LOS ANGELES (AP) — J.J.
Abrams is no Trekkie. The director and producer of the new "Star Trek"
film, due in 2009, said he was always more of a "Star Wars" guy.
"All my smart friends
liked 'Star Trek.' I preferred a more visceral experience," he tells Entertainment
Weekly in its latest issue, on newsstands Friday. Abrams took on the
"Star Trek" project in hopes of creating a film "that
grabbed me the way 'Star Wars' did," he says.
He was also drawn to the
franchise's idealism, he says.
"I think a movie that
shows people of various races working together and surviving hundreds of years
from now is not a bad message to put out right now," he says. "In a
world where a movie as incredibly produced as 'The Dark Knight' is raking in
gazillions of dollars, 'Star Trek' stands in stark contrast. It was
important to me that optimism be cool again."
"My only regret is
that the movie can't come out sooner," says Leonard Nimoy, who will don
his pointy ears to play an elder Spock. "I think the world could use
it."
The younger Spock, played
by Zachary Quinto, says "Star Trek"
is a franchise "that offers hope for unity."
But don't expect any unity
with William Shatner. The actor won't make a cameo as Capt. Kirk, Abrams says.
"I was such a huge fan
of his, but we wrote a scene for him in the movie and it didn't feel
right," Abrams says. "And he said to us — he said publicly — that doing
a cameo didn't interest him. Which I totally appreciate. But we did try."
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