J.J. Abrams on the Future of Star Trek Franchise, Says He is Open to Have William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek XII

IESB and Collider just posted the trasncript of new press conference interview with Star Trek director J.J. Abrams and here are few excerpts.

Q: Since you got to wipe the slate clean with your first Star Trek film, do you have any intention of using some of the old creatures or monsters, or do you plan to just bring in a whole new thing?

Abrams: In going forward, the fun of this movie series is that we will have the opportunity, given its alternate timeline, to cross paths with any of the experiences, places and characters that existed in the original series, but we have to be really careful, doing that. I don't want to do something that is so inside that only die-hard fans will appreciate. We're just now working on the script and just beginning the process of story breaking, but I guarantee you, whatever the story is and whatever the final movie ends up being, I know it will be something that will work on its own terms and be something that you don't need to know and study Star Trek to get, but if you are a fan, there will hopefully be gift after gift of connections, references and characters that you hold near and dear. At least, that's the intent.

Q: Will that alternate timeline affect you, in doing the sequel, as far as what you're going to leave in and what you're going to leave out?

Abrams: The trick in doing any movie, but especially something like this that involves some weird alternate reality/time travel thing, is that you don't want to not explain it, but you don't want to explain everything. I think you have as much fun with the missing pieces as you do with the pieces you get. So, for me, not knowing every detail, allows me to get inside of the story and start to fill in the blanks. When everything is spoon-fed, typically I feel like you're being pandered to, or it's too expositional. It's always a balance.

Q: How far ahead do you envision your involvement with the franchise? Is it a movie-by-movie basis for you, or do you see yourself involved with it for the foreseeable future?

Abrams: That's a wonderfully optimistic question and I appreciate that, but the answer is that it's obviously just movie-to-movie. The fact that we are now actively discussing the second film is surreal and very nice, and I'm thrilled. I hope that that results in something worthy of your time. But, it's one of those things that you just don't know. And so, I cannot presume it's gonna be a series that goes beyond those. Do we have ideas for a few movies and have we discussed them? Of course. You can't help but go, "Oh, it would be really cool, if we could do this, or if we can set that up there?" You throw those things around. But, we can't presume it's going to be anything more than now another film that we're lucky enough to do.

Q: You've said that the hardest decision for you was to not include William Shatner in the movie. Are you thinking about putting him in the next movie at all?

Abrams: The Shatner thing comes up quite a bit. As someone who was a William Shatner fan, in a huge way, just because of The Twilight Zone episodes he did, and then completely appreciating what he did in Star Trek, but not really becoming a fan until I started working on this movie, it was a foregone conclusion that we wanted Shatner in the movie. The problem was that his character died, on screen, in one of the Trek films, and because we decided, very early on, that we wanted to adhere to Trek canon, as best we could, which was a huge challenge, because even the original series, in many ways, didn't always adhere to Trek canon, the required machinations to get Shatner into the movie would have been very difficult to do, given the story we wanted to tell, and also to give him the kind of part that he would be happy with. It was this thing where it would have felt like a gimmick, in order to get Shatner in the movie, which would have honestly, to me, been distracting. Having said that, would it have been fun to have him in the movie? Of course. Would it be great to work with him? No doubt. I was as excited to work with him, as I was Mr. Nimoy, who we luckily did have in the film. In terms of moving forward, I am open to anything. I would love to figure out something, given the challenge of introducing these new characters and given the burden of having to cast these people. I feel like the first movie did some of the heavy lifting that needed to be done, in order to free us to continue, going forward. Maybe there's less of a burden and there's going to be more opportunity to work with him again. I would love to work with him. We speak. We actually have a lunch date planned. I'm a fan. I'm a friend of his. Or, he's at least a friend of mine. He may say otherwise on his blog today. I have no idea. But, I really couldn't like him more and would love to work with him.

Q: Leonard Nimoy recently said that a Star Trek sequel might not need him anymore. What is your reaction to that?

Abrams: I can't imagine a Star Trek movie not needing him। I'm sure that what he's saying is a combination of modesty and honesty. He may actually feel that way. But, the truth is, we could never have made this movie without him, and working with him again would be a joy. It is clearly too early, given that we are just now talking story, to conclude whether or not Spock Prime is in the film or not. Do I want to work with him again? Of course, 100%. I'd love to.


http://trekweb.com/articles/2009/10/08/JJ-Abrams-on-the-Future-of-Star-Trek-Franchise-Alternate-Timelines-Says-He-is-Open-to-Have-Shatner-and-Nimoy-in-Star-Trek-XII.shtml