“I did not fight for the 3D…it was something the studio wanted to do.”
So said J.J. Abrams today on Paramount’s decision to post-convert his upcoming “Star Trek” sequel to 3D, a move the writer/director admitted he was very skeptical of initially. “I didn’t want to do it,” he continued, speaking during a TCA Winter Press Tour panel discussion regarding the new Fox series “Alcatraz”, which he’s executive-producing.
Nevertheless, Abrams gained a new appreciation for the process when he saw the results of a post-conversion done on a good portion of the first “Star Trek” movie, which he noted “looked really good”.
“That was the thing which made me think it would be okay,” he said, claiming that he was opposed to actually filming the sequel in 3D because it would’ve forced him to use digital cameras, as opposed to the celluloid-shot first movie.
“I wanted it to match the look of the first and shoot it anamorphically,” said Abrams. “Then I saw the first movie converted; it was actually really cool. So I was okay with [converting the film to 3-D], as long as I could shoot it the way I wanted to.”
The untitled “Star Trek” sequel begins shooting this Thursday. The film is slated for release on May 17, 2013.
So what do you think of Paramount’s decision to post-convert the “Star Trek” sequel to 3D? If you were initially opposed, has Abrams’ upbeat reassessment at all changed your mind? Sound off in the comments!