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J.J. Abrams apologizes for all those lens flares in the ‘Star Trek’ movies

If you had to pick out one stylistic tendency of blockbuster director J.J. Abrams, it would definitely be the lens flare. The filmmaker has taken a great deal of flack since the release of 2009’s “Star Trek” because of his perceived overuse of the visual technique – a habit he carried over to the recently released “Star Trek Into Darkness” as well.

It’s very rare that a filmmaker will admit they were wrong about something, but speaking to Crave Online in September, Abrams actually apologized to fans for the many lens flares present in the “Star Trek” franchise. In fact, he confessed that he may have gone a little overboard with them from time to time – so much so that visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic had to digitally remove flares from certain scenes.

"I know I get a lot of grief for that. But I'll tell you, there are times when I'm working on a shot, I think, 'Oh this would be really cool with a lens flare,'" Abrams said. "But I know it's too much, and I apologize. I'm so aware of it now."

Abrams said that his wife prevented “Into Darkness” from being overpowered by his apparent lens flare addiction.

“I was showing my wife an early cut of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ and there was this one scene where she was literally like, 'I just can't see what's going on. I don't understand what that is.' I was like, 'Yeah, I went too nuts on this.'"

The director said he knew he was in trouble when he had to get the visual effects department to remove the optical flares from certain shots.

"I actually had to use ILM [Industrial Light & Magic] to remove lens flare in a couple of shots, which is, I know, moronic. But I think admitting you're an addict is the first step towards recovery," Abrams joked.

Will “Star Wars Episode VII” gets away lens flare free? Somehow we doubt it, but at least Abrams is aware of the issue. Someone get him to a Lens Flare Abusers Anonymous meeting, stat!

"Star Trek Into Darkness" is now on DVD and Blu-ray and Abrams' next project, “Star Wars Episode VII,” is set for release in 2015.