J.J. Abrams apologizes for overusing lens flare: 'I know it's too much'

J.J. Abrams isn't sorry for the last two Star Trek films, Super 8, or Mission: Impossible III — all of which he directed. But he is sorry for the rampant lens flares streaking across the screen in each of those films. In an interview with Crave Online, the man who will helm Star Wars: Episode VII confessed that there were so many lens flares in early cuts of Star Trek Into Darkness that he hired special effects house Industrial Light & Magic to erase some of his signature embellishments from the film. "I'm so aware of it now." "I know I get a lot of grief for that," Abrams admitted. "But I'll tell you, there are times when I'm working on a shot, I think, 'Oh this would be really cool… with a lens flare.' But I know it's too much, and I apologize. I'm so aware of it now." The director tells Crave that he showed his wife an early cut of Star Trek Into Darkness, "and there was this one scene where she was literally like, 'I just can't see what's going on. I don't understand what that is.' I was like, 'Yeah, I went too nuts on this.'" "This is how stupid it was," Abrams said. "But I think admitting you're an addict is the first step towards recovery." While it's nice to hear the filmmaker own up to his faults, there are still plenty of major pitfalls he should avoid in the next Star Wars film. But at least the next lightsaber duel to hit the big screen will have a better chance of actually being watchable.