J.J. Abrams Bits: Interactive Trailer For 'Super 8,' Writers Hired For 'Robots With Swords' Film

Here are a couple J.J. Abrams-related items. First up is that the PC version of the game Portal 2 contains a not-so-hidden 'interactive trailer' for the summer film Super 8. Essentially, it puts you on the train that is seen in the first trailer for the film. You can't do much actual interaction, but by walking around before and after the crash seen in the trailer, looking at the details of the objects in the train cars, you can glean a little bit of background detail about the story for Super 8. Plus, play it over and over again and it's like a J.J. Abrams remix of Source Code!

Check out the video of that trailer after the break. We've also got info on the screenwriters hired for a new Abrams-produced project.

Video via Kotaku.

And then there is the film that is currently called Zanbato, which reportedly "involved Japanese history and robotics: swashbuckling robots with swords" is how Deadline hears it.

Monica Breen and Alison Schapker have just been hired to rewrite the film for J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot. The two are exec producers of Fringe and have experience on Lost and Alias. Cool to see the project staying in the family, and it is also very good to see female writers being tapped for what could be a big genre project. That's not something that never happens (see Laeta Kalogridis' involvement in films like Avatar) but it also isn't super-common.

Zanbato will in all liklihood be called something else by the time it is released, and as with many Bad Robot projects is being called a 'top-secret' deal.