September 3rd, 2008
Writer-director-producer J.J. Abrams was born into a show-business family as the son of a TV executive, and he started his own career immediately after college, selling screenplays for Taking Care Of Business, Regarding Henry, and Forever Young while he was still in his 20s. He moved from feature films to television in 1998, first co-creating the collegiate drama Felicity, and then heading up the twisty 21st-century spy thriller Alias. In the ’00s, Abrams has divided his time between movies and TV? ? and between offbeat fantasy and straight drama? ? having a hand in such disparate projects as Lost, What About Brian, Cloverfield, Six Degrees, Joy Ride, and Mission: Impossible III. While putting the finishing touches on the new big-screen version of Star Trek? ? due in theaters next summer? ? Abrams is also working with Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman on the new science-fiction mystery series Fringe, which debuts September 9 on Fox.
The A.V. Club: How do you generally feel when a new TV show of yours is about to premi??re? Anxious? Confident?
J.J. Abrams: Well, it’s a cocktail of excited for people to see it, terror that no one will watch it, and relief that something I’ve been working on for so long will finally be out there. Oh, and panic that I can’t make more of the little changes we’ve been making all along. All the times I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of a show that’s actually gotten on the air, it’s always that same mixture of excitement and utter fear. Which is kind of what I hope people will feel when they watch Fringe. [Laughs.]
