Berman Talks 'Nemesis' Guest Stars

Executive producer Rick Berman recently said the new people working on 'Star Trek: Nemesis' are making the latest Next Generation outing a "sensational film."

"It is going better than I could hope for," Berman told the British Star Trek Monthly (via Trek Galaxy). "We're a little more than half done. We're on schedule. We haven't really started working with our guest actors yet. We've been working primarily with our group, our original seven. We've also worked with some of our old familiar faces, those being Kate Mulgrew, Wil Wheaton and Whoopi Goldberg."

Berman said the return appearance of Janeway, Guinan and Wesley looked to be turning out well. "The three of them were there for a short time, a little more than cameo performances, and they all went beautifully. Whoopi had more fun than anybody so far on the film. She was an utter delight."

Besides these old faces, 'Nemesis' will also welcome some new names to the franchise - one of them quite unexpectedly. "Tom Bergeron," Berman continued, "who's the host of [Whoopi Goldberg's] Hollywood Squares show, came along because he's a closet Trekkie. He was so enamoured by everything and was such a delightful guy to be with, that we gave him a role. In fact, he's working the day after tomorrow in an Enterprise episode ['Oasis']."

However, the main 'Nemesis' guest actor will be Tom Hardy, who will be portraying the Reman leader Shinzon, a clone of Picard. Berman was full of praise for the English actor. "Tom Hardy is the result of a long, hard search. We had some visa problems, but they've been worked out. He hasn't worked yet, but he's been over here a number of times for fittings and rehearsals. He's a fascinating young actor. We're doing some tiny bits of prosthetic alterations to make him look a little more like a young Jean-Luc Picard. He's a very talented and intense young Englishman. So we're very excited about seeing him on set. "

The interview appeared in the new edition of Star Trek Monthly Magazine, and was the second in a two-part interview with Berman that started last month (story). In the full article, written by Ian Spelling, Berman also talked about the upcoming TNG DVD release, as well as Enterprise. For more excerpts from the interview, please visit this Trek Galaxy page.

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