12:03PM, May 06, 2009
Lost creator JJ Abram's Star Trek reboot is one of 2009's key movie events. To celebrate the relaunch of the Starship Enterprise, we beam directly to you interviews with the casting director, production designer and production exec, courtesy of the official Star Trek magazine.
The new Star Trek movie is released in cinemas nationwide and at London's BFI IMAX on Friday 8th May.
To see what we thought of the movie, plus picture galleries, trailers, clips from the new movie and footage from the UK press conference with J.J. Abrams and cast , CLICK HERE.
MARC EVANS - Production Executive
Star Trek Magazine: Leonard Nimoy said he was gratified that there was a story that understood the character of Spock so well. What was it about the story that sold it to you?
Marc Evans: There is this phenomenal thing in all of J.J.’s work... is that it shows the massively personal inside the most exciting framework.
J.J. is a guy who has done Felicity on the one hand, and Mission: Impossible on the other hand. The Star Trek pitch and the Star Trek script had exactly those same things.
Star Trek Magazine: Outside the fans, with the general public, Star Trek has gained a reputation of being for the “geeks and nerds” – is that a perception you want to change before the movie or are you hoping that the movie will drive that?
Marc Evans: The beauty of the movie, at least in my opinion, and in all of my colleagues’ opinion associated with the movie, is that we all really believe that Trekkers are going to love it, and that we have created something for them.
Bob and Alex (writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman), J.J., and Damon and Bryan (producers Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk) have all talked about this a lot – what was so great about the Supreme Court on this was their varied acquaintance with the Star Trek Universe.
Bob knows every single detail of the world, and has probably read every single Star Trek novel, but Bryan on the other hand I do genuinely believe had never seen an episode of the original show.
We have created a movie that is for everyone. The teaser trailer I thought was a stroke of genius, and then the trailer which went up with Quantum of Solace serves both purposes.
Frankly I think there is very little work for us to do to define it one way or the other because I think that the film does that, and the materials that we will have in the marketplace do it for it. I believe someone who has never seen an episode of Star Trek, who never believed it was for them, will watch the trailer and want to go to the movie.
Fans – and those people who maybe were fans at one point and then drifted away – are going to look at it and go, “I’m coming back,” or “Man, I’m definitely going to that.” I think we have such a great movie that it’s easy to create publicity materials from it which will tell everybody that the movie will appeal to all of them.
SCOTT CHAMBLIS - Production Designer
On working with J.J. Abrams:
J.J. often uses the word “accessible” when we work together. No matter how crazy – Star Trek, outer space, future – he wants it to be accessible to the audience so it makes sense.
Things like military transport shuttles, you believe that’s a military bus taking you some place. It’s got the textures, it’s got a little bit of peeling paint, the safety bars and the seatbelts that you just know makes sense in the world now, so will makes sense 200 years from now. I loved doing those little sets because they were so small, like little jewel boxes.
On his favorite sets from the movie:
I was really happy with the way the Bridge turned out.
I guess I have three favorite sets: the Bridge, the whole Narada interior, which is minimalist, with excessive detail, and brutalist, and the Jellyfish, Nimoy’s little ship. That has a wonderful inside thing from J.J. and my years of working together. In the containment field in the ship is a big red ball.
The “big red ball” has a lot of resonance for J.J. and I: we have one in virtually everything we do. It started with the Alias pilot. I always look at a script and wonder what the big red ball is going to be this time.
APRIL WEBSTER - Casting Director
On casting Christopher Pine as James T. Kirk
It became really hard to cast Kirk because you really need someone who had that cockiness that Shatner brought to it when he was hired. He was a theatre actor who had come from Canada. He gave a little smirk, and you knew exactly where James T. Kirk was coming from.
We saw a lot of really good actors, but what Chris brought to it was that sense of “I know how good I am!” Not that that’s how he is personally, because he’s not an arrogant guy at all – he’s really down to Earth. He’s so smart and such a good actor. I recently saw Smokin’ Aces again, and was blown away by the character he created there, so willing to go wherever he needs to go.
I’ve known Chris a long time. I used to know his father Robert when I was first starting out – his father is a wonderful actor himself, and you can see Chris, with his parents, had a good upbringing. He wasn’t a typical Hollywood kid, acting out all the time. He’s got a healthy narcissism, as opposed to a destructive narcissism: there is such a thing as someone who has a sense of himself and I think when you have an actor who has that, it shows up on the screen.
For extended versions of these interviews, check out the official Star Trek magazine.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE!
