JJ Abrams on collaborating with Stephen King and Apple TV +

Decider has an interview with writer, director and producer JJ Abrams, one of the kings of the moving image, in which they review projects he has underway, such as Lisey's Story, which opens Friday, June 7 on Apple TV +. with Julianne Moore and Clive Owen, and My Glory Was That I Had Such Friends, with Jennifer Garner. The Little Voice series was also premiered on the Apple platform.

You can read the interview here

For convenience, we include an automatic translation of the interview, generated by Safari:

When Stephen King decided he wanted to adapt Lisey's story, he had a longtime collaborator in mind: JJ Abrams. This is how a master of the screen and the master of horror have teamed up to create something completely new… An adaptation by Stephen King written entirely by the author himself, which will debut on Apple TV + on June 4th.

After King had a serious car accident in 1999, he returned home and found his belongings stacked in boxes. His wife, Tabitha King, wanted to redecorate King's study as a surprise. In addition to that gift, he gave her the inspiration for one of her most moving and interesting novels. Lisey's story follows widow Lisey (played by Julianne Moore) who is still mourning the loss of her husband, famed writer Scott Landon (played by Clive Owen). But as Scott's fans get more and more aggressive, Lisey will have to fight them and face the mythical world in which her husband has always quarreled with her, but never believed.

Lisey's story marks the third major collaboration between King and Abrams, after Hulu and Castle Rock on 22.11.63/XNUMX/XNUMX. But it is far from the last of the duo. Decider spoke to Abrams about why he loves working with King so much, how he chooses which projects to write, produce and direct, and what awaits this creative duo.

Decider: What attracted you to Lisey's story?

JJ Abrams:  Stephen King approached and asked if we were interested in producing a film adaptation of Lisey's Story. He was obviously excited by the prospect, not just because I'm a huge fan of his, but because he knew how much the book meant to him. So I was very flattered that he asked me. And then he said he wanted to write all the episodes, which frankly made it even better. And we've just begun the process of finding a director and a cast. It was really Stephen's kind of gift to all of us asking if we wanted to get involved.

It's incredible. What was it like collaborating with Stephen King? Because both are legends in their respective fields.

Well, that's incredibly generous. It is definitely a legend. I would say that working with him is always, he is a joy in all ways, that is, there have been projects that we have done together: 22.11.63/XNUMX/XNUMX, Castle Rock, we are working on something else, a couple of things now. It is always an education to work with him because his brain works in such an extraordinary, multidimensional and specific way. While I don't know if any of us will be able to really understand how he does what he does, it's a blast to see him up close, especially in this one. Because it meant a lot to him, reading the scripts and seeing how he adapted them, not just transcribed them, how he adapted the story into something that works on screen, like Pablo Larraín, our incredible director, was able to help in some cases. where some things may not have been translated so easily, finding a way with Stephen to achieve the desired effect. It was truly an amazing experience. Once again, I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of it.

You said it's always an education to work with Stephen King. Can you explain what you learned from working with him on Lisey's story?

It's interesting because the film is close to the novel, yet the novel is so internal that there were things that needed to be outsourced. Without being too specific, it seems to me the way he was able to look at his own work and identify the aspects and elements that were critical for him and his developer…

Of course, what you write and put into a novel doesn't always work on screen. So, to see him find ways to do it, emphasize what was important to him and the story, and then to see how he and Pablo together found a way to bring to the screen moments that were, in many cases, inspiring and interpretable as text in a novel. Suddenly it has to be very specific and rendered in a very photorealistic way. So how do you, how do you bring a place like Boo'ya Moon to the screen? When you read a novel, everyone sees a slightly different thing. No matter how beautifully descriptive the book is and no matter how beautifully the world is described, a novel will always be in your head somehow. Be it places, relationships and the people themselves. How do you bring a character like Lisey to life? It is much more difficult than it may seem. Having someone as brilliant as Julianne Moore play her allowed this thing to feel grounded and still fantastic. I feel I have learned a lot. But most of all I would say that the process of interpreting the novel in a visual medium was really exciting to watch.

You are a very busy man. Write, produce, direct. How do you choose which projects to do what?

The projects I end up writing are usually things that don't leave me alone… It's almost like having a kid pull up his coat where you finally have to say "What?" If there's an idea that doesn't go away, you need to question it. The things I've written have never gotten into anything thinking, necessarily, "This is meant to be a movie that looks like this" or "This is meant to be a show that looks like this." A lot of times it's about trying to get out of my system which has become kind of an obsession. So when I'm working on something, when I'm writing something, I usually don't have a lot of options. In the end I have to face it.

When it's something I'm producing, in the case of something like Lisey's story, it was Stephen who came to us with this opportunity that I think would have been a fool to say 'no thanks'. Because of the timing of it all, we knew we needed to find a director who could absorb it all. And Pablo was someone we had wanted to work with for so long. So, once again, this was indeed an opportunity.

Then in terms of direction, it's usually something I end up being forced to do. In some cases I feel, "Oh my God, I was a fool to say yes." And other times I feel that, if I've said no to something and see it's done, I think, "My God, I'm a fool for not doing it." So I never know what the correct answer is. But we always try to make our best decisions from moment to moment. Sometimes we feel like it's meant to be, and other times we think it was a big misstep. So you never really know.

You mentioned earlier that you have a couple of other projects with King that you are working on. What can you tell me about Tiny Horrors, your next anthology series?

I wish I could talk about it. It's one of my favorite things we're working on for many reasons that I think will soon become obvious. It is something very real and incredibly unique, and I am overwhelmingly thrilled.

We are working on a series about the Overlook Hotel that is very special and incredibly unique in its characters and points of view. Obviously working on anything with Stephen King is a blast, not only because his mind is infinitely bright and vast in focus - that is, he has written so many different genres - but also because he is a truly, wonderfully fascinating human being.

I also know that you are working on a project with Jennifer Garner and Apple TV +, My Glory Was That I Had Such Friends. How does it work with Apple TV +? Because it looks like you have a budding partnership with them.

Yes, and there are a couple of other things we are doing with them as well. I will say that I am a huge fan of the Apple TV + folks and love the experience so far. They have certainly been incredible partners on Lisey's Story. I feel that at the end of the day a great company, a great network, will be the people who are there, the ones who make the decisions and who you feel you see face to face or not. I feel incredibly lucky to be working with the people at Apple because I think we're seeing things that somehow excite us all at the same time. So I haven't been more than happy to work with Apple.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.