It’s kind of hard to believe that, to date,J.J. Abramshas directed only one original film – but of course he was telling original stories long before his feature directorial debutMission: Impossible III. TheStar Wars: The Force Awakensfilmmaker first burst onto the scene as the creator or co-creator of TV seriesFelicity,Alias, andLost– three disparate shows with rich characters and a distinctly cinematic flair. And after the success ofMission: Impossible III, Abrams got the chance to reinventStar Trekfor a whole new generation with 2009’s thrilling, tremendously rewatchable reboot/prequel.
But before he ventured to a galaxy far, far away to similarly lay the foundation for a whole new spin on an iconic franchise, Abrams teamed up with his filmmaking heroSteven Spielbergto tell a personal story about kids making Super 8 movies in the late 1970s. And also there’s an alien monster terrorizing their small town.
IfSuper 8feels Amblin-esque, that’s entirely by design. I recently got the chance to speak with Abrams for the 10th anniversary 4K Blu-ray release of the film, and he explained thatSuper 8is actually the first Amblin movie to have the production company logo at the beginning of the movie, immediately settling the audience’s headspace into recollections of films likeE.T.,The Goonies, andBack to the Future– stories with kids and/or teens at their center who get in way over their heads.
ButSuper 8is also a deeply metaphorical story, as Abrams explained in our interview how he went about crafting the central alien monster as a metaphor for the grief that protagonist Joe (Joel Courtney) is feeling over the loss of his mother. “I often think the movie is the story that the main character has to experience to become enlightened,” Abrams said, noting how Joe isn’t able to find closure for his mother’s death until he lets go of her locket in the film’s final scene.
Abrams has always had a knack for character, whether it’s in a TV series about a college student or aStar Warsmovie about a lonely Jedi, and that’s certainly the case withSuper 8which is chock-full of charismatic, complex characters. And while Abrams is just coming off concluding theStar Warssequel trilogy withThe Rise of Skywalker, it was clear during our interview that he’s eager to tell more original stories likeSuper 8.
During our discussion, the filmmaker addressed a burning (and incredibly nerdy) question I had aboutSuper 8’s audio commentary track while also explaining how the story for the film came to be. He also talked about how he was able to capture moments of truth with his young ensemble by rolling cameras during setups without the kids knowing it, and the process of conjuring the central monster as a metaphor for the film’s hero.
I also asked Abrams if he felt like a movie likeSuper 8– a wholly original sci-fi movie from a major studio – could be made today, and he reflected on his experience opening and closing the newStar Warssequel trilogy and the importance of knowing when it’s critical to have a gameplan mapping an overarching story out. The incredibly busy filmmaker and producer also gave an update on his upcoming HBO seriesDemimondeand confirmed that the projectCollider(no relation to this here website) is not currently in active development – but that doesn’t mean he andEdgar Wrightwon’t work together some day.
Abrams was candid, thoughtful, and curious in his answers — something I wasn’t quite expecting from a filmmaker of his stature, and a pleasant surprise. He’s clearly a guy who loves storytelling and filmmaking, and it was a blast to be able to pick his brain aboutSuper 8if only for 15 minutes. You watch the interview above, or read the transcript of our conversation below.Super 8is now available on 4K UHD Blu-ray.
We’re celebrating 10 years ofSuper 8, and I want to ask you a question that I have wanted to ask you for almost a decade at this point. On the audio commentary track on the Blu-ray, you and Larry Fong and Bryan Burk are trying to get Steven Spielberg to answer a question via email, and he does not respond to the email in the time you’re recording the commentary. I was wondering if he ever responded to that email. I believe the question was, why don’t you do DVD commentaries?
J.J. ABRAMS: That’s hilarious, I don’t remember.
It was 10 years ago, so that’s understandable.
ABRAMS: I don’t remember if he ever responded, but if I could guess, I think it’s that he likes to keep his secrets to himself. But I don’t know if he ever responded to that, but I’ll ask him again.
Yeah, I know your guys' gambit was that email was the way to get him to actually appear in a DVD commentary.
ABRAMS: Well, that’s true, actually. I wish he had, but I will try to find out though.
I know that the legend behind this movie is that it began as two separate stories, one was about kids with Super 8 cameras making their own little movies, and then one was an alien story, and they were combined. Is that true? I know that’s kind of the lore around how this story was created.
ABRAMS: When I reached out to Steven to ask if he would be interested in doing a movie calledSuper 8, about kids making Super 8 movies, and he said yes, I didn’t really necessarily have in my head that there would be a monster. Although, I think I had the thought that there would be some intrigue that they would stumble upon in a kind of blowout way, where it’s like there’s something that they see that gets them sucked into something where they’re in over their heads. As Steven and I started meeting and talking about what it could be, this idea came up.
I feel like, while I don’t think I ever completely reconciled the two genres, in a way, I think doing something that was simply about the kids could have been maybe even a more satisfying story. There was something given that as we were discussing what this movie could be, the feeling of it being an Amblin movie, that it would feel like something from that library. In fact, this is the first Amblin movie to have the title card at the beginning of the movie, as opposed to the end. I think that was part of the genre mashup thing, was that Amblin movies traditionally did that. It felt like something that would have allowed it to live on a shelf more comfortably with those other films.
I know that the way you like to work, you’d like to keep the production a little bit loose, open to other creative ideas that might come about. Not to say that there’s not a script, but I know on the DVD commentary, you talk about enjoying working with Kyle Chandler, because he had come fromFriday Night Lights, where they had a similar way of working. I was curious how working with kids changes that. Does it make it easier or does it make it harder to kind of be open to different ideas while you’re working?
ABRAMS: It’s a funny thing, working with kids is by nature a less predictable experience. So, I think you have to go into that as much as you can embracing the fact that you’re not quite sure what you’re going to get. But the truth is that working with grown actors, and really accomplished and proven actors, usually they’re so good because they’re going to also surprise you, and do something that changes the tone, or the dynamic, or sometimes even the physicality of a scene, how something is choreographed. But I feel like with kids, especially this group, they were so rambunctious, and so funny together, and would push each other’s buttons, and be making to their laugh, and while they were actually also really thoughtful, and serious.
It was a funny experience being with these kids, and seeing how their dynamic would change enormously when Elle Fanning was on set. All of a sudden when she was there, they would just act very differently. That was always, every single time, that was hilarious. But you have to kind of be willing to go with the unexpected with kids, and especially given who they played and what they were doing that sometimes running the camera without them even being aware was part of the fun of it too, which is like let them think that you’re setting the thing up, but you’re actually rolling. Sometimes we got some pieces that were really great, especially in the diner scene.
The monster is very much a metaphor for Joe’s grief, and the film builds to this really emotional climax where he’s talking to the monster, and he’s really telling the monster what he needs to hear. I’m curious how you, as the director, kind of went about building towards that moment, while also making a monster that is scary, and terrifying, and was killing people, kind of marrying those two ideas while you’re crafting the story.
ABRAMS: I mean, I think that the notion was, like you said, that this was a kid who was trying to process the loss of his mother. That this thing that he had to confront, who he had to get right up to, and look in the eyes, and who had to see him. Yes, this thing was scary, and it was awful, and it was a thing of nightmares, but it was also the thing that he had to connect with to understand, and then to get past, and to have leave him. I often think that the movie is the story that the main character has to experience to become enlightened. Even though, of course, this is a crazy nightmare, if Joe went to sleep one night, maybe the night of his mother’s memorial service, and had this dream, it’s not to say he’d wake up without feeling any grief, but the idea that it would have been a thing that he emotionally felt that he had some kind of gauntlet that he had passed through. Some kind of experience that allowed him to grapple with and overcome his grief in some way, and allowing him to let go finally.
Not to say he doesn’t love his mother, or that he won’t miss her, but the idea that he’s in denial in some way, and holding onto this thing, and somehow letting go of that feels like the thing that… That locket represents this connection that he had to just finally be okay with her not being there, and weirdly this ridiculous monster did that. So, having scenes of terror, or fear, or mystery with this monster suspense where you feel that this thing is out there, it was a way of dramatizing what kind of internal strife Joe was going through.
This is an original story, it’s an original sci-fi film. Nowadays, it feels like a lot of original stories have to be packaged into IP in order for those films to get made. I’m just curious, from your perspective, do you thinkSuper 8would be made as is today, or do you feel like it would have to be aCloverfieldmovie or something to get a greenlight?
ABRAMS: I feel incredibly grateful to Steven for doing this with me, and obviously to Paramount for letting it get made. Because like you said, it’s something that I think is more anomalous than not, a movie would get made that didn’t have some connection to it. Even, frankly, some of the movies that I’ve loved recently, evenThe Invisible Man, which of course, was about an invisible man, so calling it the invisible man makes sense. Yet, it could have been called anything, it was its own story, it was an original and unique story. So, I feel very lucky to have gotten to make this movie, and have some other things that I’m working on that are also an original space, and hope to make those as well, but time will tell.
