer/director. Not a ‘one off’ project that will be written, directed, and even cast by someone else next time.

Abrams is really the only reason the studio is looking at doing a Trek movie. If Abrams leaves, the project’s done.

Well, if it’s done then… then it’s done. I agree with Canonista, I don’t want some half-ass revisionist prequel that will mutate wildly from film to film. Harry Potters been some-what successful with different directors in my opinion, but then in that series, there is fact of Harry growing up as the series goes… And as much as I love the Dark Tower, a badly done movie or tv series would be just….horrendous. Keep a little focus, Abrams!

I think Randall Wallace should have written the film. You don’t get much more epic yet character driven than that. A director isn’t *quite* as significant as the script. If the script is solid and sealed, any mediocre director can present it executed well, if a script isn’t worth a shit, Spielberg, Kubrick, Huston, Welles, no one can save the rubbish.

It’s all about the words on the page.

While the whole “if it ain’t on the page it ain’t on the stage” thing is somewhat true, it definitely isn’t true that *any mediocre director can present it executed well.” The director is more significant than the script in a number of respects, and a director very well *can* screw up a well-written movie.

I disagree vehemently Dennis,

perhaps you should provide an example of a mediocre Director flubbing a good script just for posterity so all can see, and it helps if it is universally agreed upon that the script was infact magnificent.

I’ll use my afore-mentioned Randall Wallace suggestion as an example.

mediocre director, birlliant script, academy award winning film.

Braveheart.

One would think that given a billion dollar franchise, it would be his highest priority. The rewards for turning Trek around would be enormous.

#16 Josh T. — You’re right, but a director that is also a great writer could “tweek” a mediocre script and make a better movie out of it. Take Nick Meyers in STII:TWOK. This is just IMO, but it seems like director Meyer’s fingerprints are all over that script (especially in the dialogue, less so the story.). I wonder if the film would have been as good without (IMO) the clever dialogue. to be honest, I never saw Harve Bennet’s original Script, so I might just be talking out my ass.

I believe that a director should be involved in a project from the writing stage. So I’d be more comfortable with Abrams at the helm. But if he isn’t, and there is another director, then he should sit with the writers for a re-write, so all parts of the film will be in sync.

Maybe it would save time to just list the Hollywood projects JJ Abrams is NOT working on.

Umm, Josh T… You have that backwards. Braveheart = brilliant director, mediocre script - Great movie. While you’re professing love for Randall Wallace while don’t you pop in Pearl Harbor and see what his scripts look like with a mediocre director.

More than anything the movie needs a story and script that makes sense, especially in the shadow of recent Trek abominations. (ENT & VOY)
Just keep Braga away from the whole project.

That shouldn’t be a problem, as Braga had nothing to do with the last two “Star Trek” films.

#21
Ummmmm, Johnny

Reffering to Heir Gibson as a “brilliant” director effectively negates the credibility of your post.

No, it simply means that he disagrees with you. No negation even inferred.

OH GOD NOOOO!!! JJ is a sham. Please JJ stick to writing and please don’t direct. Better yet, go produce.

Alias dragged on and sucked after season 2.

Lost. Need I say more.

MI-III? Blew chunks.

Perhaps Anthony may end up having NO OPTION but to rename this site the way things are looking… :0(

Kidding, before anyone starts…

I KNOW there WILL be a Movie by SOMEONE, it doesn’t need to necessarily be by J.J….
Let’s just hope it’s great… :0)

To be fair, Abrams doesn’t have much to do with Lost these days. He’s an executive producer but that’s all. He came up with the concept with Lindelof, directed the pilot and was heavily involved with the first half of season 1, then turned the whole thing over to Lindelof and Cuse so he could film MI:3. Since then he has been busy with his other projects, which was his deal with Paramount and the show Six Degrees. The show went belly up and his Paramount deal went through, so that’s all done.

The Cloverfield and Dark Tower projects are rumored, and may even be the same thing. Plus, The Dark Tower series isn’t supposed to start until 2008. So technically, the majority of his time right now is devoted to Trek, with a little time on the side to exec. produce Lost and maybe direct an episode here and there.

I would really like for him to direct. I just hope he hasn’t gotten cold feet because of all the fanboy hatred all over the internet. Not on this site for the most part, but pretty much everywhere else. There are very few fans out there that have the vision to see this film as a good move for the franchise. I just pray that if he feels the need to read reaction, he mostly comes to this site.