'Star Trek' Interviews
JJ Abrams
Chris Pine
Zachary Quinto
Eric Bana
Simon Pegg
Karl Urban
John Cho
Zoe Saldana
The Star Trek London press conference was a fascinating affair, as our favourite Vulcan would say. Run as a filmed special for Sky Movies instead of a press exclusive, it took place in the studio-rigged ballroom of Claridges, where the arty (ie impossibly distorted) Enterprise backdrop looked rather oddly juxtaposed against the glamour of the surrounds. The noises from the many journalists gleefully blowing themselves and one another up on the Star Trek game in the holding room behind certainly added to the sense of incongruity.
When the panel finally filed in, Eric Bana’s hair proved to be the surprising scene-stealer. The inexhaustible Simon Pegg aside, the rest of the cast and director JJ Abrams looked frankly knackered, fresh (or not, as the case seemed to be) from their European tour. After their Australasian and American gigs. But despite the rigors of their PR obligations, Mr Bana still managed to have seriously great hair. Which makes it more of a pity that his Romulan bad dude Nero had to be baldie.
'Star Trek' Film Review
Film Image Gallery
Read more about Julia Roberts
While on the subject of bodily hair, we are pleased to report that Zachary Quinto’s eyebrows, sacrificed in the name of Vulcan authenticity, have grown back completely, but could not measure up to those thick slashes from under which Chris Pine glowers at the world. And here we thought he was acting in the film - believe it or not, the man has the whole James Dean aura going on as his natural persona.
After a few technical hitches, including an embarrassed late mic check from the film crew (which revealed that under pressure, John Cho merrily sings and JJ turns deeply sarcastic) the session kicked off with the inevitable opener:
Do you have to be a Star Trek fan to enjoy the film?
Chris: You don’t have to be a fan of the Star Trek movies. The reason I was excited to do it was that JJ came from kind of the same place as myself, which wasn’t as a Star Trek fan to begin with. I was born in a different generation.
What’s appealing about this is that it has the big budget effects you expect from a movie like this but it also has the inter-personal relationships and the wonderful character drawing you’d expect from something smaller. Whether you’re a fan of big movies or small movies you’ll find something to appeal.
Zachary, did you lobby for the role of Spock, and what are the pros and cons of accepting such an iconic part?
Zachary: First of all, it was an unintentional campaign. I was doing press for Heroes [in which he plays bad dude Sylar) and I found out that JJ was making the movie and a journalist from my hometown newspaper asked me if there was a part I’d be interested in and I said how much I’d enjoy playing Spock. Then the article got syndicated and subsequently other journalists started asking me about Star Trek so it was something that happened very unintentionally.
I think there’s less of a stigma attached to science fiction than there was 40 years ago, I also think the notion of an actor being inextricably attached to a character they play is less a phenomenon than maybe it was. I’m just glad to be part of something I’m genuinely excited about.
JJ, how did you approach the making of the film?
JJ: I think that the world of Star Trek, on the one hand, is so much bigger than anything I’ve worked on before, the scope is crazy, and with Star Trek being a fantasy, our goal was to make it real and alive. It’s a strange one because it deals with a lot of over-the-top science fiction, but I really wanted to make people believe in the characters, so the biggest challenge was to take something that has pre-existed for decades and make it relevant and vital. You had to believe those characters.
Chris, did you study William Shatner’s performance before shooting the film, and also are you prepared for the attention you’ll get from a star-making role like this?
Chris: I was aware of the series but hadn’t really watched it. I’d seen some old episodes, so then going back to the first series, doing the due diligence, as much as it was a positive venture searching through the relationship between characters, I really found myself paying more attention to how can I perfect the idea of William Shatner as James T Kirk, that is, find a performance that caught the spirit of Kirk and paid homage to Mr Shatner, while being myself. I certainly hope it’s going to be a success, so we’ll see what happens.
Simon, when you were a boy did you play Star Trek?
