And the first new scripted TV program of the fall is… J.J. Abrams’ spy drama Undercovers. NBC pounced on this back in December, and now it has been made official. NBC ordered an inital 13 episode run set to start in September. Undercovers is about a married couple (Boris Kodjoe & Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who play ex-CIA agents that are pulled back into the “into the world of espionage.” That’s right people; Abrams is going back to his roots (Alias, MI:3). Here’s the synopsis:
Outwardly, Steven Bloom (Kodjoe) and his wife, Samantha (Mbatha-Raw), are a typical married couple who own a small catering company in Los Angeles and are helped by Samantha’s easily frazzled younger sister, Lizzy (Jessica Parker Kennedy). Secretly, the duo were two of the CIA’s best spies until they fell in love on the job five years ago and retired. When fellow spy and friend Nash (Carter MacIntyre) goes missing while on the trail of a Russian arms dealer, the Blooms are reinstated by boss Carlton Shaw (Gerald McRaney) to locate and rescue Nash. The pair is thrust back into the world of espionage as they follow leads that span the globe — and Steven and Samantha realize thatthis supercharged, undercover lifestyle provides the excitement and romance thattheir marriage has been missing.
Jeff Gaspin, Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment: “We have tremendous confidence in this promising series and feel this is a great way to kick off our upcoming Upfront development announcements. J.J. has delivered another signature series along with our partners at Warner Bros and we couldn’t be happier.” NBC President Angela Bromstad: “Having J.J. on our creative team is a great reason for celebration. In Undercovers, he’s found a breakout couple that is rich in character and brimming with romance and action. We feel he’s found the perfect cast.”
Abrams will servce as co-writer, executive producer, and co-creator (with Josh Reims). He also directed the pilot; this is the first time he’s directing a TV show episode since the Lost pilot. This should be good. Keep it on your radar.
This Tuesday Paramount Pictures announced that actor Tom Cruise will star in the next installment of the Mission: Impossible series. J.J. Abrams returns as well, this time as producer not director. Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec are penning the script that’s based on a story arc formulated by Cruise and Abrams. Mission: Impossible IV is due out in theatres Memorial Day weekend in 2011.
Fans of the J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, get psyched! The much anticipated sequel is set to hit theatres June 29, 2012. It will likely face-off against Wolverine 2 and Marvel’s The Avengers that summer.
It’s been too long since we’ve had the pleasure of watching a J.J. Abrams-directed series premiere on television (the Lost premiere, to be exact). According to The Hollywood Reporter, Abrams will direct the premiere episode of NBC’s upcoming spy show Undercovers. The episode is co-written between Abrams and Felicity pal Josh Reims. According to numerous sources the show is being described as has been described as Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets The Bourne Identity.
Abrams adds Undercovers to a growing list of other new shows he plans on unveiling in the near future. There’s the HBO medical drama called Anatomy of Hope and a not-yet-titled FOX comedy. With Lost beginning its heavily anticipated final season this February, Abrams better have a deep arsenal of amazing TV dramas in his pockets. As hard as it is for me to imagine a future without Lost, news that Abrams is hard at work with new offerings gives me a glimpse of a hopeful future post-one of the best shows ever made.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, director, writer, genius J.J. Abrams will be execuive producer for a half-hour “comedic medical show” on FOX. The untitled comedy will be written by Mike Marowitz, who comes from Abrams’ production house Bad Robot. Like all of Abrams’ projects (Lost, Fringe), this project is being kept under heavy wraps until the team is ready to officially announce the major details (plot-line, characters, air date, etc.). All I know is that I am already excited for it. Anything that Abrams touches turns (more often than not) into pure, delicious gold. Bring on the funny, Abrams.
J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield is a great film that emphasizes shrouded mystery, unique camera work, spectacular special effects, and an intriguing and original story with believable characters. There is no way Abrams and crew (including producer Bryan Burk, director Matt Reeves, and writer Drew Godderd) could leave this franchise to waste after one film; especially that there is so much unused backstory material from all the viral marketing used to hype the movie way back when.
The crew on a potential sequel in the works…
Reeves: “While we were on set making the film we talked about the possibilities and directions of how a sequel can go. The fun of this movie was that it might not have been the only movie being made that night, there might be another movie! In today’s day and age of people filming their lives on their camera phones and Handycams, uploading it to YouTube… That was kind of exciting thinking about that.”
