While promoting his Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle sequel, this month's Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, we were able to persuade John Cho (aka the Harold half of the titular duo) to part with a few details about his next role--that of the iconic Sulu in J.J. Abrams' remake of Star Trek.
Abrams has kept his cast and crew typically hush-hush about the production, but Cho was able to give us a little idea of their take on things. "I think that myself and everyone else on set--J.J. and the designers--I think we try to emulate, be respectful of the original series," he explained. "And we're also trying to get some new fans, do things differently, and put a younger, more vigorous spin on it."
Like many other of his castmates, Cho has nothing but praise for Abrams as a director. "He is, I think, maybe one of the few geniuses I know," Cho said. "He seems to know everything about filmmaking."
Cho described his fan-dom of the original Star Trek as 'a slow burn,' that really took hold as he became an adult. But even if he wasn't a Trekkie from birth, walking onto the set of the Enterprise for the first time was momentous experience. "It was dreamlike, I would have to say above anything else. It's quite special."