Daniel Craft, The Terminally Ill “Star Trek” Fan Whose Last Wish Was To See The New Film’s Preview, Has Died

Sad news to report today, as the dedicated “Star Trek” fan whose last wish was to see JJ Abrams’ new STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS has died.

Daniel Craft, the terminally ill director of the New York Asian Film Festival, passed away from cancer Friday night, less than six weeks after receiving his diagnosis.

Craft’s story is one for internet legend.  A huge Trekkie, Dan hoped to make it to theaters for the new film’s special nine-minute preview attached to THE HOBBIT IMAX prints.  However, when his wife finally got him to the theater, that specific showing had no preview attached.

With his health quickly deteriorating, Dan wasn’t able to leave the house again.  Wanting to make his last days as comfortable as possible, Dan’s friend, Doug, took to Reddit to ask anybody if they knew of a way or connection to let Dan see the preview.  Within a span of three days, the news reached JJ Abrams himself, and Dan not only got to see the preview, but a complete rough cut of the film!

In a follow up post on Reddit, friend Grady Hendrix described what happened:

“A day or so after the thread began, Paige, Dan’s wife, got a voicemail from JJ 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 non-disclosure agreements they watched the film and had a blast.”

Hendrix later told The Hollywood Reporter that despite Abrams being apologetic about the film’s roughness, Dan loved every minute of it:

“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.”

The Hollywood Reporter says that after watching the film, Dan went back to bed and didn’t get out again. His wife took him to the hospital for hospice care on Friday, and at 10:15 pm, with his wife and brother by his side, he passed away at the age of 41.