Star Trek XI Paris News Conference
2 min readJ.J. Abrams spoke about the creation of a new Star Trek movie and what that entailed while castmembers described reaching out to their original series counterparts.
As reported by TrekMovie.com, to Abrams, it was not obvious that another Star Trek movie should be made, given the amount of shows and movies already out there for the long-term franchise . “I would never have thought to do another sequel to something that was started fifty years ago by Leonard Nimoy,” said Abrams. “Then I was told there were ten movies before! You know, doing Star Trek again is no cynical decision. The last two Star Trek movies and the last TV series didn’t work as well as expected. Star Trek is dead in many countries and not in very good shape in mine. But I love the characters and I thought that there was enormous emotional potential in bringing these characters back.”In making Star Trek XI, Abrams had to decide what would work with today’s audiences. “The question we asked ourselves was ‘Is the sixties vision of the future still relevant today?’ We asked that question for the sets, the uniforms, the communicators that look like today’s iPhones. So we didn’t want to change everything but we took a series of small decisions everyday on every aspect of the production. But technology is not the main point and, like Gene Roddenberry, we paid attention to the characters who are the most important part of Star Trek.”
The actors who have taken over the roles first portrayed over forty years ago spoke about their experiences with the actors who originally played the characters. Some were able to meet the actors, others, such as Chris Pine, had to settle for sending a letter to his counterpart. “When I knew that I got the role, I wrote [William Shatner] a letter to introduce myself, to tell how much I respected his work and how much I would try my best to be respectful of the character,” explained Pine. “We were to meet but he was very busy shooting the end of the season of Boston Legal so it didn’t work out, we didn’t meet. I hope to have the opportunity to do it soon.”
Zachary Quinto was more fortunate as Leonard Nimoy was in Star Trek XI and so was there on the set. “It was a privilege working with him,” said Quinto. “He had first look on who was cast for the part. I was surprised at how gracious he was. I always felt supported, I never felt judged or having to please his expectations. We’ve become friends. Recently we exchanged emails about he felt after the Austin premiere.”
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