J.J. Abrams Debuts Mysterious Teaser For Unknown Project Called Stranger
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It might just be me, but I’d like to know if anybody else assumes that when J.J. Abrams goes to the bathroom, he just drops a mystery box into the toilet. There’s just no upfront information coming from this guy. Ever. Thank goodness he isn’t a surgeon. Have you watched the above video yet, which Abrams released to Entertainment Weekly? Did you stare at it quizzically while wondering how on Earth Abrams has time to get involved with anything else, given his slate is already piled high with projects?
So what is this upcoming Bad Robot project, titled Stranger, even about? First, a slow piano tune plays over a shot of a starry night sky. Already, we can read into this two ways. One, the sky looks kind of like the one seen on the title screen for The Twilight Zone. While the cinematic reboot of that series isn’t owned by Bad Robot, Abrams did acquire the rights to creator Rod Serling’s final script, The Stops Along the Way. Of course, there’s no way that these two things are connected, but Abrams isn’t a filmmaker who traffics heavily in coincidences.
Second, the piano sounds a lot like Michael Giacchino’s music, particularly from Lost. And I don’t think I’m going beyond the realm of reality when I say that the curly hair of the character coming out of the water in Stranger looks like it could belong to Sayid, Naveen Andrews’ character in Lost. Also, the guy’s wrists appear to be tied up, as if he’d just escaped from something. Sayid escaped from a lot of stuff. Anyway, enough about Lost.
A narrator with a gruff voice (Leonard Nimoy?) talks about a man who doesn’t know who he is, and that all things begin and end in the water. (He also uses the word “lost.”) And then he talks about men being erased and reborn before the clip’s money shot. From the darkness steps a guy with his mouth sewn shut, turning what might have been an introspective drama into something altogether more horrific. Maybe. The stitching isn’t too gruesome, so there’s really no telling.
So let the guessing games begin. Is this a clip for a movie or a TV show? I’d say TV, based on the look of it, but any film it would be teasing probably isn’t completed yet, so it’s possible these are just unfinished versions. (A TV show would be more in line with the miniseries route that they’re taking with the Serling script.) Bad Robot already has three series that will be on the air this year: Revolution, Almost Human, and Believe. So it’s not entirely out of the question for this to be something they’re planning on airing next year.
But if it is a movie, I seriously doubt it’s the comedy Infinitely Polar Bear. I think we can scratch out a Cloverfield sequel, as well as any other sequel that Abrams is known to be producing.
I’m stumped, but intrigued, as is the case for most Abrams early buzz. Whether it actually turns into something interesting remains to be seen, but we should probably keep our eye on this website.
Sound off in the comments with all of your predictions.
