J.J. Abrams brought a special present for Jimmy Kimmel as the host celebrated his 50th birthday on Monday’s edition of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
The filmmaker delivered a nearly seven-minute trailer for a “The Terrific Ten,” a superhero flick based on a comic book that Kimmel penned when he was about 10 years old. Abrams recruited Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell, Shaquille O’Neal, Will Arnett, Wanda Sykes, Billy Crudup, Zach Galifianakis, Jon Hamm, Jason Bateman, and Matt Damon to limn such superheroes as Color Kid, Muscle Man, Lucky Lad, and Super Duck (Galifianakis in his fowl costume declared: “Release the Quacken”).
Damon, of course, played super villain Dr. Bolt. Sykes played The Bleach Master — essentially her floating head inside a box of bleach.
“It demanded to be brought to life,” Abrams told Kimmel before the trailer screened. “I didn’t change a word.” Abrams showed the pages of the original comic book — published by Kimmel Komix — on the air as Kimmel recalled his inspiration for his early creation. Abrams told Kimmel it was a $250 million trailer.
Here is the trailer:
Later in the episode, Kimmel had an all-star lineup of celebrities read mean tweets about him, a twist on the usual “Mean Tweets” format. The list included fellow late-night alums Jon Stewart and David Letterman.