J.J. Abrams on Mysteries and Spielberg

to have access to the original films of any director, let alone Steven Spielberg, was like unheard of. He thought, oh, if that director made movies like that, then, you know, this is what we're trying to do. Welcome to Young Hollywood. What's up, guys? Nicki Novak here for Young Hollywood at the Samuel Goldwin Theater. We're here to celebrate the DVD release of Super 8 with Superman, J. J. Abrams. I saw it. No one believes me.

I believe you.

You have such a crazy imagination. Did you foresee any of this when you were a kid?

Well, the idea of uh, getting to do a movie, especially with Stephen Spielberg, who uh, was my idol and and mentor and friend, uh, was just such a crazy gift.

However, you're not telling me the whole truth because you worked with Stephen when you were 15.

My friend Matt Reeves and I were in a Super 8 film festival, uh, in Los Angeles, and there was an article about us in the LA Times. And Stephen Spielberg's office saw the article and then contacted us to repair movies that he made when he was our age. In in, you know, 1981, 82, to have access to the original films of any director, let alone Steven Spielberg, was like unheard of, because there were no, you know, DVDs or special features, though they were far better than our movies, they were in the realm of a student film. He thought, oh, if that director made movies like that, then, you know, this is what we're trying to do. And uh, it was very inspiring.

Dispatch just got a call on Citizen's Band. Joe and some of his friends, they were grabbed by military personnel at the middle school. Kristen, you tell me everything and I won't throw you in jail. Yes, sir. But I think you should look at this first. One of my favorite stories is the story I heard about your mystery box.

The quick story is, there was a magic store my grandfather used to take me to, and you could buy this thing called the Magic Mystery Box, which was like $15. And the idea is that you don't know what you're buying, it's a mystery. And so for years and years and years and years, uh, it's remained unopened because the idea of what's in the box is infinitely more compelling than what's in the box. It's a romantic idea. It kind of keeps alive this notion that there's something impossibly spectacular in there. And so the idea of keeping mystery alive is sort of part of the fun of it.

Oh my god! Come on, Jack. Let's go. Come on, Jack, she's right. I don't know. Oh my god! Well, let's say I said to you, if you could create, I gave you a mystery box and sent it to like a future generation, what would what would you choose?

Uh, the first thing that came to mind was like, some like incredibly cool art supplies, because I always feel like when you have great, like amazing paper and awesome pens and great paints and things, the potential of what that can be. So to send someone something that can become something greater than the sum of its parts.

One last question, because there's kids in the movie, if you could use that time travel that, you know, instead of taking the magic box forward, if you could take it back in time, what age would you go back to?

It's a funny thing, uh, my my favorite episode of The Twilight Zone is about this, about going back and sort of, you can't tell yourself as a kid to enjoy being a kid, you can't ever do that. Um, the episode's called Walking Distance, it's my favorite. If you haven't seen it, watch it. I I got to tell you, I am so, you know, I feel so lucky right this minute. Um, you know, maybe I'd go back to the beginning of this interview so I could give you better answers.

This is J. J. Abrams and you're watching Young Hollywood.