Abrams on “Star Trek 2,” “Mission Impossible IV”

JJ Abrams on the “Star Trek” set, doing that director thing.

ComingSoon caught up with busy director JJ Abrams during the release party for the “Star Trek” DVD and got answers from him on one question that interests many people, and another, well, not so many. Let’s start with the latter:

Q: What’s the status on “Mission: Impossible IV”?

J.J. Abrams: We are working on the script and we have an incredibly cool story. It’s literally being written right this second.

As I said, I don’t know anyone who’s been sitting around wondering what on earth is going on with the “Mission Impossible” series (with the likely exception of Tom Cruise). The box office for the last installment was good, but not fantastic, and it was down from the previous film, a sign that the public is losing interest in the series. But it still did okay worldwide, and maybe the studio just considers it a good, safe bet to make lots of money overseas.

Onto the other question:

Q: What are the elements that would have to line up to make you direct the next “Star Trek” film?

Abrams: The truth is, the idea of anyone else directing the next “Star Trek” film breaks my heart. I had the most fun ever with these people. But, it’s impossible to know when the script is done. That’s the time to look at it and ask, “is this the right thing for the movie? Is it the right thing for me? My family?” and all that stuff. It’s so hard to know a year out with no script in existance if I should direct the movie. I look forward to making that decision when the time comes.

Now we all certainly would hope that Abrams does get to direct the sequel, but if not him, who? I’m sure he would get to make the choice. Would it be a big name director, like (I’m just throwing  a name out there) David Fincher? Or an up and comer, say, Peter Berg (again, just tossing out random names)? My bet is that Abrams would choose an unknown, maybe someone who’s worked on one of his TV series or maybe a writer he’s worked with who wants to move into directing.

Oh, and yes, that “Star Trek” DVD is in stores now.