A BIGGER, BOLDER ‘TREK’
The actors talk about working in a film with significant visual effects and action scenes…
Zoë Saldana: The perk about working with green screen is that you get to go back to remembering what it was like when you were playing with your dolls at five years old and your imagination was completely infinite.
John Cho: You might be surprised how much [actual] set there was for us to work with. The Enterprise is as you see it, that's what we saw every day. A lot of stuff we shot on location. There was less CGI than there could have been.
Chris Pine: It's one thing to read the script, skim through the pages and fail to realize four or five pages of fights [will] take about a month and a half to shoot. We had a great stunt team behind us. On the first day of shooting I ended up breaking a stuntman's nose on the second take. Word of caution to young actors: do not hurt a stuntman because they will pay you back in kind. The very next take a stuntman kicked me in the stomach. He said it wasn't on purpose but...
CHARACTER FIRST
The writers explain how strong characters create their own action…
Alex Kurtzman: We all subscribe to this philosophy based on having done “Alias” together and “Mission Impossible III,” [action] is always the thing you do last. You figure out the arc of the story and the character paradigms, and then, sort of like a musical, the action scenes begin to fall into place. If you have an action scene that's not forwarding your plot or challenging your character in a very significant way it should not ever be there. All the action scenes are borne out of what the characters are facing.
Roberto Orci: What we're led by is the character adventure. That's why [the audience] cares. We don't start with “the ship is going to jump, how are you going to care?” It's “if you care about these people and they're in this situation, what's the logical thing to happen next?”
FAN-DAMONIUM
How the actors are facing the trouble with Trekkers…
Eric Bana: I think the idea of rabid fans is a bit of a myth. I've only ever encountered calm, reasonable fans. The "Star Trek" fans we've come into contact with have been unbelievably polite and very excited. I see that as nothing but a positive. When you go into a film and there's already an established awareness and fans, whether they're saying good things or bad things, all that energy is just great. The dream come true for us is that at the end of the second week they're all thrilled.
John Cho: I'm not sure that I've really even thought that much about it. I have in the sense that I've decided to be surprised by what comes. Who knows what it's really going to be like. [Fans] are caricatured so much it's hard to know what the experience really is.
Karl Urban: I feel very grateful there is an entity of fans out there who have such a deep admiration, respect and love for "Star Trek." We're very blessed to have them. We hope that this movie is received, appreciated and loved by those fans. There's a lot in there for them. At the same time it doesn't matter if you've never seen a "Star Trek" movie or television series before, you can go to this movie and enjoy the ride and really get in on the ground level.
DID SOMEONE SAY SEQUEL?
So, when can we expect another “Trek”…
J.J. Abrams: It's insanely presumptuous to assume there will be a need for more [movies]. If there is, the good news is there's a deal for the writers, a deal for the actors. It's in place. But we have not had one meeting, not one discussion, there's no outline, script, nothing.
Return to part one of "Star Trek" rebooted.
