J.J. Abrams eager for 'Star Trek' sequel but says he won't rush it

J.J. Abrams eager for ‘Star Trek’ sequel but says he won’t rush it

July 28, 2011 12:08 PM PT

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‘Star Trek’ fans were heartened this weekend when one person involved in the 2009 reboot said that the planets were finally aligning for a sequel. A movie that continues the prequel adventures of the young crew of the USS Enterprise could potentially begin shooting next year, producer Damon Lindelof told several outlets, with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the rest of the crew back on board.

On Wednesday, J.J. Abrams, who is expected to return to direct the new movie, told 24 Frames that the process is finally kicking into gear but that he and his team need to remain deliberate about it.

‘What works, in the feature world and television, is something that has real staying power,’ Abrams said. ‘We’re working hard on that, making the kind of headway that frankly I wish we were able to make months ago. But you can’t do everything.’

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The schedules of many of the principals has indeed been stacked with other projects. Abrams has spent much of the time since the first ‘Star Trek’ concentrating on ‘Super 8,’ his throwback monster movie that has become a breakout hit earlier this summer. He’s also had a full plate on the television side, shepherding the new Fox prison series ‘Alcatraz’ and new CBS conspiracy-thriller ‘Person of Interest’ (more on ‘Person of Interest’ shortly).

‘Star Trek’ writers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, meanwhile, have been working on their drama ‘Welcome to People,’ while Lindelof has been working on Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus.’ All three were involved in this weekend’s ‘Cowboys & Aliens.’

Kurtzman and Orci have said that parts of the new ‘Star Trek’ movie have been sketched out. But based on Abrams’ comments, there’s clearly a lot more work to be done, which would mean that the sequel won’t start shooting until sometime in 2012 at the earliest.

Paramount is itching for a new ‘Star Trek’ installment, what with the last film taking in $386 million around the world and earning critical plaudits to boot. (The studio had tentatively said the movie could come out next June; that’s obviously not going to happen.)

Abrams acknowledged that he felt pressure to up the pace but said he felt he needed to push back. ‘There was a lot of desire [on the studio side] to fast-track a new ‘Star Trek’ and have it be shooting already,’ Abrams said. ‘And in theory we could have done that. But what all of us [the creative team] were concerned about is the release date be the master we were serving.

‘Nothing is more disheartening than something going in front of the camera before it’s ready. The crew can feel it and the cast can feel it. It’s just a heart-attack machine.’

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— Steven Zeitchik
twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

24 Frames

Steven Zeitchik

Steven Zeitchik is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who covered film and the larger world of Hollywood for the paper from 2009 to 2017, exploring the personalities, issues, content and consequences of both the creative and business (and, increasingly, digital) aspects of our screen entertainment. He previously covered entertainment beats at Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, has contributed arts and culture pieces to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times and has done journalistic tours of duty in Jerusalem and Berlin. While at The Times he has also reported stories in cities ranging from Cairo to Krakow, though Hollywood can still seem like the most exotic destination of all.