Bana: Why I Said Yes To Nero
2 min readEven though Eric Bana had plenty of work to keep him occupied, he chose to take on the role of Nero in Star Trek XI in spite of initial misgivings about the role.
As reported by Inside Film, some years are lean for an actor, but 2009 has proven to be a very busy one for Eric Bana, with five films out this year, including: Star Trek XI, Mary and Max, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Funny People and his own Love the Beast. Bana explained why he accepted the Star Trek XI role. “I’m a big fan of J.J. [Abrams] and I always wanted a chance to work with him,” said Bana. “I just think he’s got incredible taste and amazing skill and eye as a director. My agent told me about [Star Trek XI] and I was like ‘Mate, I really don’t think that’s going to be for me,’ and he said, ‘Trust me. Just read it.” And I read it and immediately fell in love with it. Thirty pages in I knew I was going to see the film regardless. I knew that whoever would play Kirk and Spock would have two of the greatest introductory roles of all time, and then Nero appeared and I saw that it was going to be a hell of a lot of fun.”
It was not the thought of playing a villain that attracted Bana to the role of Nero though. “I just thought it was a great supporting character in a great film and had that sense of fun on the page that was there when I saw the film for the first time.”
Another benefit was that Nero was new and unknown. “It was a rare case of playing a character where you really have to invent most of it,” said Bana. “We haven’t seen him before. Its not like you’re playing an historical figure. There’s a freedom which comes with that which I love.”
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