One may know JJ Abrams for directing franchise films like Star Wars and Star Trek, but he has also proved his credentials as a producer over the years. He has shown his keen eye for stories and collaborators through films like Cloverfield (2008) and shows like Westworld, Castle Rock, Little Voice, and Lovecraft Country.
His newest stint as an executive producer comes with Lisey's Story, an eight-part limited series headlined by Julianne Moore, directed by Pablo Larrain (Jackie, Ema), and written by Stephen King. It is the first book of his that Stephen has adapted himself.
A self-proclaimed of the seasoned author, Abrams talks to Firstpost about what makes Lisey's Story special, working with collaborators who rule their respective turfs, and the eerie resonance the narrative has found in a post-pandemic world. Edited excerpts below:
Stephen King has described Lisey's Story as his favourite of the books he has authored. Perhaps that is why he chose to adapt the screenplay himself. Given the amount of pressure from the man himself, what was the responsibility you felt while making this show?
It was a big deal that the way we tell this story feels worthy of him offering it to us, to work with him. Having Stephen write every episode was enormous. It gave us a blueprint or roadmap to us to make a show he wouldn't argue with. Haha! The truth is he's such a wonderful collaborator. We've worked on a number of things in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. But on this one, it felt like I knew how much he cared about the story. To have him all in was really terrific. He's loved it right from the start, and is a huge fan of how it's turned out. So I'm enormously relieved.
Why was Pablo Larrain the perfect choice for the director?
Lisey's Story, at its core, is about the relationship between Lisey (Julainne Moore) and her husband (Clive Oven), Lisey and her sisters. It's a relationship story. But it gets really intense, dark, scary, and fanciful. For that story to be told well, both on screen and in novel, it needs to be something grounded. It needs to be something we feel connected to and care about. Pablo has such a brilliant eye, and amazing skill and talent in conveying relationships and characters. His direction has a beautiful and poetic way to convey, from the imagery to how he sets up a frame and choreographs it.
Given how scary, unsettling, and fanciful this story gets, we needed someone who's primarily a grounded director but who's also excited and willing to go to a place that's horrific, terrifying, and supernatural. I've been wanting to work with Pablo forever. Luckily, he said yes when I went to him. And he's translated on screen something that's as cohesive and full of these elements as the novel was.
You have made it clear that you are a Stephen King fan. But what attracted you to this story personally?
Not only that it's Stephen King's favourite novel of his own, but also it has got that incredible combination of elements I haven't seen anywhere. Yes, you could say The Shining (1977) was a family and a marriage twisted into a horrific position because of the hotel they were in. You could say The Dead Zone (1979) was a love story with a supernatural twist. He's done things like this before. But I have never seen a book of his that combines so many disparate elements, literal and fanciful, the questions of obsession, loyalty, family, and love. There's a very specific flavour to this recipe. Knowing all this, I asked him if he could write all episodes. It was an honour that he agreed. It gave all of us the confidence that we could pull this off.
You have helmed so many projects over the years, starting from Mission: Impossible III in 2006. Is there still a gig that makes you feel like a lion in the cage before you start production?
Personally, I get nervous before, during, and after every project. In this case, the ones I'm producing, where we have someone like Stephen King writing it and someone like Pablo Larrain directing it, I feel far less nervous. What I feel typically is when you work with a lot of people, everyone's nervous and everyone feels less nervous looking around at the company they're working with. Clearly, writing and directing something is a far more challenging task than producing something, for the most part. Not only is getting nervous a common thing for me, I'd argue it's a healthy thing. As soon as you get certain and comfortable, it's exactly when the universe teaches you the lesson.
On days when I feel it's going to be a breeze, it ends up being the hardest day of the shoot, it ends up kicking my ass. So I try not to feel too comfortable because I think that's the enemy of the best creative spirit.
You have directed films of sheer scale like Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Lisey's Story is a far more intimate narrative, but also has immense scope for scale given it exists partly in the visually rich mind of the protagonist. How did you strike that balance between intimacy and scale?
It's a great question. Since Pablo directed this and I didn't, he's the one this question should be directed to. I'd say he's done a remarkable job in executing what you're talking about. Balancing these genres and realities is far harder than how he made it look. That's the job we were so hoping Pablo would come on the project for. We wanted someone who could make you believe in these characters, but also believe in Boo'Ya Moon (a fictional space Stephen refers to in Lisey's Story).
Speaking of Boo'Ya Moon, do you believe viewers would relate to the feeling of escaping to a fictional space more than ever before, given the pandemic they have endured over the past year?
Great question. I totally agree with you. We were months into production when the pandemic hit. I don't think any of us were thinking about how it might affect the audience in a post-pandemic world. And of course, you can see anything through a different lens and talk about it from that angle. There is definite irony that we're living through this with our lives shaken like Lisey had her life shaken. To realise that life has been on auto pilot, to stop and take stock of what it means. Most of us fall back into those patterns and there's an inevitability to that. I do think that the idea of having your life the way you know it slammed to a halt, and dealing with the consequences of how deeply you're connected to the people close to you, is thematically much more alive and resonant now. But it was an unintended story in that regard.
When you read the book, did you discover anything about relationships personally?
Stephen wrote this book after a horrible accident. It made him look at his relationship with Tabitha (King, wife). It made him ask not just what would happen to her if I die but also what's the burden of what I do, how I think, and what I've been through. When I read the book, there was something that was so profoundly resonant. It was really an interrogation into a marriage. Despite it going into horror and fantasy, the sensibility of dealing with trauma made the book a therapeutic tool. While it may not relate apples-to-apples with anyone's life, the spirit of it encourages you to find the special world you and your partner make, and the energy and alchemy that comes from the union of two people. It ultimately is a very hopeful story despite it being very terrifying.
When you read the story, did you envision specific actors in the cast roles? How well did so many great actors get along on set?
Julianne Moore is the first person we talked about because we thought Lisey should not be just a great name, but also a great talent, someone who would be able to shoulder all the responsibilities of the character, suffer all that she does, and also can be someone that we're rooting for, connected to, and whose shoes we're in. She was amazing. When I read the book, I didn't think of any specific actors. But when we started production, these were the names that cropped up. I was lucky they all came onboard. Pablo just brings this energy to the set that it was really great. No instances of infighting and people getting kicked out, unfortunately [laughs].
How is your personal relationship with Stephen King?
I discovered his books when I was in seventh grade. I read Night Shift, The Shining, and The Dead Zone, I think in that order. I've been a fan of his for so long! I got obsessed that he was writing under a pseudonym. I bought Tabitha King's books. When I met my wife, her father took me on a drive, and she pointed out Stephen King's house. It was like a haunted mansion of Disneyland! I met him when we were working together on Lost, a bunch of us had interviews together, and then we went for dinner. We went to his house, and then watched a horror movie together. It was like a date with Stephen King. We've stayed in touch, worked together a couple of times, have a couple of projects we're working on. He's a brother in arms, and obviously a legend and a genius. So I'm honoured I get to call him a friend.
Lisey's Story will premiere on Apple TV+ on 4 June.
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