For a guy who prizes secrecy, director J.J. Abrams certainly isn't holding anything back when it comes to 3D. When it was announced at the end of 2011 that "Star Trek Into Darkness" would be arriving in 3D, it was a bit of a surprise to fans. Until then, Abrams had already expressed his reservations about working in the format, and fans were thrown for a further loop last summer when it was revealed he wasn't shooting natively in the format, but post-converting it. And while he begrudingly admits he's turning around the format, he reveals he was strongarmed into it.
"The studio said, 'You have to make it in 3D if you're going to make it, for economic reasons'," Abrams told SFX. "But my feeling was I didn't like 3D. So the idea of doing 'Star Trek' in 3D was ridiculous." But of course, he eventually agreed and signed on and, as it turns out, he's happy with the results.
"I approached it very cynically. And the fact is that we've been using techniques that haven't been used before in 3D. They've figured out things. They've made enough movies now with this new process that they can understand ways to eliminate some of these problems," he said, citing his own headaches and distractions while watching 3D movies. "Things like breaking shots into zones, 3D zones, using multiple virtual cameras. A lot of this has made me a believer, whereas before I was really against it… There's this myth that if you don't shoot the movie in 3D it doesn't look good. Actually, the opposite can be true."
So, you can probably rest assured that when you buy your ticket this summer for the movie and pay that extra 3D surcharge, you'll get your money's worth. But for Abrams, he's far more philosophical about it all. "The key for me is I got to make my 2D movie that I wanted to make, just the way I wanted to; and it gets to be augmented in 3D but that doesn't detract from the 2D," he said.
Pick your format and beam up on May 17th. [via DigitalSpy]