-
Friday, November 20
After a notable role as Eomer in the second and third chapters in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Karl Urban went on to star in the ill-fated Pathfinder, Marcus Nispel's Vikings-versus-Native Americans action film.
Urban followed up his little-seen Pathfinders starring role with the supporting role of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in J.J. Abrams' revamped Star Trek, a role that promised to put him back in the spotlight. However, Abrams' film focused primarily on the relationship between James T. Kirk (played by Chris Pine) and Spock (Zack Snyder), rather than on the the Kirk-Spock-Bones trinity that served as the basis for the original series. In a recent interview with IGN, Urban said that he hopes that his role gets beefed up for Star Trek 2, if only to pay homage to the original.
The structure [of the new film] wasn't really the traditional triumvirate that you've seen on the television show. It was really more a movie about establishing everybody. I certainly hope that [screenwriters] Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and J.J. continue to strengthen and evolve those characters into those directions.
I would love to play scenes being essentially Kirk's moral compass or point of conscience. The way McCoy was written, he really sort of verbalized the war going on in Kirk's conscience, and I certainly would love to see more arguments of passion versus logic with Spock because they're always fun.
Urban also offered his opinion on the direction the second Star Trek film should take.
I think the challenge is to come up with the most important mission, the mission that literally tears these people apart. The mission that is the definitive Trek mission. We have to come up with something akin to a Dark Knight or The Empire Strikes Back. Something like that.
Urban recently shot And Soon the Darkness, which is in post-production, and is currently filming Priest.
Posted 11/20/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Chris Pine | Roberto Orci | J.J. Abrams | Alex Kurtzman | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Pathfinder | Star Trek | Karl Urban | Star Trek 2 | Zachary Quinto
-
Wednesday, November 18
Earlier in the year, Iron Man actor Faran Tahir mentioned the possibility of a return as Iron Man's nemesis Mandarin in Iron Man 3 ... or at least as a "conduit" to Mandarin. Tahir told Moviefone that no decision has been made yet, but the possibility is there.
Jon Favreau and [the producers] are not stupid. They're also listening in on all of this and wanting to get the pulse of where the audience is. But at some point, they want to introduce Mandarin into the storyline and my character, like Mandarin, was the leader of the Ten Rings. We're leaving it open because, partly, it makes good business sense for us to leave a little bit of uncertainty for people to speculate on.
Tahir says Favreau has known "where he wants to take" Iron Man 3 "for a long time," and that there will be "linkage somewhere in [Iron Man 2" that will set up a third movie.
In the meantime, Tahir has taken roles in television shows as well as the supporting role of Captain Robau in Star Trek. Tahir's screen time is brief, which may be why he feels that director J.J. Abrams may be out to get him.
J.J. and I keep joking about that. I've done four things for him and every single thing I do for him, I die. It's like, "What the heck is your problem? Do you just not want me on Earth?" His last e-mail to me was, "I promise you the next time, you are not going to beepin' die."
My thinking was that because it sets the mood for the entire saga, it was worth doing and was going to have an impact. So it's 10 minutes, but it's a good 10 minutes.
Posted 11/18/2009 by Ryan
Related: Jon Favreau | J.J. Abrams | Faran Tahir | Star Trek | Iron Man 3
-
Considering the incredible success of director J.J. Abrams' Star Trek revamp, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Paramount Pictures would move forward with plans for a sequel. However, in the months since Star Trek debuted, there has been little heard about the proposed sequel beyond William Shatner 's plea to appear in the next movie and numerous internet rumors about Khan Noonien Singh, the genetically enhanced superhuman played by Ricardo Montalbán in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, making a return.
At the recent Star Trek DVD/Blu-Ray release party, Abrams and writer-producer Damon Lindelof spoke with Sci-Fi Wire about the planned sequel, which Lindelof said Paramount would be "hard pressed" to release by 2011, joking, "If that's the case, we'd better get to writing right now." Abrams confirmed Lindelof's statements about the script, or lack thereof, and mentioned that his involvement in the sequel is not set in stone.
