Rumor: Mike Vogel As Kirk?

A new name is now linked to be in the running for Kirk. IESB.net reports that  28-year-old actor Mike Vogel (Poseidon) is " the front runner" to take on the role of James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams new Star Trek film. IESB cites ‘two studio insiders,’ but acknowledge no confirmation. TrekMovie.com cannot confirm or deny anything except that has no Kirk deal has been done. Sources have recently told TrekMovie.com that Abrams and his casting team have found the task of picking a new Kirk quite challenging. Vogel does have a connection to the Trek team as one of the stars of next January’s untitled monster movie (aka ‘Cloverfield’, aka ‘1-18-08’) being produced by J.J. Abrams and fellow Trek producer Bryan Burk.

Vogel began his career as a model, including modeling for Levis. His first work as a professional actor was in 2001 as a recurring character in the TV series Grounded for Life. If he were to land the role this wouldn’t be his first stint in a remake/reimagining – Vogel had a supporting role the 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In addition to his roles in 1-18-08, Chainsaw Massacre and Poseidon (pictured) Vogel has 8 other feature film credits in his short career; including acting along side Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner in the 2005 romantic comedy Rumor Has It (see clip below).

In IGN’s report on this rumor, they add this interview clip of Vogel being interviewed for Poseidon

More on Vogel: official site  |  Wikipedia  |  IMDB 

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First, bitches.

haha second

Uh, second?…. People.

Doh’l

Ty, it doesn’t count unless you say something meaningful.

“Something meaningful.”

So that means I’m really first. Ha ha.

From the picture above, I don’t see any problem with young Mr. Vogel portraying Kirk. Haven’t seen him act, but it seems he looks good enough, I guess.

Vogel is a decent actor. He’s no Ryan Gosling but he is capable enough. He is sort of a pretty boy, I guess that works in favor of Kirk but I personally don’t see him as Captain of the Enterprise. He may surprise me so I’m remaining open minded about him.

I certainly never figured that a future James T. Kirk would be sawed up by Leatherface. Poseidon would be the film of his to watch, as far as acting ability.

Same here. Don’t know anything about him. He looks studly enough I guess.

I guess he was okay in Posieden. The film didn’t have the greatest script for him to work from so its hard to judge his talents on that. I don’t know that much about him otherwise. JJ has made some good casting choices so for, so he’s earned a lot of faith from me. I’ll keep an open mind about Vogel.

Hmmmm : ?

Test him out with Quinto and the new Bones

Chemistry is the key…to you know.. :)

Never heard of this guy. In this picture, he does sort of have Kirk’s “beaten down but about to jump up for more” face…

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0409182/Ss/0409182/3359.jpg.html?hint=nm1036181

And he does look more like Shatner than Matt Damon!

Good looking, relatively unknown. I said relatively unknown, or perhaps small Hollywood resume. That works for me. My preference for the main characters are good actors with little notoriaty.

By the way, I wish you guys who clammer to say “First”, “Second” and whatever else your pubescent minds focus on, would grow up! A lot of ‘new’ people to this site may only read the first few posts. What a wasted opportunity to attract new thoughts and opinions.

456 dtST

#9 JCool

Yeah,

I would be really cool to see a screen test with Quinto, Vogel, and Bones…
Whoever will be playng him anyway.

Yeah. Piss off with this first crap again. If you want to keep it up, you should get a temp ban.

Kirk is a dynamic character with presence. I don’t see Vogel having that type of stage presence… and no, I don’t mean the Shatner swagger. As long as he doesn’t trun into another Haydn Christianson. Gosh…there was some terrible miscasting.

On the bright side, as it seems that the casting is ending as a challenging endeavor, they’re obviously putting a lot of time and thought into it. That bodes well at least

He looks very much like Kirk’s son David Marcus in that picture. Maybe that’s a good sign.

I still have the gut feeling Kirk is hardly going to be in this movie. I hope i’m wrong, wouldnt quite feel like Star Trek if it was about a timeline without Kirk — plus that appears to be the central plot of Gods and Men (time travel to erase Kirk’s existence). If the older Kirk is there to fix things tho, it wouldn’t take long to sort things out ;)

So maybe there will be a showdown… Gods and Men vs Star Trek XI…. which will come out first?

