J.J. Abrams is cool under pressure. He ought to be — the dynamic filmmaker seeks it out, stands under it with grace. How else to explain the steel nerves of a director who takes control — all by himself — of the world’s two most beloved space epics — Star Trek and Star Wars? Well if you’re William Shatner you’d call Abrams a “pig” for hogging up Hollywood’s claim on outer space. But Abrams remains undaunted by Captain Kirk‘s assessment of his voracity. Because, look, he’s got about a billion people to satisfy with his next project, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Abrams’ steel nerves can’t get jittery over Shatner’s opinion.
[Star Wars: The Digital Movie Collection
Talking to Howard Stern, Abrams said he took Shatner’s porcine comment as a badge of honor, but also that he thought Shatner was saying it “in a semi-joking way.” (Isn’t that the way Shatner says everything?) Showing what Abrams him to the top of Hollywood –besides his skill behind the camera — he then confidently said it’s possible Shatner might he “100 percent right” before revealing the real animus behind Kirk’s kerfuffle. “If I cast him in Star Trek,” Abrams told Stern, he probably wouldn’t have said that.”