Simon: I was a fan of a show as the kid. I watched it from when I was nine, I remember it used to be on BBC2 at six o’clock. Finding my own science fiction place with Star Wars in 1977 was very much a pivotal experience. I enjoyed the cerebral nature of the original series because obviously they didn’t have the resources to do Star Wars in 1965, but they did something that was almost a play every week and I fell in love with it, so to become part of it, as a nerd – which is what I am – is extraordinary. When Chris and I were doing our scenes with Leonard Nimoy, it’s weird because he’s talking to me as a man I’ve known since I was nine. It’s a man from Vulcan with pointed ears. I was very excited and had to go to the toilet. I pinch myself on a daily basis.
Simon, is it true you turned the part down?
Simon: I never turned it down. JJ e mailed me, like he does rather than go through all the usual rigmarole, saying “would you like to play Scotty?” and just going “yes please” felt wrong, I thought I should take a couple of days but I was always going to say yes.
JJ: Actually, you said “I don’t think I can do that” and when I sent a message back saying “oh well, maybe next time” you sent me one back saying “not so fast”!
Simon: It's a courtship.
JJ, to what extent did you have to be a historian of Star Trek, to cross the t’s and dot the i’s?
JJ: I was never a huge fan so I didn’t have that feeling of it being sacred, and being attached. I could make creative decisions for the movie but there’s the risk of alienating fans, the original fans, and I didn’t want to do that. I thought if we do our job, and make a movie that’s entertaining, then we will include Star Trek fans. Things like the exact look of certain species, that’s changed through the history of Star Trek anyway, if you look at the original series. It’s fiction, you have to make the right choice for the movie, so things like that... we’ll always upset someone. There will always be someone who thinks it’s sacrilege, but I couldn’t approach this film based on what does that particular fan want, and put blinkers on.
John, do you think after your kick-ass performance in Star Trek that Harold & Kumar fans will see you in the same light?
John: I hope they still like me, even though I’ve taken a little detour from comedy. I really think the opportunity to jump genres...I’m just happy to be part of this.
How much were you all influenced by your predecessors? And you all get an iconic line, did you practice those in front of the mirror?
Simon: Well, myself and Karl, our counterparts have sadly left us. For me I met up with Chris Doohan, who’s James Doohan’s son, and we had lots of chats about his dad. I never wanted to just impersonate James, I wanted to pay homage.
Karl: I felt it was important as a Star Trek fan, I would appreciate seeing some scenes of continuity, so how I approached the role was to identify and capture the essence of what the late DeForrest Kelly was and infuse that into my interpretation of what I thought a younger Bones would be. That was the challenge for all of us, you know, not to deliver a carbon copy.
The characters were defined by social significance in the TV series - a single black woman, and a Russian in the time of the Cold War. You do still think they have such significance?
Zoe: I think it’s very important when you inherit the significance of that. I do think we pay thanks to those artists... It was inspiring at that time, for women in general, just to see that there was a woman there who wasn’t willing to compromise, to do her duty as a lieutenant and without looking like KD Lang.
Zoe, how is it to be the only woman surrounded by this bunch of blokes?
Zoe: I love it... It’s great. To be surrounded by a sea of hotness... [applause from the female contingent of the audience]
JJ, the film is topical in terms of modern politics. If either Spock or Kirk were to run for office, who would you vote for?
JJ: I would say Kirk, but only because Chris is sitting next to me. I think the answer is, the thing about Kirk and Spock is that while separately they’re full of great potential, they can help each other. To me the key to the movie is they’re like two brothers, that’s the spine of the film. So it’s the two together.
There are hints of Star Wars in the film – the opening shot, Scotty’s sidekick. Given the film’s audience, isn’t that a little controversial? How do you feel about that character?
Simon: I think the great thing is Scotty’s now alone on that planet. There is another guy there, it just happens to be kind of oyster-faced little guy. The literal multicultural nature of space is something that’s always interested me. And he’s no Jar Jar, man, come on! These two guys have been pretty much stranded together, like an Odd Couple. They don’t particularly like each other but miss each other when they’re apart.
JJ: The thing about Star Wars is across those six films they’ve done everything. Every kind of planet, weapon, ship... it’s so hard when that shadow looms so large. My guess is that any space movie will look somewhat derivative. The fear of ripping off Star Wars was a bigger concern than upsetting the Star Trek fans, and the only way to deal with it was to not worry about it, and to focus on the characters.
My point of view, because I wasn’t a fan, was that there wasn’t a version of Star Trek that was appealing to me. For example, the Twilight Zone was my favourite programme growing up and I would never want to try to do The Twilight Zone. It had been done in a way I know, myself, I could never outdo. I’ve become a lover of Star Trek. I never knew why I should care about Kirk, now I do.
Zachary, how do you approach the role of Spock? As a reinvention? A homage? A parody?
Zachary: I was lucky to be able to work closely with Leonard through this process. He was so available to me, supportive and welcoming and gave me such creative freedom, I didn’t feel any sense of expectation from him, and that was extraordinarily helpful. To have the experience that this character had had on his life and the experience that his life had had on the character. For me it was about the self-discovery, and that was incredibly rewarding.
JJ: Leonard was a definition of grace to me and the whole crew.
Simon, Spaced was peppered with pop cultural references, now you’re part of pop culture yourself. How does that sit in the space time continuum?
Simon:
I don’t know if any of you guys know this but in Spaced we speculated that every odd number Star Trek film was shit. That’s not true any more and it’s lovely to be part of it. I’m a self-confessed fan of this kind of stuff, and it’s great to go from being in a sitcom that’s about a guy whose life ends when Star Wars comes out... I think if I was doing Spaced now, Tim Bisley would be orgasmic about this film. It’s everything he’d want the film to be.
Karl, your performance is regarded as the one with the greatest resemblance to the
original actor. How hard did you work to make that so?
Karl:
For me the challenge was to identify the spirit of what DeForrest had done so wonderfully well for all those years. It was quite a scary experience as I was never quite sure where the line was, but there was comfort in the fact that JJ was there to keep me on track. I have an eight-year old son and two years before I was aware JJ was going to make the film, I watched the entire DVD box set with him, which helped me when it came to doing the screen test. I didn’t have to go back and review it, I felt I knew him quite well and the characters and the relationships. The real thrill for me was when I took Hunter, my son, along to this movie and he REALLY enjoyed it. It was just so great to be in a movie that my son could see and that was so wonderful.
JJ: When I heard Karl was coming in for the role, I thought “what?” Then Karl came in and read and it was like he was channelling Bones. It wasn’t an impersonation, I was blown away. He became that character in a way that was unbelievable.
Karl: I nearly blew the screen test. I hadn’t done theatre in so long, I was halfway through the screen test and heard this laughter and thought “what the hell is that? What’s so funny?” And it was JJ and I almost forgot my lines. I took this extraordinary long pause between lines, and I thought I’d blown it and at the end he just said “wow, that was Bones.”
Simon: So did you get it...? [laughter]
In your opinion, how do you see Star Trek going forward and if it is a huge success, do you see yourself being part of it?
Chris:
That’s a difficult question. I have complete faith that this has opened the door for myriad possibilities, I would love to be part of any future incarnations of the story but it’s presumptuous to be talking about the future.
Zoe: Yes, I would do another one... I’d like to play Scotty. And Simon should play Sulu.
John: We just had such a great time making it. My memories are primarily of laughter. For me, I’m really proud to be associated with this franchise, where these people are working towards peace. It’s timely and lovely and I feel proud to have my son watching.
Eric: I’d do a sequel and I think I thoroughly deserve it... There are two black holes here and one of them is in my contract that possibly prevents me from coming back! But I will visit the set...
JJ: It’s insane to be talking about the future before this opens, but the good news is people like it, and the actors and the writers and everyone... but we don’t have a story, we don’t have a script, we’ve just got this movie.
Eric: Nero – The Early Years...
Adele Kirby
Chris Pine
Zachary Quinto
Eric Bana
Simon Pegg
Karl Urban
John Cho
Zoe Saldana
The Star Trek London press conference was a fascinating affair, as our favourite Vulcan would say. Run as a filmed special for Sky Movies instead of a press exclusive, it took place in the studio-rigged ballroom of Claridges, where the arty (ie impossibly distorted) Enterprise backdrop looked rather oddly juxtaposed against the glamour of the surrounds. The noises from the many journalists gleefully blowing themselves and one another up on the Star Trek game in the holding room behind certainly added to the sense of incongruity.
When the panel finally filed in, Eric Bana’s hair proved to be the surprising scene-stealer. The inexhaustible Simon Pegg aside, the rest of the cast and director JJ Abrams looked frankly knackered, fresh (or not, as the case seemed to be) from their European tour. After their Australasian and American gigs. But despite the rigors of their PR obligations, Mr Bana still managed to have seriously great hair. Which makes it more of a pity that his Romulan bad dude Nero had to be baldie.
'Star Trek' Film Review
Film Image Gallery
Read more about Julia Roberts
While on the subject of bodily hair, we are pleased to report that Zachary Quinto’s eyebrows, sacrificed in the name of Vulcan authenticity, have grown back completely, but could not measure up to those thick slashes from under which Chris Pine glowers at the world. And here we thought he was acting in the film - believe it or not, the man has the whole James Dean aura going on as his natural persona.
After a few technical hitches, including an embarrassed late mic check from the film crew (which revealed that under pressure, John Cho merrily sings and JJ turns deeply sarcastic) the session kicked off with the inevitable opener:
Do you have to be a Star Trek fan to enjoy the film?
Chris: You don’t have to be a fan of the Star Trek movies. The reason I was excited to do it was that JJ came from kind of the same place as myself, which wasn’t as a Star Trek fan to begin with. I was born in a different generation.
What’s appealing about this is that it has the big budget effects you expect from a movie like this but it also has the inter-personal relationships and the wonderful character drawing you’d expect from something smaller. Whether you’re a fan of big movies or small movies you’ll find something to appeal.
Zachary, did you lobby for the role of Spock, and what are the pros and cons of accepting such an iconic part?
Zachary: First of all, it was an unintentional campaign. I was doing press for Heroes [in which he plays bad dude Sylar) and I found out that JJ was making the movie and a journalist from my hometown newspaper asked me if there was a part I’d be interested in and I said how much I’d enjoy playing Spock. Then the article got syndicated and subsequently other journalists started asking me about Star Trek so it was something that happened very unintentionally.
I think there’s less of a stigma attached to science fiction than there was 40 years ago, I also think the notion of an actor being inextricably attached to a character they play is less a phenomenon than maybe it was. I’m just glad to be part of something I’m genuinely excited about.
JJ, how did you approach the making of the film?
JJ: I think that the world of Star Trek, on the one hand, is so much bigger than anything I’ve worked on before, the scope is crazy, and with Star Trek being a fantasy, our goal was to make it real and alive. It’s a strange one because it deals with a lot of over-the-top science fiction, but I really wanted to make people believe in the characters, so the biggest challenge was to take something that has pre-existed for decades and make it relevant and vital. You had to believe those characters.
Chris, did you study William Shatner’s performance before shooting the film, and also are you prepared for the attention you’ll get from a star-making role like this?
Chris: I was aware of the series but hadn’t really watched it. I’d seen some old episodes, so then going back to the first series, doing the due diligence, as much as it was a positive venture searching through the relationship between characters, I really found myself paying more attention to how can I perfect the idea of William Shatner as James T Kirk, that is, find a performance that caught the spirit of Kirk and paid homage to Mr Shatner, while being myself. I certainly hope it’s going to be a success, so we’ll see what happens.
Simon, when you were a boy did you play Star Trek?
Simon: I was a fan of a show as the kid. I watched it from when I was nine, I remember it used to be on BBC2 at six o’clock. Finding my own science fiction place with Star Wars in 1977 was very much a pivotal experience. I enjoyed the cerebral nature of the original series because obviously they didn’t have the resources to do Star Wars in 1965, but they did something that was almost a play every week and I fell in love with it, so to become part of it, as a nerd – which is what I am – is extraordinary. When Chris and I were doing our scenes with Leonard Nimoy, it’s weird because he’s talking to me as a man I’ve known since I was nine. It’s a man from Vulcan with pointed ears. I was very excited and had to go to the toilet. I pinch myself on a daily basis.
Simon, is it true you turned the part down?
Simon: I never turned it down. JJ e mailed me, like he does rather than go through all the usual rigmarole, saying “would you like to play Scotty?” and just going “yes please” felt wrong, I thought I should take a couple of days but I was always going to say yes.
JJ: Actually, you said “I don’t think I can do that” and when I sent a message back saying “oh well, maybe next time” you sent me one back saying “not so fast”!
Simon: It's a courtship.
JJ, to what extent did you have to be a historian of Star Trek, to cross the t’s and dot the i’s?
JJ: I was never a huge fan so I didn’t have that feeling of it being sacred, and being attached. I could make creative decisions for the movie but there’s the risk of alienating fans, the original fans, and I didn’t want to do that. I thought if we do our job, and make a movie that’s entertaining, then we will include Star Trek fans. Things like the exact look of certain species, that’s changed through the history of Star Trek anyway, if you look at the original series. It’s fiction, you have to make the right choice for the movie, so things like that... we’ll always upset someone. There will always be someone who thinks it’s sacrilege, but I couldn’t approach this film based on what does that particular fan want, and put blinkers on.
John, do you think after your kick-ass performance in Star Trek that Harold & Kumar fans will see you in the same light?
John: I hope they still like me, even though I’ve taken a little detour from comedy. I really think the opportunity to jump genres...I’m just happy to be part of this.
How much were you all influenced by your predecessors? And you all get an iconic line, did you practice those in front of the mirror?
Simon: Well, myself and Karl, our counterparts have sadly left us. For me I met up with Chris Doohan, who’s James Doohan’s son, and we had lots of chats about his dad. I never wanted to just impersonate James, I wanted to pay homage.
Karl: I felt it was important as a Star Trek fan, I would appreciate seeing some scenes of continuity, so how I approached the role was to identify and capture the essence of what the late DeForrest Kelly was and infuse that into my interpretation of what I thought a younger Bones would be. That was the challenge for all of us, you know, not to deliver a carbon copy.
The characters were defined by social significance in the TV series - a single black woman, and a Russian in the time of the Cold War. You do still think they have such significance?
Zoe: I think it’s very important when you inherit the significance of that. I do think we pay thanks to those artists... It was inspiring at that time, for women in general, just to see that there was a woman there who wasn’t willing to compromise, to do her duty as a lieutenant and without looking like KD Lang.
Zoe, how is it to be the only woman surrounded by this bunch of blokes?
Zoe: I love it... It’s great. To be surrounded by a sea of hotness... [applause from the female contingent of the audience]
JJ, the film is topical in terms of modern politics. If either Spock or Kirk were to run for office, who would you vote for?
JJ: I would say Kirk, but only because Chris is sitting next to me. I think the answer is, the thing about Kirk and Spock is that while separately they’re full of great potential, they can help each other. To me the key to the movie is they’re like two brothers, that’s the spine of the film. So it’s the two together.
There are hints of Star Wars in the film – the opening shot, Scotty’s sidekick. Given the film’s audience, isn’t that a little controversial? How do you feel about that character?
Simon: I think the great thing is Scotty’s now alone on that planet. There is another guy there, it just happens to be kind of oyster-faced little guy. The literal multicultural nature of space is something that’s always interested me. And he’s no Jar Jar, man, come on! These two guys have been pretty much stranded together, like an Odd Couple. They don’t particularly like each other but miss each other when they’re apart.
JJ: The thing about Star Wars is across those six films they’ve done everything. Every kind of planet, weapon, ship... it’s so hard when that shadow looms so large. My guess is that any space movie will look somewhat derivative. The fear of ripping off Star Wars was a bigger concern than upsetting the Star Trek fans, and the only way to deal with it was to not worry about it, and to focus on the characters.
My point of view, because I wasn’t a fan, was that there wasn’t a version of Star Trek that was appealing to me. For example, the Twilight Zone was my favourite programme growing up and I would never want to try to do The Twilight Zone. It had been done in a way I know, myself, I could never outdo. I’ve become a lover of Star Trek. I never knew why I should care about Kirk, now I do.
Zachary, how do you approach the role of Spock? As a reinvention? A homage? A parody?
Zachary: I was lucky to be able to work closely with Leonard through this process. He was so available to me, supportive and welcoming and gave me such creative freedom, I didn’t feel any sense of expectation from him, and that was extraordinarily helpful. To have the experience that this character had had on his life and the experience that his life had had on the character. For me it was about the self-discovery, and that was incredibly rewarding.
JJ: Leonard was a definition of grace to me and the whole crew.
Simon, Spaced was peppered with pop cultural references, now you’re part of pop culture yourself. How does that sit in the space time continuum?
Simon:
I don’t know if any of you guys know this but in Spaced we speculated that every odd number Star Trek film was shit. That’s not true any more and it’s lovely to be part of it. I’m a self-confessed fan of this kind of stuff, and it’s great to go from being in a sitcom that’s about a guy whose life ends when Star Wars comes out... I think if I was doing Spaced now, Tim Bisley would be orgasmic about this film. It’s everything he’d want the film to be.
Karl, your performance is regarded as the one with the greatest resemblance to the
original actor. How hard did you work to make that so?
Karl:
For me the challenge was to identify the spirit of what DeForrest had done so wonderfully well for all those years. It was quite a scary experience as I was never quite sure where the line was, but there was comfort in the fact that JJ was there to keep me on track. I have an eight-year old son and two years before I was aware JJ was going to make the film, I watched the entire DVD box set with him, which helped me when it came to doing the screen test. I didn’t have to go back and review it, I felt I knew him quite well and the characters and the relationships. The real thrill for me was when I took Hunter, my son, along to this movie and he REALLY enjoyed it. It was just so great to be in a movie that my son could see and that was so wonderful.
JJ: When I heard Karl was coming in for the role, I thought “what?” Then Karl came in and read and it was like he was channelling Bones. It wasn’t an impersonation, I was blown away. He became that character in a way that was unbelievable.
Karl: I nearly blew the screen test. I hadn’t done theatre in so long, I was halfway through the screen test and heard this laughter and thought “what the hell is that? What’s so funny?” And it was JJ and I almost forgot my lines. I took this extraordinary long pause between lines, and I thought I’d blown it and at the end he just said “wow, that was Bones.”
Simon: So did you get it...? [laughter]
In your opinion, how do you see Star Trek going forward and if it is a huge success, do you see yourself being part of it?
Chris:
That’s a difficult question. I have complete faith that this has opened the door for myriad possibilities, I would love to be part of any future incarnations of the story but it’s presumptuous to be talking about the future.
Zoe: Yes, I would do another one... I’d like to play Scotty. And Simon should play Sulu.
John: We just had such a great time making it. My memories are primarily of laughter. For me, I’m really proud to be associated with this franchise, where these people are working towards peace. It’s timely and lovely and I feel proud to have my son watching.
Eric: I’d do a sequel and I think I thoroughly deserve it... There are two black holes here and one of them is in my contract that possibly prevents me from coming back! But I will visit the set...
JJ: It’s insane to be talking about the future before this opens, but the good news is people like it, and the actors and the writers and everyone... but we don’t have a story, we don’t have a script, we’ve just got this movie.
Eric: Nero – The Early Years...
Adele Kirby
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