Jesse Lee Soffer (Will Munson) on “As the World Turns” is a better casting choice as Kirk.

It works… I suppose.
Let’s be honest, anybody casted as Kirk is in the unfair position of having to please certain expectations that millions of rabid fans project upon this role.
Chemistry is key though, even more than resemblance.
I was watching Star Quest yesterday and, silly as it is, the chemistry of Tim Allen and Alan Rickman evoked a certain other duo, not because they were trying to be spot on, but because there was chemistry.
I really hope it works.
Now, about William Shatner…

I appreciate all of the hard work that goes into this site. The thoughtful, and often humorous responses of my fellow fans.
Have to agree completely with #’s 11 & 13.
I have said before that anyone who feels the juvenile itch to “First”, should be banned. Pizza is correct, there are a lot of ‘new’ people who visit this site. Hopefully, many of them are the new fans that are needed to put this film over the top, and convince Paramount to keep the franchise alive for many years to come.
They need to see the Trek of TOS that we all Love. The Trek with a hope and a promise for the future.
Not some Moron calling them “Bitches”
It’s just uncalled for, and rude.

I’d be able to buy him as Kirk. He seems to have a strong voice and a fairly commanding presence. It’s not hard to see him strutting around the bridge barking out orders.

If nothing else, he would certainly draw in the female audience for this movie. lol

This is a huge decision for the film. I’m glad Abrams is taking his time on this part of the casting. My first impression is good with this guy. He looks like he would work as a young Kirk. Does he have the presence required to fill the Shats shoes?? That is the question. I’ll have to watch Poseidon to get a better idea. The side by side shot with him and the Shat at IESB sells him very well.

Now how old was Kirk when he took command from Pike. This guy is 28 so how old was Shatner when we first saw him?

I don’t know. Is there something about the lack of intensity in his eyes in that IESB picture next to Shatner that bothers anybody else? I know he was probably going for dreamy and sensitive for the ladies whereas Shatner obviously was going for “intense, confident captain”, but still. Also, that clip doesn’t do the young man justice. A little too fluffy for comparisons sake.

I just watched the clip. His voice sounds good and some of his mannerisms in this role echo a young Kirk (ever-so-slight pauses in his lines, the emphasis of certain words). He seems to have the “charming young guy” thing happening as well, damn him.

There are worse choices they could make, I suppose. I can see him in the role, dependent on how he looks with a hairpiece, that is.

Did I just say that out loud?

I still think Nick Wechsler comes better at playing a young kirk

I don’t think so.

Let me clarify. Mike Vogel, from what I seen, won’t cut it as Kirk.

The guy is just not old enugh for starters, if all the crew is under thirty the cast is going to start to remind me of Starship Trooper, young and just not believable to have so many people of such young age in such high authority. Kirk was 34ish, this guy looks 25ish and not someone u would hand the command of a starship to.

too much a pretty boy to be kirk, need more of a commanding scren presences.

Also,
Jensen Ackles: no.
Ryan Gosling: hell no. (Also, hell no for him as Batman in Justice League, but I digress…)
Casper Van Dien, ten years ago: maybe. Not the greatest actor, but has more of a commanding Kirk-like presence then those I’ve seen suggested.
Any other candidates? We talked about Paul McGillion as Scotty, and maybe us discussing it here got to the powers-that-be. Maybe we have a chance to put our suggestions in, and if the suggestions are helpful, they might be paid attention to.
So, let’s try to come up with some good candidates for Kirk, and McCoy, and Pike, and Kevin Riley for that matter. Maybe we can make a difference.

When does principle photography commence on this flik, any way?
Shouldn’t these roles be casted by now?
I hear the climax is involves the Farragut sinking through a black hole,
Leonardo DiCaprio as Kirk, Kate Winslet as Carol Marcus, they tread space till the Enterprise spots them,.
Billy Zane is Christopher Pike.

