J. J. ABRAMS QUOTES
American film & television producer (1966- )
I'm an impatient guy and tend not to like to stay with one thing for a long time. I'll never be able to write as many scripts as I did for "Felicity" or "Alias" ever again. I'm just too impatient these days. I want to get on to the next project.
J. J. ABRAMS
Santa Fe New Mexican, Jun. 7, 2011
Time built up everyone's expectations about the impending conflict between Luke and Vader. If "I am your father" had been in the first film, I don't know if it would have had the resonance. I actually don't know if it would have worked.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, Wired, November 2015
What I loved about the original trilogy is how real it felt. I still to this moment can't believe how it felt to look at the desert of what was supposed to be Tatooine and seeing these two droids walking along and no fantasy genre film had ever, in my experience, looked like that before. And suddenly this was real.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, SlashFilm, December 15, 2015
Withholding things in a story is no good if you aren't building to something substantial. It becomes foreplay without the main event, and no one wants that.
J. J. ABRAMS
"Super 8: Just as Great as You Hoped It Would Be", Time, Jun. 2, 2011
I was more of a Star Wars kid, actually. I always thought Star Trek was a lot of talk, and it felt a little self-important. It was hard for me to get into it.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, Maxim, Apr. 29, 2009
I'm working on the Star Wars script today and the people in my office have covered up all my windows with black paper. I guess they wanted to make sure no one could see what I was doing. It seems rather extreme.
J. J. ABRAMS
The Telegraph, Jan. 25, 2014
For me when I heard Obi-Wan say that the Force surrounds us and binds us all together, there was no judgement about who you were. This was something that we could all access. Being strong with the Force didn't mean something scientific, it meant something spiritual. It meant someone who could believe, someone who could reach down to the depths of your feelings and follow this primal energy that was flowing through all of us. I mean, that's what was said in that first film! And there I am sitting in the theater at almost 11 years old and that was a powerful notion.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, SlashFilm, December 15, 2015
What was incredible about Star Wars, among other things, was that in that first movie Vader could've been his father, but he wasn't, you know. Leia could've been his sister, but she wasn't. You didn't really know what the Empire was up to exactly. You didn't really understand what it meant that there was a Senate or the Dark Times or any of the references, and yet you felt the presence of all these things and you understood because it was all being referenced in a way that allowed you to fill in the blanks, and that's a very powerful thing.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, Vanity Fair, May 6, 2015
I suppose my favorite that I've created was Sydney Bristow, the central character from the TV series "Alias." She was a character with a secret, and that is always a fun place to start. I love how she was sweet and romantic and looked like the girl next door, but was also lethal and brave as hell, and would do nearly everything for love of country. But she wasn't a superhero; she was terrified at almost every step. But still, she would do the right thing. I think we would all like to believe we would behave like that when the going gets rough. Also, we had Jennifer Garner playing the role, and she elevated absolutely everything.
J. J. ABRAMS
"J. J. Abrams: By the Book", The New York Times, Oct. 24, 2013
I love stories where the impossible appears believable, plausible and real. Maybe it's silly, but it's one of the reasons Michael Crichton's writing always appealed to me: he took outlandish ideas and made them seem completely within the realm of possibility. I remember reading "Jurassic Park" and feeling like: "Oh, yeah -- no, that's totally happening right now. They're bringing back dinosaurs!"
J. J. ABRAMS
"J. J. Abrams: By the Book", The New York Times, Oct. 24, 2013
Maybe the weirdest moment, which came months after production, was the first time I sat down with John Williams to show him about a half an hour of the movie. I can't describe the feeling. All I will say is, just to state the facts of it: I am about to show John Williams 30 minutes of a Star Wars movie that he has not seen that I directed.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, Vanity Fair, May 6, 2015
I do think there's something about the digital age that is increasingly dehumanising us. We're in this very weird place where we're being pulled into experiences that aren't really experiences at all.
J. J. ABRAMS
The Telegraph, Jan. 25, 2014
I've always liked working on stories that combine people who are relatable with something insane.
J. J. ABRAMS
Santa Fe New Mexican, Jun. 7, 2011
I believe in anything that will engage the audience and make the story more effective.
J. J. ABRAMS
"Super 8: Just as Great as You Hoped It Would Be", Time, Jun. 2, 2011
I've got to say, I don't think there's winking at all in the original Star Wars. What I feel is everyone is playing it a hundred percent legitimately. What I think is happening is these characters are funny. Even Mark Hamill, when you really think about what he has to do, who he has to play in that movie, the scenes early on when he's dealing with R2 and 3PO, I think he is underrated in terms of his playing a straight man to these droids.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, Vanity Fair, May 6, 2015
Ultimately, though, I wasn't making this movie just for the dedicated fans. I was making the movie for fans of movies. The final product, I think, doesn't require any prior knowledge of the show Star Trek. I mean, almost anyone, if you stopped them on the street and asked who Kirk and Spock are, they'd know. I think people will typically have some sense of those two guys. And then there are fans who know every episode and argue about what the Star Trek canon is. This movie does acknowledge a world that has pre-existed off the screen for decades, but when you see it, it's not going to be quite what you'd expect, and definitely not just a rehash of things you've seen before. It's a very new take on the thing that it's also beholden to.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, A. V. Club, Sep. 2, 2008
All the times I've been lucky enough to be a part of a show that's actually gotten on the air, it's always that same mixture of excitement and utter fear.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, A. V. Club, Sep. 2, 2008
I'm not as optimistic as Gene Roddenberry was. I fall somewhere in the middle. But as a romantic, I like to think things are going to get bigger rather than worse.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, Entertainment Weekly, Nov. 15, 2013
George Lucas was a genius at creating this amazing universe and filling it up with so much heart, soul and hope.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, Pirelli, December 16, 2015
Looking back on my childhood, I have a list of things that are massively important to me. Without question, Star Wars was on the list, and Star Trek was not.
J. J. ABRAMS
interview, Pirelli, December 16, 2015