Hats off to J.J. Abrams.
The spoiler-averse filmmaker, whose upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness remains shrouded in mystery, recently screened an in-the-works copy of the hotly anticipated sequel for a terminally ill man and his wife.
One wonders: How did this heartwarming gesture come about?
In a message posted to Reddit, the man's wife wrote nine days ago about how her 41-year-old husband, Daniel, had battled leukemia for 10-plus years, only to be stricken with an unrelated, aggressive form of cancer, and he had been given only weeks to live.
She wrote that Daniel was hospitalized and they had to give up tickets to see The Hobbit in IMAX 3-D, the format in which theatergoers have also been treated to the first nine minutes of Star Trek Into Darkness beforehand. When they eventually got to see The Hobbit, there was no Star Trek preview.
"We, his friends and family, the love of my life—WOULD LOVE him to be able to see the Star Trek movie but even the 10 minutes of the trailer would be AMAZING," the wife wrote.
A friend of the family's then posted her message on a Star Trek-themed page on Reddit, adding: "If there is anything any one of you or anyone you know could do to make this happen that would be an amazing, kind and generous thing. Please help. Thanks."
Well, wonders never cease, because, according to the Reddit thread, someone over at Paramount apparently got wind of the request via Twitter—and Daniel's wife revealed this week that they had been "sworn to secrecy" but were allowed to say they had seen Star Trek Into Darkness and "enjoyed it IMMENSELY."
"This is a story of us giving something to him, the 'internet' community giving something to him and ultimately being a heartwarming gift to our friends, family and so many others," she wrote. "This story of us (and of course JJAbrams & [production company] Bad Robot) being able to give this surprise gift of a screening to a huge movie buff like Daniel, especially a film made by a film maker who obviously makes movies with such care, with a fan like Daniel in mind...
"This is also so poignant as JJ Abrams took so much care in the first Star Trek movie to at least TRY to get everything 'right' for the fans and we were so touched when he was concerned that we wouldn't 100% enjoy the screening as it's still being worked on....... Be assured we enjoyed it 110%!"
Abrams and Paramount have not yet responded to requests for comment—and, knowing Abrams' penchant for secrecy, a public to-do probably isn't forthcoming.
Star Trek scoop catch-all TrekMovie.com tweeted: "To their credit @bad_robot &@ParamountPics sought no publicity or even comment on dying StarTrek fan story, but still going viral even MSM."