The rumors are starting to spread all over the internet. One guy said he heard it on his car radio tonight. Now how old was Kirk when he took command from Pike. Would Starfleet turn over a Federation Battlecruiser to a 28 yr old?

Anyone got a good dramatic sequence from Mr Vogel’s career that we can use to screen test him on?

At this point he looks plausible, but there are careers hanging on this casting choice, so caution won’t be thrown to the wind here.

He looks alot like a young Shatner, that’s a good start. I’m liking how the casting has been going so far, it looks like they are trying hard to find people who at least resemble the originals.

#6 “He’s no Ryan Gosling”

AHAHAHAHAHAHA…………………no, wait…..AHAHAHAHAHA…..HAHAHA….(gasp)….HAHAHA………….whooo…………Ryan Gosling is the shittiest actor on the planet! How dare you even mention his name in connection to the subject of who will play Kirk?!!! PUHLEASE!!!!!!!

Daniel Craig was blasted when he was cast to be the new Bond, but he turned out just fine. It all comes down to the story and just how much energy and effort is put into the product by the director and the crew. Whoever is cast will pull it together and do the part justice. There is so much positive energy being spent on this project that there simply is no choice for it to be anything less than great.

That said: Whoever is chosen to be Captain Kirk will be chosen based on their inner qualities (especially their believeability as a leader) not on appearance. True, he has to ‘look’ like Kirk, but there are other qualities that are more important. As Robert Justman put it, (This is not an exact qoute) “Shatner was a man who said, ‘Follow me, men.’ And you believed it! You believed he was a leader.” Whoever is cast will have to demonstrate that ability above all else.

I have faith that the right choice will be made.

I don’t know…..it’s not like Mike Vogel jumps off the screen with charisma, does he? Out of the ENTIRE world, this is the best we have to work with????

So if we have relative unknowns for the crew. Who will be the main draw to the movie besides Nimoy? Will there be a Pike? A Gary Mitchell has to be there if the Enterprise is in it or will we see Pikes number one and his helmsman from the cage and crew. Over at another website they are releasing a video of a enterprise reimagined by a guy that is tied to Abrams on lost. I will get a link to it.

Well, I like him in that clip. Definitely can see him as a younger version of Kirk.

And “pretty boy?” Shatner and Hunter were both pretty, pretty boys.

Anthony, I understand and agree that it will likely be an unknown for the part of Kirk. That doesn’t preclude that it has to be someone bland and boring. As an example go to Youtube and type in the word “screentest” and a batch of little known footage will pop up displaying actors, we now know, back in their “salad” days as young unknowns. It would be nice to see Abrams cast someone with the same raw charisma and appeal as these people. Your example of Brandon Routh in Superman Returns is a good one. He was fine in the part, it was the movie that sucked due to storyline! Of course, it goes without saying, the final choice for the actor playing Kirk should have a mountain of acting talent! God, I hope they get it right!!

#34 – you said it!

#37 – I wouldn’t use Brandon Routh as a positive example of using an unknown! To be fair, Routh could be good as Superman, if he was ever given the chance, which he hasn’t yet. (Superman Rechurns was not much of a chance to play Superman. But again, I digress…)
But yes, it should probably be an unknown, but a good unknown, not another Hayden Christensen.

The actor who is going to play the young Kirk needs to have CHARISMA!!

not a pretty face.

He certainly looks the part. Does he have Kirk’s confidence and ego, and does he have that chemistry with the other leads?

I’ll have to check out Poseidon. Is it worth watching?

I dont want some pretty-boy teeny bopper type actor as James T. Kirk.

I dont see it with this guy at all. Hopefully its just a rumor……….

Mr. Vogel’s face is too angular and the nose is wrong. Hair is good.

hes got the look

Weren’t there generals and colonels under 30 during WW1 and WW2? Can’t see that in a time of peril talent wouldn’t be promoted. Kirk at 28 sounds OK, though he can play him older. It is called acting after all

Yeah, he looks ok to me.

You cant really tell from that one scene. Though one suspects if he’s truly in the running jj and co will have tested the shit out of him by now.

I trust TPTB to make the right choice.