The Tribeca Film Festival has been host to some great conversations this year (check out the hour long talk with Joss Whedon and Mark Ruffalo), and one of the most surprising pairings saw J.J. Abrams and Chris Rock brought together for a wide-ranging discussion. While Abrams’ comments about the similarities between “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” as well as his tease about Rey’s parentage, have been widely reported, that was just a small taste of what he touched upon with Rock.
Throughout their conversation, Abrams was candid about his various missteps over the years, and once again fessed up that on “Star Trek Into Darkness,” he went overboard with the lens flare.
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“I’m over that,” he said of the technique. “For a period of time, on ‘Star Trek,’ there was this idea we had that the future was so bright that it just couldn’t be contained. I overdid it, then I went further, and then on the second ‘Star Trek’ movie I went nuts. We all make mistakes. Mine were with light. We literally had flashlights. The flares weren’t put in in post. We had these flashlights and we aimed them right at the lens.”
And while you might think the super busy filmmaker could hardly have time to watch TV, he shouts out two shows in particular — “Transparent” and “Togetherness.”
“I think it is just an incredible show and there’s a specific tone and cast, and I think Jeffrey Tambor, they’re all amazing I think in the show.” he said, adding: “I’ve loved ‘Togetherness.’ The Duplass brothers, by the way, are involved in both those shows in some way, and they’re amazing.”
The talk even took the turn toward the serious, with Abrams sharing his observations of sexism in the industry when it came to casting Jennifer Garner in “Alias.”
“My wife said, ‘You’ve got to write something for her, she’s got such a spark,” he said. “So I wrote ‘Alias’ for her. She came in and nailed it and was amazing. And someone at the network was like, ‘I don’t know — is she hot enough?’”
Sit back and dive into the full conversation.