Abrams Up For Superman

In a new interview with MTV, JJ Abrams has indicated he is up for bringing Superman to the big screen once again. Around 2002 the director, hot due to Alias, had developed a treatment that was wildly panned by the internet as it throughout most of the conventions of Superman, essentially keeping the characters names but not a whole lot else. However, with the success of Mission Impossible, Star Trek and others, the director and producer has a proven track record of re-imagining properties without crapping on what came before.

"No one has talked to me about it," Abrams told MTV News. "Obviously I’m sure Warner Brothers has a plan for what they want to do."

"Writing that script was a long process," he explained. "It was a very passionate character for me. As a kid growing up it meant a lot to me. It would be wonderful and fun to see that brought back. I don’t know what Warners is thinking or what their plan is. It would be a blast."

That version of the movie—the one that was reviewed and vilified—was actually not the latest draft we had at the time and we worked on it well after that. I do think there’s a version of that movie that could be really fun to see," said Abrams. "You never really know. Everything happens for a reason."

I am all for Abrams taking a crack at Superman, as long as someone at DC (or even Kevin Smith) gives him a few stories to read to bring him up to speed on the core characteristics of the character and his universe. I personally recommend Kingdom Come, Superman for All Season, Action Comics #775, Superman: Brainiac TPB, or just a really long conversation with Geoff Johns who has nailed the character better than anyone else in a very long time.

Nimoy Retiring Again?

Hero Complex is reporting that Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy may retire (again) after making a third and likely final appearance on Fringe as William Bell. Nimoy had retired before but took a break to film Abrams' Star Trek movie.

"I have such a great life," the 78-year-old actor said at his home last week. "I'm not looking for work."

"As an actor you're always wondering when you're going to work again, who you're going to work with, what it will be. I don't have that consuming drive," he said. Then he nodded toward an image that will be on display at [his photography] exhibit. "This is my creative outlet. This is what I do."

Nimoy was fresh from a trip to the Vancouver set of "Fringe," where he had shot an upcoming episode. He made it sound as if it might have been his final one in the role of Bell, a rarely seen character on the show but one that is, by all appearances, at the very core of the series' mythology.

"I've done three appearances for them. I don't know if I will do a fourth... "They've asked me to do more, but we have to talk about where the character is going. So far my character, William Bell, and my appearances have been used to lay in information about this alternate universe and the experience of being in this other world. And that's OK, but I don't know yet what plans they have for really developing a dramatic story for the character. I'm waiting for a conversation about that."

"I think they're talking amongst themselves now so they can present some kind of plan, a story arc of some kind."

It sounds like if we want more Nimoy on TV, we need to pray to the writing gods that Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman can come up with something compelling enough to keep Nimoy's interest to keep reprising the role. Considering how small (yet critical) the role seems to be to the Fringe universe, he could probably be killed off screen with relative ease. Be a shame though.

Abrams Wins Best Director Scream Award

Saturday Night, the Spike TV Scream Awards ceremony was held at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, CA and Star Trek took home six awards including the top award of "Ultimate Scream" and Best Director for JJ Abrams. Star Trek had 17 nominations in 15 categories.

Th wins:
Ultimate Scream
Best Science Fiction Movie
Best Director (JJ Abrams)
Best Science Fiction Actor (Chris Pine)
Best Cameo (Winona Ryder)
Best Fight Scene (Kirk Spock bridge fight)

Probably the highlight of the night for Trek fans was Shatner accepting the Ultimate Scream trophy:

Morgan Freeman presented the Ultimate Scream award (essentially best in show) to "Star Trek" — and William Shatner shocked fans when he stepped on stage to accept the trophy.

"J.J., I'll handle this," Shatner said to J.J. Abrams, seated in the audience, who also won best director and best sci-fi movie for "Star Trek."

"This movie was big," Shatner said. "Imagine how big it could have been with me in it? ... I'll be waiting for your call."

The full list of winners can be found here. The telecast of the award ceremony will air on Spike TV on Tuesday, October 27th from 10:00pm to midnight ET/PT. (via Trekmovie)

Abrams On Fringe, MI4 and More

As part of Paramount Pictures press event to promote their upcoming slate of home video releases including Star Trek, director JJ Abrams was on hand to help promote the release. Trekmovie.com spoke with the man were he discussed Star Trek, Fringe, future projects and more. Below are snippets, the full interview is here.

Question: For the next couple of months of the foreseeable future, what do you see focusing on?
JJ Abrams: Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman are running Fringe very well and we’re still very involved, but they’re running that. We have a new series that we just sold to NBC that we’re producing–it’s a pilot. There’s a movie that I’m writing that I would love to direct early next year, so we’ll see if that comes to fruition. There’s a movie called Morning Glory that is coming out next year, with Harrison Ford, Rachel McAdams and Diane Keaton, that’s being edited now. Roger Michell directed that. And obviously we’re hard at work on the Trek and Mission: Impossible, there is a lot.

Question: What are your plans for [Leonard Nimoy] on Fringe, beyond this week’s episode?
JJ Abrams: In terms of his role as William Bell, none of us could believe our luck that we convinced him to say yes to bee in the show. He is wonderful in the show. And, I will say that this is not the last you will see of his character.

Question: Can you rule out Leonard Nimoy reprising the role of Paris in Mission: Impossible: IV?
JJ Abrams: How cool would that be? It is funny, I just got a call that Peter Graves is in great shape. There was that time when he did Airplane!, but I almost feel like you could make him serious-ize again and bringing him back. Whether it’s Nimoy, who., of course, I have an incredible affinity for, or Graves, or anyone, we’ll see. I actually tried to get Martin Landau in Mission III, in a very small little moment just for fun, and was told that he had no interest in doing it. But then, when I met him, after the movie came out, it was the greatest thing. We were at this restaurant in New York, for one of the TV upfront parties, and someone introduced me to Landau. They took me over and Martin Landau came over to me, extended his hand, and [pretended to removes his face mask]. That was the greatest thing I’d ever seen.

JJ Abrams Nears NBC Deal on New Show

According to the Hollywood Reporter, J.J. Abrams is close to signing with NBC to produce a new spy drama for the network. As is typical for Abrams, the details are under wraps but in part thanks to the success of Fringe, the networks competed in a minor bidding war for the spec script written by Abrams and Josh Reims.

All that is known about the show itself is it involves a husband and wife spy team and could lead to interesting "spy" block of programming if joined with Chuck that will return next year.