With a 2011 release set for both Mission Impossible 4 and a Star Trek Sequel it is quite a feat to see J.J. Abrams take on both projects simultaneously. We wonder how on earth he will manage to take on both of these monster films. It appears that the folks over at MTV had similar questions. They asked the blockbuster director if he was, in fact, returning to the Ethan Hunt adventure.
This is what he had to say:
“I’m producing with Tom,” he said recently. “My guess is, given other things, that I will not be directing the movie.”
With that being said, J.J. is still going to be executive producer. He has to pass on being behind the camera. Without revealing story details Abrams did admit that what is in store is “damn cool”.
So, Abrams is still on board as an executive producer, having developed this next installment alongside screenwriters Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, but he’s having to pass on returning behind the camera. While not wanting to give any story details away the director did express confidence to the website that the story was “damn cool.”
“I don’t want to give anything away yet, but I will say that it’s a story that will feel consistent with the world that has been created,” he explained. “It’s not a reboot kind of thing.”
We do know that Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec have created the screenplay and the whole aspect of creating another sequel came to be because Cruise wanted to work with Abrams again.
“Tom asked if I’d be interested in working with him again,” Abrams said. “I didn’t have a sense of what the story would be, but very quickly this idea came to mind, and Tom reacted to it in a way that got me excited, and then we got André and Josh to come onboard, and they began developing the idea with us.”
Abrams believes that Applebaum and Nemec are adept to a genre and putting together insane situations for great characters. Both Abrams and Cruise did not want to collaborate on something that did not feel a worthy follow up to the first three films in the “Mission” franchise.
