As the learned readers of this here organ are undoubtedly aware, whales and dolphins don’t sleep like you and me.
If they did, they’d drown. Instead, they shut down one half of their brain at a time until they’ve clocked up the prerequisite eight hours rest. I wonder if J.J. Abrams – writer, producer, composer, editor, father of three and creator of TV sensations Alias and Lost - isn’t using the same system.
“I don’t know,” smiles the 39-year old. “I guess I love all sorts of stuff, whether it is music or movies or graphic design. I always feel like I’m lucky to be able to do this, so I never tire of it. But the truth is I bring my kids to school every day and put them to bed every night. I don’t work weekends. I just go home to my wife and kids and hang out. All my days are broken up so that I can exist as a husband and father.”
One suspects, if such a thing is possible, that Mr. Abrams’ already crammed schedule is about to get a whole lot busier. Long before Lost gained a gazillion viewers, Tom Cruise, having been seduced by the first two seasons of Alias, snapped J.J. up to direct Mission: Impossible 3, the first summer blockbuster of 2006 in earnest.
“I got a phone call that Steven Spielberg and Tom wanted to get together to talk about War Of The Worlds," he tells me. “So they came to my office with Paula Wagner (Cruise’s producing partner) which in itself was nerve wrecking and horrifying. And the four of us had a meeting and talked about War Of The Worlds for a few hours. It was a great meeting but ultimately I couldn’t do it because I had to do Lost so I declined, thinking, well, there goes my career. But when Tom and Steven were leaving for some reason my assistant at the time gave them the first two Alias seasons on DVD. So that is how he got to see the show and that’s how I got Mission: Impossible”.
Hours before the London premiere and still looking a little groggy from the night before (his trans-Atlantic flight didn’t touch down until 3am – ouch), the TV wunderkind is visibly giddy about the movie that landed him the biggest budget (around the $150 million mark) ever entrusted to a first time film director.
“Ever since Tom asked me if I wanted to do this movie, I’ve been shocked and excited because I knew - although I hadn’t seen the first two films in some time - I had not yet seen a version of Mission: Impossible that was my dream version. For me, the dream version simply had to have an emotional core. It had to make you care about the characters. Whether it’s Tootsie or Jaws or Aliens, action only works when your heart is in it.”
Happily, M:I-3 is a good deal more coherent and engaging than its predecessors. Secret Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) finds a sadistic arch-nemesis in Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s arms dealer, a friction that propels the smashing and grabbing along nicely.
The movie holds up very well, but will Tom, post-Oprah’s couch, still pack them in at the multiplexes? Weeks before M:I-3’s release Mr. Cruise felt obliged to deny reports that he had demanded the hilariously unflattering ‘Trapped In The Closet’ episode of South Park be pulled from television schedules. He was recently voted the Most Irritating Movie Star on the planet by readers of Empire magazine. Even the birth of Tomkitten Suri, with attendant reports on Scientology’s bizarre requirement for silent childbearing, has raised sniggers and heckles.
“I can only tell you what I know,” says the director. “This is a guy who is incredibly passionate and when he believes in something - as we have seen - he believes in it vocally and whole heartedly. I am a beneficiary of that passion so I can’t complain. You see him on Oprah and you see him as excited as he was about Katie and that is evidence of how committed he is to everything he does. He has an incredible sense of humour and a brilliant sense of story and a work ethic like no one I have ever seen. When you spend time around him, you realise how much of the stuff you read is completely fabricated. And you really feel for him because here is a guy who is a big, hearted kind person. You ask anyone on the set of this movie and they will want to work with him again. Especially me.”
Having nailed Mission: Impossible, J.J. looks all set to boldly go for the Star Trek franchise. He recently signed on to write and produce the next Trek movie with an additional option to direct. Will Patrick Stewart be in it? Are the reports of a Kirk and Spock at Star Academy prequel true? Will Shatner and Nimoy return for cameo spots? Can there be a Data now Brent Spiner has ruled himself out? Tell me, For the love of God, tell me!
“Erm. I’ve made a pact not to discuss the story but I’m very excited. It’s an honour to take on the canon of Star Trek. I see how there are certain things you must adhere to but having said that I would love to be part of a new chapter in the history. I want to be involved with something that that people can be really proud of and that can take a part in the continuum that was started in the 60s by Gene Roddenberry.”