Yeah I mean,Black Pantheris no less brilliant because it’s based on a comic, but the truth of the matter is that far fewer original stories are being told.
ABRAMS: Yes, I mean, to your point, I’ve heard pitches for things that use existing titles, but the stories that are being pitched are so specific and unique that you realize it doesn’t have to be that title. I think that, like you said, that is the norm now, which hopefully will change.
One of the things I liked about theStar Warsfranchise that you guys did was the creative handoff between you and Rian Johnson. It was letting filmmakers take their own story where they wanted to go. I felt that played out in a really interesting way, but I know not everyone feels that way. I’m curious, for you, as the person who helped get that foundation off the ground, and also concluded it, do you feel like that trilogy would have benefited from planning out a very strict three-movie story from the very beginning, or do you enjoy that kind of creative freedom to kind of take the characters different ways and kind of see how it goes?
ABRAMS: I’ve been involved in a number of projects that have been — in most cases series — that have ideas that begin the thing where you feel like you know where it’s going to go. Then sometimes it’s an actor who comes in, other times it’s a relationship that as it is written doesn’t quite work. Things that you think are going to just be so well-received just crash and burn, and other things that you think like, “That’s a little small moment, that’s a one episode character,” suddenly become a hugely important part of the story. I feel like what I’ve learned as a lesson a few times now, and it’s something that, especially in this pandemic year, working with writers — the lesson is that you have to plan things the best you can. You always need to be able to respond to the unexpected, and the unexpected can come in all sorts of forms. I do think that there’s nothing more important than knowing where you’re going, and there are projects that I’ve worked on where we had some ideas, but we hadn’t worked through them enough.
We had some times when we had some ideas, but then we weren’t allowed to do them the way we wanted to. I mean, I’ve had all sorts of situations where you plan things in a certain way, and you suddenly find yourself doing something that’s 180 degrees different. Then sometimes it works really well, and you feel like, “Wow, that really came together,” and other times you think, “Oh my God, I can’t believe this is where we are.” Sometimes when it’s not working out, it’s because it’s what you planned, and other times when it’s not working out, it’s because [you didn’t have a plan]… It’s like you never really know, but having a plan, I have learned, in some cases the hard way, is the most critical thing. Because otherwise, you don’t know what you’re setting up, you don’t know what to emphasize, because if you don’t know the inevitable of the story, you’re just as good as your last sequence, or effect, or joke, or whatever, but you want to be leading to something inevitable.
As someone who has written aSupermanmovie before that didn’t go into production, I was curious what sparked to you about Ta-Nehisi Coates and having him write a Superman movie that you’re going to produce?
ABRAMS: Well, I honestly cannot wait, and would love to talk about it with you when the time is right. But I will just say, it’s something that we are incredibly excited about. I think that anyone who gets to work with Ta-Nehisi is blessed. So, I feel very lucky to get to be collaborating with him.
On the original side, a project of yours in very excited for isDemimonde. Is that still in development? Is that something that might be happening soon?
ABRAMS: It is, we’ve had a terrific writer’s room for about a year. To the point earlier about the pandemic, one of the remarkable and unexpected benefits of this otherwise trying and in many cases painful time has been that the projects that we’ve been working on have been allowed to gestate, and simmer. The writing has been able to happen without that more typical urgency of pre-production and production, where suddenly you’re looking at locations, and auditions, and set design, and production design, and props and things when you’re just trying to figure out the bones and the framework.
So, the beauty of this time onDemimonde, for example, is we’ve been able to not just outline the season, but write the season. Not just roughly understand where we want to go over the course of the series, but actually plot it out. So, I feel like we’re in a place that feels like it should be more the norm than it ever is to really kind of know where you’re going to go. But to your earlier question that was a really good one, about planning things out, I just feel like that’s one of the things that this time has allowed us to do in a way that I don’t think we’ve ever had the luxury before.
I can’t wait to see that.
ABRAMS: Awesome.
Very quickly, I’m obligated as a writer for Collider to ask aboutCollider. I know it’s a project that’s been in development for a long time that you and Edgar Wright were working on, is that still bubbling up or has that kind of gone away?
ABRAMS: Edgar has since gone off to do a few other movies, and it’s not something that is actively in the works right now. But, obviously, it’s an idea that I love, that Edgar came to me with. He’s a dear friend, and I can’t wait to do something with him, but I don’t know ifCollider’s going to be it.
Super 8is now available on 4K UHD Blu-ray.
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