J.J. Abrams Explains Why Star Trek Goes Into Darkness
This article is more than 2 years old
One of the most anticipated movies of 2013 has to be J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness. The title of the sequel film to the Star Trek reboot suggests the overall tone of the film and what will test the strength of the crew of the Starship Enterprise. But how bleak will the new Star Trek film end up being?
In an interview, J.J. Abrams talks about the direction of Star Trek Into Darkness, what IMAX 3D will give to the movie-going experience, and the criticisms surrounding his use of lens flares.
The reason why Abrams loves movies is the communal experience around going to a theater with a full audience. The energy from the film translates to an experience everyone can relate to. For Abrams, going to the movies should always be a good time for everyone in the audience. But as dark as the title Star Trek Into Darkness suggests, the film will be a strong and rewarding experience for everyone who watches it. Abrams reveals,
“The characters are a group of people who have recently come together and find themselves up against this incredibly terrifying force. His name is John Harrison and he is sort of an average – that is what makes him so scary – he is just an average guy who works in an organization called Starfleet, and he turns against the group because he has got this back-story and this kind of amazing secret agenda. After two very violent attacks, one in London and one in the US, our characters have to go after this guy and apprehend him. And it is a far more complicated and difficult thing then they ever anticipated. “Into Darkness” is very much about how intense it gets and really what they are up against.”
The action sequences in Star Trek Into Darkness were almost shot completely using special IMAX cameras. This format will give the audience a sense of grandeur and bigness that would compliment the film’s story. At first, Abrams was hesitant in up-converting the film to 3D but after seeing the results and working with the people who up-converted James Cameron’s Titanic earlier this year, Abrams was convinced 3D would work for Star Trek Into Darkness. Abrams admitted,
“I had never done anything in 3D and frankly it was a format that scared me a little bit because I really loved the sort of purity of the 2D, but I have to say – especially because we filmed in IMAX – doing a conversion to 3D with some new techniques with people who have done amazing conversion work on movies like Titanic, has actually opened up some doors to some really creative and really fun moments”
But for all the technical know-how Abrams and his team can put into Star Trek Into Darkness, one of the biggest criticisms against the director is his overuse of lens flares on the screen. Abrams addressed why he will continue to use this as his “signature” and how it will look in 3D. Abrams contends,
“When we made the first Star Trek we never added lens flares, it was always ‘in camera.’ And I do love them and I know I get beaten up some times because of it. But it actually works pretty well in conversion”
Star Trek Into Darkness is positioned to be bigger than the original film released in 2009. The film appears to have a stronger villain – the mysterious John Harrison played by British actor Benedict Cumberbatch – and an overall stronger mission to save Starfleet and keep the crew of the Starship Enterprise together.
Star Trek Into Darkness will open everywhere on May 17th 2013 in IMAX 3D.
