J.J. Abrams Quotes & Sayings

I was never really a comic-book fanatic. — J.J. Abrams

The goal is always to do B material in an A fashion. — J.J. Abrams

I think that the success of the film is as much about it being something that families could share as anything else. — J.J. Abrams

I will say that what's been funny is, since the lightsaber's come out, I cannot tell you how many contradictory emails I have received from people who have both defended it with unbelievably detailed graphicsI've gotten things that are nuts, and I've gotten people who've shown how it'll kill you and how it doesn't make any sense. It's been the funniest thing to see the arguments that have developed over this thing. — J.J. Abrams

Well, you know, going into any project, especially with a fan base as vocal and passionate as something as "Star Wars," you will have groups of people who will find issues with whatever it is you're doing. But our job was to tell the best story we could about characters that we loved, and we knew that we needed to go backwards to go forwards, and we needed to go back to a feeling and a place and a time. — J.J. Abrams

As a director/writer/producer, all you ever want is to work with actors who make you look better, who make the work you do seem as good as it can be and even better than it is. — J.J. Abrams

I've never done Twitter. — J.J. Abrams

I think that even if you're wondering if two characters are ever going to kiss, drawing out the inevitability is part of the fun. Whatever the genre happens to be. — J.J. Abrams

The magic that works, to me, is the magic that feels completely grounded and real and tangible. — J.J. Abrams

I've had the same friends since I was in kindergarten. — J.J. Abrams

We're living at a time where if you do a Google search for a 'show, review and network,' you'll get 'The New York Times' and Pete Billingsley from a town you've never heard of on the same results page. It's kind of democratizing the process so that everyone has access to a distribution system to express themselves. — J.J. Abrams

It's not often that I read about actors that I'm going to be meeting. I get to read articles about actors who were going to come in, so I get to see someone and say, "Oh, I read that I was going to see you. It's very nice to see you." — J.J. Abrams

It's cool to be a nerd. There's a general understanding that smartphones didn't come from jocks. The digital age was foreseen by a group of short-sleeved, buttoned-down, white-shirted guys and their female equivalents designing the very stuff that's now ubiquitous. — J.J. Abrams

I quickly said that because of my loyalty to Star Trek, and also just being a fan, I wouldn't even want to be involved in the next version of those things. I declined any involvement very early on. I'd rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them. — J.J. Abrams

You beat death, Arvin. But you couldn't beat me. — J.J. Abrams

I think admitting youre an addict is the first step towards recovery. — J.J. Abrams

You can never guess or assume what anyone is going to think. — J.J. Abrams

I do feel like no matter what you're doing, whether it's music or writing a play or a poem or drawing a picture or painting something, that you're speaking to what is it you want to express, what is it you want to see. — J.J. Abrams

When you go to commercial, you want something to call the viewers back, and if you don't have a decent act out, the audience probably won't be there in the numbers you want when the show returns. — J.J. Abrams

I feel like obviously the standard for what TV looks like changes all the time. — J.J. Abrams

Obviously with the Internet and increased access to other means of watching shows, the audience has dispersed and is all over the place and that is a challenge. — J.J. Abrams

I don't think anyone wants a movie on time that's not worth your time. — J.J. Abrams

I love recording music. — J.J. Abrams

I feel like in telling stories, there are the things the audience thinks are important, and then there are the things that are actually important. — J.J. Abrams

When I was a little kid - and even still - I loved magic tricks. When I saw how movies got made - at least had a glimpse when I went on the Universal Studios tour with my grandfather, I remember feeling like this was another means by which I could do magic. — J.J. Abrams

I don't try and write strong female characters or strong male characters, I just try and write, hopefully, strong characters and sometimes they happen to be female. — J.J. Abrams

'Star Trek' was always a little bit closed emotionally. I never connected to the characters. — J.J. Abrams

To me the interesting main character is never the one without flaws. — J.J. Abrams

I may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid. — J.J. Abrams

It is an incredible thing to see how many crazy things get thrown out that people then often write commentaries about how happy they are or how disappointed they are about something that's completely false. But, it's a lot of noise, frankly. — J.J. Abrams

You know, we've got to this place, where you go to a movie for one particular surgical fix. So, it's like, I want the pulse-pounding action, or the insane falling-off-my-seat comedy, or the devastating, heart-breaking drama. — J.J. Abrams

I am lucky, I'm the first to admit that. — J.J. Abrams

When I was a kid going into the movies, you weren't force-fed information everywhere you looked about what the movie was going to be. — J.J. Abrams

People never know what they want, though everyone says they do. If they did, nobody would ever be surprised. — J.J. Abrams

Mystery is more important than knowledge. — J.J. Abrams

And the parents who knew "Star Wars" could take kids and feel like they've gone back to a place that is familiar and yet found brand-new characters that took them somewhere they'd never been. And it was important me that we embrace that feeling, and you can call it retro, but I think it's what "Star Wars" is. — J.J. Abrams

