I wish that every director was as interested in doing as much in camera and with physical objects as much as possible as J. J. Abrams is.
Imagination is the most powerful tool you have. You learn it from all the greats. The Star Wars films are secretive. Anything J. J. Abrams does is secretive. Those guys haven't done too poorly.
J. J. Abrams is a director with no ego. He is a director who has a very consistent attitude when he's at work. He's funny, he's brilliant, he's a combination of all these really great things. J. J. is the kind of person who sees the bigger picture before anybody else does. It sounds simple but not all directors do that.
Fobbit is fast, razor sharp, and seven kinds of hilarious. Thank you, Mr. Abrams, for the much needed salve--it feels good to finally laugh about Iraq. Fobbit deserves a place alongside Slaughterhouse Five and Catch-22 as one of our great comic novels about the absurdity of war.
I work with people like Spielberg and Abrams all the time.