J.J. Abrams Talks Fringe, Cattle and Star Wars
J.J. Abrams Talks Fringe, Cattle and Star Wars
By Bonnie Burton
J.J. Abrams has a talent for taking us inside the minds of secret agents (Alias), plane crash survivors (Lost) and monster snacks (Cloverfield). Now he takes fans into the world of the paranormal and the outer limits of science fiction in his new show Fringe. Starwars.com chats with the maverick media maker and director about the genesis of Fringe, marketing with livestock and where he thinks Star Wars should go next.
EXCERPT:
Did you have any obstacles with Fringe that you hadn't come across being a TV show veteran? How has your experience working on this show differed than that of something like Alias or Lost?
I have relatively speaking very little experience, so every time I'm involved in a movie or a TV show it always feels like a brand new set of challenges. On this show, among others, it's a question of pacing the show and how much we reveal. We are obviously taking scientific notions and pushing them into insanity so this is not a documentary or a course on science. It's supposed to be taken as Frankenstein was -- an entertaining narrative that takes the ideas that surround us and push them much farther than they are currently able to go. When Star Trek first came out with communicators and the idea of a laser shooting something, these were scientific notions that didn't exist. And now 40 years later there actually are lasers that can shoot as weapons, and there are communicators that we have in our pockets. The idea that some of the stuff we're talking about potentially could come to pass is a fascinating one, but we're not pretending that this is all real and happening now. The fun of Fringe is that it's a "what if" scenario. Every episode gets to play with the impossible idea that something might happen and how do we deal with those ramifications and consequences? What does it mean to live in a world where science has run amok?
Even TV shows that are supposed to be based in fact like C.S.I. and House aren't exactly using proper science; you can't get DNA results in two hours.
Most legal or medical shows stretch the truth. There are trials and treatments that come to resolution at hyper speed and the reality is much different, but that reality isn't always entertaining. Fringe proudly and squarely exists in the science fiction world.
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Some of J.J. Abrams' thoughts on Star Wars:
Are there any characters in Star Wars you personally wish could have their story told in a bigger way?
It's funny how in a weird way sometimes by demystifying a character it takes away from some of the fun that you felt about that character. It takes the mystery out of it. Sometimes a character is more interesting when you don't know everything about them. Even someone from my generation -- and I'm ancient compared to so many of the Star Wars fans out there -- for me the character of Darth Vader was always so compelling because you were putting together all these thing in your head and making all these assumptions, that to get to know Anakin as much as we ultimately did changed the way you consider Darth Vader. It's crazy that my kids relate to Anakin; which to me is criminal because I grew up believing Vader was a bad guy. I related to Luke and Leia and Han Solo. You just don't relate to Vader! I still think it's wrong to be on Anakin's side. So I guess there's no one character I can point to and say that I want to know more about him or her, it's just that Star Wars is so vast it would be great to find new characters that have that level of emotional intimacy.
Is there anything you'd like to see Star Wars do online?
Star Wars used to have a very defined focus as to what it was and who the characters were, now it's so huge that it encompasses so much more. It's not unlike how Star Trek was when it first came out and you knew all the characters, but now when you ask about it you have different answers from different generations of fans. So the possibilities are endless even though so much of Star Wars has been explored in the novels and elsewhere. Online is the perfect place to have something like an interactive Senate where fans could represent different worlds and debate in character. I could see a giant Star Wars debate team tackle all the issues that the prequels dealt with, then have characters from the movies moderate the discussion.
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Read the full interview here:
J.J. Abrams Talks Fringe, Cattle and Star Wars
SOURCE: Starwars.com