Watch The 74-Minute Chat Between J.J. Abrams & Chris Rock From Tribeca Film Festival
Last weekend Tribeca Film Festival hosted a special chat between filmmaker J.J. Abrams and comedians Chris Rock (who is also a filmmaker himself) as part of their 15th anniversary festivities. We already featured some tidbits when their discussion turned to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, mainly its similarity to Star Wars: A New Hope and Mark Hamill's hesitancy to return for the sequel. But now you can watch the whole discussion yourself.
Tribeca Film Festival has made the entire 74-minute J.J. Abrams and Chris Rock discussion available to watch online, and it's chock full of some great moments between the two entertainment icons.
The conversation is a rather candid one with Abrams where he goes so far as to acknowledge some decisions he's made throughout his career that he would regard as missteps. For example, Abrams addressed the fact that he overdid it with the lens flares, especially on Star Trek Into Darkness:
"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."
Abrams was even more honest when Chris Rock asked him if there was a job that he took that he thought he didn't deserve. The director responded, albeit somewhat jokingly, "I want to say Star Wars." Surely there are some people who didn't like The Force Awakens who would agree with him, but plenty more enjoyed the beginning of the new trilogy.
Beyond feature films, Rock and Abrams also turned their discussion to television, even prompting the two to brainstorm some quick ideas for the two to work together on a half-hour show. They settled on something akin to Louie, with a single-camera style. It was hardly an officially deal but Chris Rock agreed to work on a show with Abrams if the latter nailed it.
Finally, Rock desperately asked Abrams if he could head into the comic book realm to save Fantastic Four, "Could you direct Fantastic Four? I love the Fantastic Four, and they keep fucking it up." Abrams may not be up to the task, but hopefully someone will treat Marvel's first family right on the big screen sometime down the road.
Watch the full chat with Chris Rock and J.J. Abrams right here: