Thursday
17Jul2008
J.J. Abrams Talks Spock, 'Star Trek'
Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 12:56AM 
We couldn't be deeper into talk about the movies for
Summer 2008, but it's never too early (or is it?) to look ahead to next summer.
In case you missed the update,
Star Trek is no longer opening at the end of
this year. Instead, Paramount has moved the
J.J. Abrams reboot to May 2009, although I
frankly would've preferred it as a fall/winter tentpole because we have enough
summer franchises as it is.
I love the idea of having a guy like J.J. Abrams put
this movie together. There simply aren't too many popcorn dramatists who ask the
question "What if we do this?" with results as entertaining and unique as
Abrams. Even diehard Trekkies might be forced to admit that Star Trek was long overdue for a new set of eyes and a fresh coat of
paint.They're going the prequel route with a promising cast that includes
Chris Pine as Captain Kirk,
Zachary Quinto as Spock,
Karl Urban as Bones McCoy,
Anton Yelchin as Chekov,
Simon Pegg as Scotty,
Zoe Saldana as Uhura,
John Cho as Sulu, and
Eric Bana as Nero, nominally the villain in
these proceedings.
But it's not all about going back to the beginning.
Abrams recently talked to
Coming Soon about working with
Leonard Nimoy, who will play Spock many years
on. It's smart having Nimoy or
Shatner in the film, and it's probably better
to go with Nimoy because scenery is expensive and you don't want it to all be
chewed up by an increasingly showy Shatner, much as I dig Bill Shatner.
"It was really just a dream experience, working with [Nimoy]. He is everything you want him to be. He's funny and incredibly thoughtful and was surprisingly open and receptive to direction. He's just got an amazing wife and family and working with him was literally... Like the other day we were doing some ADR and he was there and because we weren't shooting anymore I was standing there and I just looked at him while he was doing his thing. I wanted to burn it into my head. It was so great to get to work with that guy. He's just an amazing man and is terrific in the movie."Abrams also confirms that Nimoy is a "major presence," in the words of Coming Soon. He also talks a little bit about Winona Ryder, who plays Spock's mother. Wow. He didn't get much from her gene pool, now did he? It's a worthy read, particularly to get some of Abrams' unbridled enthusiasm about every part of the production, so check it out. Star Trek begins its voyage into the final frontier on May 8th next year.
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in J.J. Abrams, Prequels, Sci-Fi, Star Trek | Print Article | Email Article | 1 Comment | Share Article
Reader Comments (1)
That first week in May means big time box office potential, money that generally is not flying around in November and December. Paramount is really feeling confident about this picture, which means that it must be something more than pure hype.
Can't wait.