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Abrams: "I was never really a fan of Star Trek"

Hollywood’s new king of science fiction JJ Abrams has a confession: He never really got 'Star Trek'.

He tells 'The Sunday Times': "I was never really a fan of 'Star Trek' to begin with but the idea of working on something that is not necessarily your favourite thing can actually help, because it forces you to engage with it in a way an outsider can appreciate. With 'Star Wars' I come to it with a deep passion - I would have paid for a chance to be part of it, let alone direct it - so it's a marked difference. But I'll do my best to honour what George Lucas created, just as I've done my best to honour what Gene Roddenberry created with 'Star Trek'."



Raised in California by his father who worked in advertising for CBS (he'd take the young JJ to watch rehearsals for TV shows 'Happy Days' and 'Mork and Mindy') and his movie producer mother, film was in his blood.

None of his sporty friends, for example, could have claimed that one of their most treasured possessions was the prosthetic tongue that had darted out of Linda Blair’s mouth in 'The Exorcist'.

Armed with a Super 8 camera he'd go off and shoot films, often using his younger sister Tracy (now a screenwriter) as his leading lady.

He'd sneak in to see horror movies and then write letters to the makeup and special effects  guys and ask their advice. Dick Smith sent him the prosthetic tongue as a present.

At 15 he and a friend entered a short film festival, Spielberg saw an article about them and asked if they would be interested in restoring his own Super 8 movies. There started a major friendship and collaboration.

At 19 in college JJ sold screenplays for 'Taking Care of Business' starring Jim Belushi and 'Regarding Henry'.

Later he ended up as a TV producer and director - creating hit series 'Alias' and 'Lost'.

Tom Cruise championed his cause with two 'Mission Impossible' films, and then he was invited to rework the Star Trek franchise in 2009 - the new film, 'Star Trek into Darkness' opens this month starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Simon Pegg.

In January it was announced he will direct the first of three new 'Star Wars' films. Rumour has it Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill will be back on the new 'Star Wars' film, along with a new cast

Today his office at production company Bad Robot Productions in Santa Monica is a geek's paradise with toys, games, posters, Godzilla heads and a secret door behind a bookcase that leads to his bathroom.

Everyone who visits - including the plumber - is invited to doodle, and then the sketches are showcased on the wall.

On set Pegg says he entertains actors in between takes, by bringing in a magician or a drum machine he'd seen on YouTube.

JJ credits his grandfather, Harry Kelvin, the owner of an electronics company, for showing him how to build things - model railways and aeroplanes that would gleefully blow up in his films. He took him to Louis Tannen's magic store in New York where he bought him a magic box - to this day he's never opened it. "I know for a fact that whatever is inside is infinitely less important than what COULD be inside. And I love that."

As for his grandfather, Abrams has found a way to thank him - USS Kelvin is the name of one of the spaceships in 'Star Trek'.

'Star Trek into Darkness' is released on 9 May