In theory, I would be available [to direct Star Trek 2], and it would be fun to do. Since there's no script, it's hard to talk about directing a movie that the story doesn't even exist.
However, even without a script, Lindelof teased that Star Trek 2 might not be a linear sequel after all.
One of the things we like to do as storytellers is drop you in the middle of something. And the question that you're asking yourself is: Where am I in relation to the last time I left these guys? Could this be something that predated even, perhaps, some of the adventures that they had in the first movie? Does it happen five years later? Is it happening two seconds later? Who knows? So we're not going to tell you.
And, as for the rumors of Khan appearing in Star Trek 2, even though Abrams said earlier this month that "nothing is off limits," he told Sci-Fi Wire:
We're not even at that stage yet, but the fun of where we are on the sequel is we could use some of what was done before in a new way. But we haven't even figured out what we would use yet, so it's very early on.
Posted 11/18/2009 by BrentJS
Related: William Shatner | J.J. Abrams | Star Trek | Star Trek 2 | Damon Lindelof
-
Thursday, November 5
As the DVD/Blu-ray release date approaches, more deleted Star Trek scenes are finding their way online. Last week's scene saw Nero (Eric Bana) escape from a Klingon prison.
This week we get to see Kirk's apology to the green-skinned Orion Gaila (Rachel Nichols). Only it looks like Kirk can't tell his Orions apart and Diora Baird is the victim of Kirk's intergalactic ignorance.
Next Showing: The Star Trek DVD and Blu-Ray release on November 17
Posted 11/5/2009 by Ryan
Related: Chris Pine | Diora Baird | Rachel Nichols | Star Trek
-
Wednesday, November 4
When it comes to iconic villains in Star Trek movies, there's none more memorable than the late Ricardo Montalban's Khan. In a recent interview with MTV, Star Trek director J.J. Abrams didn't say for sure whether Khan would appear in Star Trek 2, but he also didn't rule out the possibility.
Dealing with Khan would certainly be a challenge, but we had an equal challenge in finding our crew of the Enterprise. While I don't want to approach the second film as a remake of episodes we've seen in the past, and, you know, I don't think any of the other writers and producers are interested in just rehashing, or throwing characters in for the sake of it, and Khan is certainly the most obvious one in the history of the series for me.... Nothing is off limits in terms of what we're discussing.
Star Trek screenwriter Roberto Orci has said that Khan's chances to appear in the sequel are about "50/50." Javier Bardem could be he front runner for the role should it be written into the sequel.
Posted 11/4/2009 by Ryan
Related: Ricardo Montalban | Roberto Orci | J.J. Abrams | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan | Star Trek | Star Trek 2
-
Thursday, October 29
In anticipation of the upcoming Star Trek DVD release on November 17, a deleted scene was shown at the 2009 Scream Awards. The scene has Nero (Eric Bana) escaping from incarceration in a Klingon prison and saying "the wait is over," a line that was often featured in Star Trek's trailers.
Check out Bana's brawling skills and the helmeted faces of Klingons below.
Posted 10/29/2009 by Ryan
Related: Eric Bana | Star Trek
-
Tuesday, October 27
Zoe Saldana is certainly getting her fanboy credits in order. There's James Cameron's upcoming Avatar later this year, the comic book adaptation The Losers next year, and a Star Trek sequel likely arriving in 2012. Saldana spoke with E!Online and revealed she has watched some scenes from Cameron's much-anticipated Avatar.
Just last Friday, I went to Fox and Jim was able to show me scenes along with [composer] James Horner's music incorporated in it. O-M-G is all I'm going to say.
Saldana was a little more forthcoming about The Losers, which follows a CIA black ops team seeking revenge after being left for dead, that co-stars Watchmen's Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
I play a toughass broad — sort of like a viper, snaky girl. Guys find it really sexy when they see a girl hanging from wires with guns. They even like it more when there's a girl-on-guy fight and it looks like she's kicking his ass. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was such a gentleman. He was like, "Zoe, you can kick my butt any day."
