Paramount is pushing its highly anticipated Star Trek movie to May 8, 2009, from an original Christmas 2008 release, to take advantage of the summer box-office season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Star Trek is moving to summer because its has so much box-office potential,” Paramount spokesman Michael Vollman told the trade paper. “It does not need any script tweaks. They’re two-thirds of the way through shooting, and we would have delivered a great movie at Christmas.”
Star Trek is one of several films the studio shuffled to new dates now that the writers’ strike has ended. Trek’s shift is reportedly unrelated to script or cast considerations. Replacing Trek on Paramount’s holiday 2008 schedule is the Brad Pitt-Cate Blanchett fantasy film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which moves to Dec. 19 from Nov. 26. Case 39, meanwhile, moves to April 10, 2009, from Aug. 22 of this year. And Nowhereland, an Eddie Murphy fantasy comedy previously set for Sept. 26, now will bow June 12, 2009.
Ben Cross has been cast as Sarek, the Vulcan father of Spock in the upcoming Star Trek feature film. Cross, a graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, rose to international stardom with his breakout role as runner Harold Abrahams in the Academy Award-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He will be seen in the upcoming Hero Wanted with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ray Liotta. He will be paired with Winona Ryder, portraying Spock’s human mother Amanda Grayson. The young Spock will be played by Zachary Quinto. The film, currently in production under the direction of J.J. Abrams, is scheduled for release on Christmas Day 2008.
Clifton Collins Jr. have joined the cast of Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. Collins will play Ayel, the cohort and general to Nero, played by Eric Bana. He joins the previously cast Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Winona Ryder, Rachel Nichols and Jennifer Morrison. Filming began last week.
Australian Soap star Chris Hemsworth has been cast to play George Samuel Kirk Sr., father of Captain James T. Kirk, in Paramount’s upcoming reinvention of Star Trek reports The IESB. Hemsworth is just twenty four, three years younger than actor Chris Pine who’s playing Kirk, either implying that Hemsworth will likely appear in flashback, or talk of the time travel component of the script is correct.
The site also reports that House regular Jennifer Morrison has been confirmed for a role in the feature and speculation has her playing Carol Marcus, the civilian biologist who’s affair with Kirk in her youth led to a son. Bibi Besch played the role in 1982’s “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”
On top of this they have a spoiler story breakdown which confirms the time-travelling Romulans aspect mentioned earlier, but brings in other elements including the Guardian of Forever and Kirk’s famed winning of the Kobayashi Maru training scenario.
Paramount Pictures and director J.J. Abrams have set Winona Ryder to play the Vulcan mother of a young Spock (Zachary Quinto) in Star Trek. Written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the film revolves around the Starfleet Academy days of the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Ryder joins a cast that also includes Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, and Rachel Nichols. Star Trek is scheduled for a Christmas Day 2008 release date.
Bruce Greenwood has been cast as Christopher Pike, first captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek movie for Paramount, laying to rest rumors of other casting, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The character of Capt. Pike appeared in The Cage, the original unaired pilot that Gene Roddenberry created. The pilot was rejected by CBS and then shown to NBC, which turned it down, though it liked the concept enough to commission a second pilot. Pike was later woven back into Star Trek lore as the ship’s first captain and appeared in a two-part episode, The Menagerie, which recycled bits of the original pilot episode. Pike was played by Jeffrey Hunter. Abrams’ Trek is expected to start shooting this month. It is understood that the movie chronicles the early days of the Enterprise crew, though filmmakers have been tight-lipped about its exact story.
IESB.net is reporting that Josh Lucas (Stealth) is in line to play Captain Christopher Pike in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek movie. The site based its report on anonymous sources. Pike, as Trek fans know, was the original captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, played in the original series by Jeffrey Hunter in the show’s pilot. He was the captain under whom Spock worked before James T. Kirk assumed command; his mute, deformed character was later the center of the two-part episode The Menagerie, which was an expansion of the pilot, The Cage. Lucas was most recently seen in 2006’s Poseidon.
Director Joe Carnahan posted on his blog, that Chris Pine had to drop out of his next movie White Jazz to join J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie playing a young James T. Kirk. “The young man playing Junior Stemmons has opted to ‘boldly go where no man has gone before,’ and, thus, had to bow out of White Jazz,” Carnahan wrote. Pine’s casting as Kirk has been rumored for the past week.
TrekMovie.com, meanwhile, reported the rumored casting of New Zealand actor Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings’ Eomer) as McCoy. Citing an anonymous source, the site confirmed “that Urban is now in talks for the role of Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, the role originally played by DeForest Kelley. According to the source, the deal is not certain, and Urban’s schedule seems to be an issue with a film currently shooting and another in preproduction.”
Pine joins a cast that includes Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana and John Cho.
The Hollywood Reporter says that John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) has been cast as Sulu, the Enterprise’s helmsman, originally played by George Takei. Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) has signed on to play Scotty, the ship’s Scottish chief engineer, originally played by James Doohan, in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek feature for Paramount.
Already on board are Eric Bana as the villain, Nero, Zoe Saldana as Uhura and Anton Yelchin as a young Chekov, the Russian-born navigator, as well as Zachary Quinto as a young Spock. Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role of Spock, is on board as well. Chris Pine is in talks to play the young Kirk. The movie is expected to shoot from November-March.
Plot details are begin kept under wraps, but it is understood that the movie chronicles the early days of the Enterprise crew. The lead roles remaining to be cast are Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Enterprise, and Kirk’s parents
Eric Bana will play villain Nero in Paramount Pictures’ Star Trek, to be directed by J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, “Lost,” “Alias”), reports Variety. Anton Yelchin, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and Leonard Nimoy have already boarded the USS Enterprise. Casting is under way in New York and London, and Abrams had been expected to pursue bigger-name actors for the roles of the villain and the Federation captain, the latter of which remains unfilled.
The studio still needs to cast several other major parts before the November start date, including a young James T. Kirk and Scotty. Paul McGillion is rumored to be up for the role of Scotty. Chris Pine and Mike Vogel are in the running for the role of a young Kirk. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci wrote the screenplay and will executive produce along with Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof. Star Trek hits theaters on Christmas Day 2008.
