Reddit Gets JJ Abrams To Show Dying Man ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Early

Reddit isn’t just a wretched hive of scum and villainy, the popular forum is also capable of good and charity of the highest order from time to time. Case in point: The community was able to get the attention of Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams recently, and convince the super-secretive creative genius to show the entire film to a 41-year-old man named Dan, who is dying of cancer.

Abrams is known for the incredible lengths he’ll often go to protect his projects before their release dates. Despite the cunning and craft of those skilled in the digital age, Abrams is actually pretty good at teasing his films and keeping audiences completely in the dark right up until premiere.

But the eccentric director proved that he’s a big softie inside, having agreed to lift his fan embargo and show as much of Star Trek Into Darkness to Dan as he possibly can before he passes away.

According to the Reddit post by ideeeyut, Dan suffers from an “aggressive and EXTREMELY rare vascular tumor that is crowding out his healthy liver tissue,” and that he and his wife tried to at least get him to The Hobbit screening that included the first 10 minutes of Star Trek Into Darkness to no avail. The post says that all that is left is to make Dan comfortable, and that he has weeks to live.

MSN reports that Abrams has heard the call of the internet, and the Reddit thread that began “My friend is dying. Would like to see the new Star Trek movie. Please help,” is now celebrating their victory.

Abrams has apparently pledged a screening of the audience promo cut for Dan, if not the entire film, if time permits.

“I’ll never say anything bad about JJ Abrams again,” wrote one of Dan’s friends. “He is now beyond reproach as far as I’m concerned.”

Heck. I’ll never say anything bad about J.J. Abrams again. But I really wish he would stop using so much lens flare.