Saldana is hoping to kick some butt in Star Trek 2 as well, which looks like it may happen sooner than later.
We're working on it. They were calling to see where we were going to be and how my schedule is next year. Just that was worth me doing a cartwheel when I got the phone call, because I cannot wait to put on the suit and go back to theEnterprise, take my shirt off, and be with all those yummy guys.
Next Showing: Avatar opens December 18
Posted 10/27/2009 by Ryan
Related: James Cameron | Zoe Saldana | Avatar | Star Trek | Jeffrey Dean Morgan | Star Trek 2
-
Thursday, October 22
Leonard Nimoy enjoyed his time working with director J.J. Abrams in Star Trek so much he would come back if asked. But first, Abrams would like to see if William Shatner will appear in Star Trek 2. According to an Associated Press report, Abrams revealed that Shatner almost appeared in Star Trek.
It was a foregone conclusion we wanted him in the movie. The problem was his character died on screen in one of his Trek films and because we decided, very early on, that we wanted to adhere to Trek canon as best we could ... the required machinations to get Shatner into the movie would have been very difficult to do given the story we wanted to tell and also to give him the kind of part that he would be happy with.
It was this thing where it would have felt like a gimmick in order to get Shatner in the movie, which would have honestly, to me, been distracting.
For now, Abrams and company will have to work out the story for the sequel, but it may include Shatner. "In terms of moving forward, I am open to anything," Abrams revealed. "Maybe there's less of a burden and there's going to be more opportunity to work with him." Abrams said the two have a lunch date planned.
We're assuming Abrams will be picking up the check.
Posted 10/22/2009 by Ryan
Related: William Shatner | J.J. Abrams | Star Trek | Star Trek 2
-
Tuesday, October 20
There's some confusion in the Star Trek universe over when Star Trek 2 will arrive in theaters. Karl Urban, who played Dr. McCoy in the reboot, told Collider that "the hope would be mid next year ... mid to end next year," adding that it "would be great to have another Star Trek out for 2011."
Urban admitted he has heard that screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were turning in a script in December. Kurtzman confirmed to IGN that December was the date, but says that the deadline date has been moved.
Originally we were thinking we'd have to have it by Christmas, but the release changed. Certainly I'd say in the next eight months.
The writers continue to remain mysterious about what story the sequel will follow, with Orci saying they have no idea what the Star Trek 2 will entail.
We're in the process of re-reading some of our favorite Star Trek novels and looking at the [original TV] show again. We have some basic themes. The honest answer is we don't know yet.
Orci did say that the characters in the sequel will be more like the original characters.
They're established. They're finally a crew. It will resemble more of what you've seen in terms of they're already how they are.
Orci and Kurtzman have also said that the sequel won't be about torture or split into two movies.
Posted 10/20/2009 by Ryan
Related: Roberto Orci | Alex Kurtzman | Star Trek | Karl Urban | Star Trek 2
-
Tuesday, October 13
Previously, Star Trek screenwriters Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman had mentioned that the studio asked them to possibly split their idea for the sequel into two separate movies. At a recent press junket, though, Kurtzman stated that it is not in their current plans.
It's very, very important to us to make sure that each movie is good, not "Hey, let's do as many as possible." We feel like we've inherited this incredible honor and this mantle of Star Trek, and the most important thing is to make sure that we're protecting that first.
So, if the studio wants more than one, great. But, our thinking is going to be very much about the story and whether the story prescribes that there will be more than one. Part of what is great about Star Trek is that it's a continuing adventure, so you naturally think that there will be many, hopefully, but we only focus on what comes next, and then build off of that. Right now, we're not thinking specifically about making 2 and 3. It may come up, but it's not where our heads are at right now.
Posted 10/13/2009 by Ryan
Related: Roberto Orci | Alex Kurtzman | Star Trek | Star Trek 2