On Christmas Day a Reddit user by the name of ideeeyut posted a message on the Star Trek subreddit asking his fellow community of Redditors for help. He was reaching out on behalf of his friend, Dan, who has been diagnosed with two different kinds of cancer in the last three years and only had a few weeks to live. Dan had only one last dying wish: to be able to see the upcoming J.J. Abrams Star Trek sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness,” which isn’t set to hit theaters until this May.
But, like many a time before, Reddit came through.
Abrams heard about the story and brought the film to Dan and his family, granting them a special private screening of an incomplete version of the film.
The original Reddit user returned a few days ago to post a message from Dan’s wife:
Hi everyone, it’s Daniel’s wife, we 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…. However; Daniel ‘hates’ being an ‘inspiring cancer story’ we his friends and loved ones would prefer for the update to have more of a heartfelt message of giving, especially during this season: 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. This story of us (and of course JJAbrams & 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 (and a person like me who knows slightly less about these things).
Also, it was truely amazing that a film-maker so secretive as JJ Abrams was kind enough to show this to us.
It is also so wonderful for his friends & his family to finally hear some good news from us, they know how important film is to Daniel & could not think of a better way to please him. So this gesture really has brought a lot of smiles all around.
it was a wonderful thing to see with Daniel and a wonderful thing to see Daniel enjoy – Making someone as ill as he is smile for any length of time really makes a difference. (At this point making me smile is good too)
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%!
We are so grateful thank you, thank you, thank you….
Just a really awesome story, big props to Abrams for putting aside any other obligations to make this happen and bringing smiles to some people who desperately need them.
[Cinema Blend]