“There’s a moment on the Brooklyn Bridge, and there was a guy filming something on the side of the bridge, and Hud sees him filming and he turns over and he sees the ship that’s been capsized and sees the headless Statue of Liberty, and then he turns back and this guy’s briefly filming him. In my mind that was two movies intersecting for a brief moment, and I thought there was something interesting in the idea that this incident happened and there are so many different points of view, and there are several different movies at least happening that evening and we just saw one piece of another. That idea sort of tickled me.”
“The idea of doing something so differently is exhilarating. We hope that it created a movie experience that is different. The thing about doing a sequel is that I think we all really feel protective of that experience. The key here will be if we can find something that is compelling enough and that is different enough for us to do, then it will probably be worth doing. Obviously it also depends on how Cloverfield does worldwide and all of those things too, but really, for us creatively, we just want to find something that would be another challenge.”
Burk: “The creative team has fleshed out an entire backstory which, if we’re lucky, we might get to explore in future films.”
Abrams: “It would be a totally different kind of thing but it’s too early to talk about.”
As you can clearly see, there areideas floating around about what a sequel to Cloverfield can entail. Focusing on the backstory of the monster and changing up the style of the way the movie is portrayed to audiences seems to be the two big concepts to take away from the sequel jabber. Also, let me remind you that Cloverfield did leave some questions at the end of the film in two instances. (1) In the final scene of the film (the recording at Coney Island) a quick camera shot reveals a large object falling into the ocean. It has been oft-confirmed that this object was a satellite and that the excavation of said satillite woke up the monster who “[has] been down there in the water for thousands and thousands of years.” [J.J. Abrams] (2) Loyal fans of Abrams and Cloverfield (yeah, that’s me) who waited out the end credits to see if there was a reveal at the very end heardquite the treat. An unknown person whispers softly “It’s still alive.” When played backwards the audio plays “Help us.” {Listen below.} All in all, I would place all bets on a sequel coming to theatres soon. Let the crazy detailed viral marketing and hype begin!
Oh wait…what’s this? It seems as if viral marketing as started for Cloverfield 2. Although it is has not been confirmed as an official video for a sequel, and many speculate it may be fan-created, this video is still quite the treat for the Cloverfield following. Today a video was uploaded to YouTube titled “そこに何ですか？- R U THERE?” by abcharu21. It contains shaky-cam scenes from what appears to be Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA, bizarre cuts to a father playing with his Asian baby, a shot of what may be the monster terrorizing civilians, and it ends with a quick shot of a street sign that reads “Cloverfield.” Though it may very well be a user-generated video, it seems too authentic to me. Check it out below and let the hype begin all over again.
At Comic Con, website io9 sat down with screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek, Transformers) and asked them about the future of the rejuvenated J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek film series.
Q: I know there was a meeting about Star Trek a little while a go, have there been any more additional meetings at all? Any little update you can give us about the next film?
A: Roberto Orci: “Nothing was decided [at the last meeting]. It was really about, hmmm. You know what, I’ll give you a tidbit. [They said to us] ‘We thought maybe you could do that as like 2 and 3.”
Hmm, this is interesting. Something can be taken from this rather vague answer. Will the sequel to the new Star Trek end on a major cliffhanger that will bleed into the third Trek film? If so, will the third Trek be released soon after the sequel in order to keep the plot alive and relevant? While Orci’s response raises only more questions and no concrete answers, it is more fuel being added to the fire that is the new Star Trek film series! Abrams, Orci, Kurtzman, bring it on.
J.J. Abrams is a true genius. He is a film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, composer, and founder of Bad Robot Productions. He is a visionary who relies on mystery and suspense to tell gripping tales of characters people can truly invest in. He is the creative mind behind TV shows Felicity, Alias, Lost, Fringe, and soon-to-be-aired Anatomy of Hope. He is also behind the incredible films Mission: Impossible III, Cloverfield, and Star Trek. According to the latest rumors, he plans to bring sequels to M: I, Star Trek, and Cloverfield in the near future. He will also be directing a novel-to-film adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” with Lost pals Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. The past, present, and future of Abrams’ career is always bright. His work is often filled with buzz-worthy news and tons of fan-fare. He is a unique figure in the entertainment business. He really understands the intricacies of mystery and how to perfectly manipulate the audience member so that he is brought to the edge of his seat, jaw-dropped, during the climax and then wholly satisfied at the conclusion. I am overly excited about what the future holds with J.J. Abrams at the top of his game. With Lost coming to an end after Season 6 and Fringe on its way to Season 2, I am positive he is well underway creating new mysteries to be witnessed and new characters to be introduced to. While I am enjoying the films and TV series that are currently released and on-air, respectively, I wait with open arms and an open mind to see what Abrams has up his sleeve next.