I hate to look at the stuff I've written and consider what it means or why I do it. — J.J. Abrams

Withholding things in a story is no good if you aren't building to something substantial. It becomes foreplay without the main event, and no one wants that. — J.J. Abrams

I love stories where the impossible appears believable, plausible and real. Maybe it's silly, but it's one of the reasons Michael Crichton's writing always appealed to me: he took outlandish ideas and made them seem completely within the realm of possibility. I remember reading "Jurassic Park" and feeling like: "Oh, yeah
no, that's totally happening right now. They're bringing back dinosaurs! — J.J. Abrams

Robotics are beginning to cross that line from absolutely primitive motion to motion that resembles animal or human behavior. — J.J. Abrams

He walks among us, but is not with us. — J.J. Abrams

George Lucas is the reason that we got to make this movie, you know, he was the man that created this whole galaxy, and I am incredibly grateful to him. He's an artist and he's a grown-up. And I take him at his word, and it doesn't mean I agree with everything he says, but I respect, you know, his right to his opinion. — J.J. Abrams

Well, we're all victims of our own gene pool. Unfortunately, someone must have peed in yours. - Walter Bishop, "Fringe" (TV) — J.J. Abrams

You never want to have that ticking clock and know that you had all this time and didn't use it. — J.J. Abrams

Cameron Crowe is someone who I've admired for so long, and I've been friends with him for many years, and I've wanted to work with him so badly that I just never stopped bothering him about writing a script that would be for a pilot. — J.J. Abrams

It's more important you learn what to make movies about than how to make movies — J.J. Abrams

There's something about looking at Super 8 films that is so evocative. You could argue it's the resolution of the film somehow because they aren't crystal clear and perfect,so there is a kind of gauzy layer between you and what you see. You could argue it's the silence of them. You could say it's the sound of the projector that creates a moodiness. But there's something about looking at analog movies that's infinitely more powerful than digital. — J.J. Abrams

I love working with the right actor, and if the right actor happens to be unknown, that should be allowed, too, I think. — J.J. Abrams

Approaching any movie with a three in the title you know you are not going to get a political polemic. You are not going to get some sort of political statement or ultra-deep message. — J.J. Abrams

I find that it's hard to fully examine one's life and not have faith be part of the discussion. — J.J. Abrams

I was just like, "I want to make a decent 2-D movie." I was so worried that, instead of being a decent 2-D movie, it would have been a bad 3-D one. — J.J. Abrams

I'm not trying to be coy or manipulative or Machiavellian, I want to spark people's imaginations. — J.J. Abrams

I've always liked working on stories that combine people who are relatable with something insane. — J.J. Abrams

Stories in which the destruction of society occurs are explorations of social fears and issues that filmmakers, novelists, playwrights, painters have been examining for a long time. — J.J. Abrams

I have nothing against 3-D in theory. But I've also never run to the movies because something's in 3-D. — J.J. Abrams

My work isn't any more important than anything else in the family. — J.J. Abrams

What's a bigger mystery box than a movie theater? You go to the theater, you're just so excited to see anything - the moment the lights go down is often the best part. — J.J. Abrams

The idea to put episodes out weekly in theory makes as much sense as putting them all out at once. — J.J. Abrams

I feel like I learn every day how I can be a better producer or writer or storyteller. The thing that keeps me the most balanced is just going home every day and getting my ass kicked by my kids, and having a wife who is the most wonderfully/brutally honest person I've ever met. I think that that is always the first lens through which I see the world. For everything else, I'm just grateful for the people I work with. — J.J. Abrams

When you work on something that combines both the spectacular and the relatable, the hyperreal and the real, it suddenly can become supernatural. The hypothetical and the theoretical can become literal. — J.J. Abrams

Honestly I'm excited about the possibilities of what comes next, and the funny thing is, that is sort of what "Star Wars" is kind of about. I mean, I remember being 10 years old and seeing that movie and leaving the theater and feeling like, oh, my God, anything is possible. And I feel like anything is possible right now. I don't know what's next, but I look forward to it. — J.J. Abrams

I'm an impatient guy and tend not to like to stay with one thing for a long time. I'll never be able to write as many scripts as I did for "Felicity" or "Alias" ever again. I'm just too impatient these days. I want to get on to the next project. — J.J. Abrams

I sort of love the idea of, you know, watching something and then having to wait for the next episode. — J.J. Abrams

I don't want to do something that is so inside that only die-hard fans will appreciate. — J.J. Abrams

When I was a kid, it was a huge insult to be a geek. Now it's a point of pride in a weird way. — J.J. Abrams

Whenever I've directed something, there's this feeling of demand and focus that I like. — J.J. Abrams

I don't think I have a signature. — J.J. Abrams

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) is probably the most influential film of my generation. It's the personification of good and evil and the way it opened up the world to space adventure, the way westerns had to our parents' generations, left an indelible imprint. So, in a way, everything that any of us does is somehow directly or indirectly affected by the experience of seeing those first three films. — J.J. Abrams

