J.J. Abrams Screens 'Star Trek Into Darkness' for Dying Fan

1:10 PM PST 1/3/2013 by THR Staff

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The director came through after learning it was the wish of a man with only weeks to live.

After a post on the popular Internet message board Reddit found its way to J.J. Abrams, the director granted one Star Trek fan an exclusive preview screening of the still-unfinished Star Trek Into Darkness. Why the special treatment? Because the fan, a 41-year-old man named Daniel, is dying of cancer and only has weeks to live.

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"My amazing healthy film buff husband diagnosed with leukemia (CML) at 38 had to endure 3 rounds of chemo before they found a bone marrow donor match," Daniel's wife wrote in the original posting. "He is now ravaged by a new, totally unrelated cancer. ... There is nothing left to do but make him comfortable. ... He has weeks to live."

Daniel's family managed to get him out of the hospital and into a screening of The Hobbit, where they thought he'd see the first 10 minutes of Into Darkness -- but that particular theater wasn't showing the preview, leading friends and family to Reddit in the hopes of granting him a last wish.

A follow-up post published on Dec. 31 reveals that Abrams made special arrangements to screen the film for him.

"[W]e are of course sworn to secrecy, BUT we are officially allowed to say we saw it and we enjoyed it IMMENSELY as a film and as a gesture," his wife writes. "It was truly amazing that a filmmaker so secretive as J.J. Abrams was kind enough to show this to us."

A call to Paramount for comment was not immediately returned.