Lloyd: Playing A Far-Out Character
2 min readFor Christopher Lloyd, playing Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was fun, even with the makeup and prosthetics he was required to wear for the part.
Lloyd is still a fan favorite and appears at conventions to talk about the role he played back in 1984. “[Conventions are] part of the Star Trek mystique, I guess” he said. “It’s a role that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was fun to play an evil character that has no remorse about anything he does. The conventions are very interesting. They’re a lot of fun. It means a lot to the fans to come and meet the people from the shows and the films that they appreciate. It’s a chance to say hello and to have something signed.”
The demands of makeup and prosthetics and hours in the makeup chair didn’t faze the actor. “[Makeup] always enhances what I’m doing in a scene,” he said. “That kind of makeup, when it’s put on well, it enhances what you’re doing and gives you more confidence that you’re going to be able to portray the character and make it believable.”
Working on The Search for Spock was a positive experience for Lloyd. “I hadn’t done that much film work before then and I didn’t quite know what about me they saw from previous work that convinced them that maybe I’d be a good Klingon. But I love doing that kind of thing, a far-out character, and a far-out character with a good script and a wonderful cast. I’ve seen the movie (again recently) and it holds up very nicely.”
The way his character died worked for Lloyd. “I thought it was great,” he said. I’m pushed off the edge of the cliff there and I just fall down into that chasm and I’m roasted. I thought it was a great ending for the character, very entertaining. And I couldn’t tell where I ended and the puppet started.”
About The Author