I do think that at a certain point, the reboot sequel mode has to give way to original ideas and back to a place where, you know, films are, you know, a medium and the cinema is a place you go to see something that is, you know, wholly new. — J.J. Abrams

We're always pitching ideas and being told "no thank you." No offense taken, because I would so much rather be told the truth that they're not interested and be able to find the right show for that network down the line. — J.J. Abrams

Ratings have changed, viewer habits have changed and the options for the audience have grown enormously, but I don't think how you tell a story is fundamentally different. — J.J. Abrams

My mother is the coolest, most amazing person I know. — J.J. Abrams

Whatever is being investigated, created or produced now, in movies or TV, needs to consider the context in which it is being distributed. It's not a vacuum. There are certain universal themes of love, conflict, loyalty or family that are everlasting and that need to be presented in a way that makes it feel relevant, even if it's a period piece. You need to consider what context that film, that story and those characters are being seen in. — J.J. Abrams

The ability of a television series to make adjustments is something you've got to take advantage of. — J.J. Abrams

I work with really hard-working people who are really good at what they do. — J.J. Abrams

Well, we knew that we wanted to tell a story that made bold choices, and one of those bold choices was meeting a storm trooper and seeing who this person was. That's something that had never been done. — J.J. Abrams

I love the idea of anthropomorphizing machines. I love the idea of taking technology and giving it a personality. — J.J. Abrams

One of my favorite things about 'Star Trek' wasn't just the overt banter but the humor in that show about the relationships between the main characters and their reactions to the situations they would face; there was a lot of comedy in that show without ever breaking its reality. — J.J. Abrams

All I know is that I've made some big screw-ups, and I've done some things that have done all right. I just keep trying to learn from the mistakes I've made. — J.J. Abrams

We used to have more references to things that we pulled out because they almost felt like they were trying too hard to allude to something. — J.J. Abrams

I don't think it was hate,' Castus replied thoughtfully. 'I think it was fear. — J.J. Abrams

I try to push ideas away, and the ones that will not leave me alone are the ones that ultimately end up happening. — J.J. Abrams

The noise you hear after people see something you do
whether it's a TV show or a movie
that always makes you see that thing slightly differently. Without question. The ability of a television series to make adjustments is something you've got to take advantage of. And test-screening a movie can be helpful too. But the part that can be dangerous is when you take those notes as gospel, instead of taking them with a grain of salt. The key is to use the response as one of the tools in your box, as opposed to using it to determine what you do. — J.J. Abrams

Whenever a toddler sees a pile of blocks, he wants to tear it down. — J.J. Abrams

Don't sell your story, just tell your story. — J.J. Abrams

I think when you're 10 years old, it's too much to see something with the threat of death in every episode. Kids are better left naive about certain things. — J.J. Abrams

The thing is: you might be right to trust someone at one point, but they can change."
"+ in between they must be drifting from trustworthy to not. But you can't tell how far they've drifted until it's too late. — J.J. Abrams

I'm obsessed with things that are distinctly analogue. — J.J. Abrams

I've just been lucky to work on things that I felt would be cool to see. It's not that I had a strategy or anything. — J.J. Abrams

Well, when Kathy Kennedy, who is the president of Lucasfilm, came to me to ask if I'd be interested in working on this "Star Wars" movie, we talked about a young woman at the center of the story from the outset. And it was something that was always an important part of this movie. — J.J. Abrams

It's what happens. You love, then you lose, then you die. Even if you survive, you die. — J.J. Abrams

I hope to make movies that are so small they don't need to make anything to be profitable. — J.J. Abrams

When there's an authentic mystery, as opposed to just a question being asked, that's what makes you lean forward. — J.J. Abrams

Directing a movie precludes me from being involved in any greater way. But, the job was never to do more, it was always to enable. Sometimes as a producer, you're creating and writing it, or sometimes you're writing and directing it, or other times you're there from the very beginning. — J.J. Abrams

I guess the idea of not wanting to choose to direct a film, for which I've not read a script. It's a tough decision to make without seeing any pages. That's not to say that I don't have all the faith in the world in the spectacular writers. — J.J. Abrams

Whenever you're playing sports with people who are better than you are, it makes you rise to the occasion. — J.J. Abrams

I was more of a Star Wars kid, actually. I always thought Star Trek was a lot of talk, and it felt a little self-important. It was hard for me to get into it. — J.J. Abrams

I'd like to use IMAX. The problem with IMAX is that it's a very loud camera. It's a very unreliable camera. Only so much film can be in the camera. You can't really do intimate scenes with it. — J.J. Abrams

I think you have a passion and an obsession for something when it's not necessarily ubiquitous. — J.J. Abrams

We live in an age of instant knowledge. And there's almost a sense of entitlement to that. — J.J. Abrams