As the release of director J.J. Abrams’ sequel Star Trek Into Darkness, the filmmaker is understandably going to be inundated with questions about Star Wars: Episode VII.  While we will likely see all kinds of evasions and non-answers from Abrams while on the publicity circuit (and again, understandably so), the director recently sat down with the folks at Playboy for an extended interview, and it’s probably more revealing than anything you’re going to see in the coming months.  Abrams discusses his approach to Episode VII and how much input he has into the story, the possibility of him directing Star Trek 3, and even Cloverfield 2 and the prospect of an Alias movie.  Hit the jump to read on.

Matt Reeves (Let Me In) will write and direct a sci-fi film based on Ray Nelson’s short story 8 O’Clock in the Morning for Universal.  The story is about a man who wakes up and realizes that aliens are controlling our daily lives.  If that sounds a lot like the basis for John Carpenter’s They Live, that’s because it was, but Deadline reports that Reeves’ film will not be a remake of the 1988 cult classic.  Reeves explains that while Carpenter’s film was more satiric, he’s approaching the material from the emotional side, “the nightmare experience with the paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers or a Roman Polanski-style film.”  I’m far more enthusiastic about this kind of approach rather than Universal taking the easy route and simply remaking They Live.

Hit the jump for more details on the project and where this leaves the potential sequel to Reeves’ Cloverfield.

While attending the National Board of Review red carpet event, director J.J. Abrams commented on the status of a potential Cloverfield sequel.  For those who may not remember, Cloverfield was a first-person take on giant monster movies.  It followed a group of bystanders, armed with a video camera (which was the single point of view for the film) as they desperately tried to escape New York under siege by a monster of unknown origin.  While vague, Abrams at least acknowledged that something is being worked on, “We’re working on something right now with that and again, you know its early stages.”

Hit the jump for more on one possible direction Cloverfield 2 could take.