Trekker Who Saw ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Early Has Died [Movies]

Just a few days ago, we reported on a story about a terminally-ill Star Trek fan known only as “Dan” who wanted to see Star Trek Into Darkness before he died. In an extraordinary turn of events, director J.J. Abrams himself put together a rough cut for Dan to see in a private screening. Well, that feel-good story has a bittersweet ending: The Hollywood Reporter reports that Dan passed away shortly after watching the movie. THR also published some more details of this awe-inspiring story.

In the initial story, Dan’s identity and much of the events of the screening were kept secret. That secret has been lifted. We now know that “Dan” is really Daniel Craft. He worked in MTV’s data department, but was better known as the director of the New York Asian Film Festival. According to a follow-up post on Reddit (where the whole thing started), it went like this:

A day or so after the thread [at Reddit] began, Paige, Dan’s wife, got a voicemail from J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof that was very nice and very straightforward: A producer for the movie would get in touch with them. The next day, one of the film’s producers showed up at the door of their apartment with a DVD containing a very rough cut of Star Trek: Into Darkness in his hands. Paige had made popcorn, Dan had spent the previous day resting so he could sit through the movie, and after signing about 200 nondisclosure agreements, they watched the film and had a blast.

According to THR, starting with an account by Dan’s friend, Grady Hendrix:

“J.J. Abrams and the producer who came to give them the early cut told Paige and Dan, ‘Please don’t judge this — it’s very rough, but we wanted you to see what we had.’ Of course, he loved the film. It was the last thing he got to do before he passed away.”

After watching the film, Craft went back to bed and didn’t get out again. His wife took him to the hospital for hospice care Jan. 4, and Craft died at 10:15 p.m., with his wife and his brother by his side. He was 41.

Oh, and one last thing…in case this story still hasn’t tugged at your heart-strings…here are some parting words by Dan, according to the NYAFF Facebook page.

…On Thursday, his wife asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom. “I’m going…” he proclaimed, “Into the future.”

Happy trails, Dan.

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