Eric Bana To Be ‘Star Trek’ Villain

The villain in the new Star Trek film will be played by an Australian, but not (as rumored) Russell Crowe. Trek’s new bad guy will be played by Eric Bana, star of the 2005 Steven Spielberg film Munich . According to Variety the 39 year-old Aussie has signed on to play a character called ‘Nero,’ but no other details have been provided. In a strange coincidence Bana co-starred with Tom Hardy (Shinzon – Star Trek Nemesis) in the 2001 Ridley Scott film Black Hawk Down – making two Trek movie villains in a row from that movie.

Bana Smash Kirk
The new Star Trek will not be Bana’s first foray into genre films as he starred in the 2003 Hulk film as the the ultimate guy you do not want to get angry…Bruce Banner. Bana’s career spanning thirteen feature films seems to give him plenty of experience to play the role. He has played a stone cold bad guy (Chopper), an epic warrior (Troy), a Roman (Romulas, My Father) and a time-traveler (The Time Traveler’s Wife). He won the Australian Film Institute Best Actor award for the title role in Chopper [highly recommended for a rental by TrekMovie.com]. Bana is currently filming The Time Traveler’s Wife, but apparently there is no conflict with the Trek shoot which starts in a month.

[minor spoiler]

A source tells TrekMovie.com that Nero is a Romulan. The name fits with Trek’s penchant for portraying the Romulan Empire as a futuristic version of ancient Rome.

A comedy Trek connection?
Bana got his start in comedy and was a star on the Australian sketch comedy show Full Frontal. That show actually gave Bana his first crack at playing a Star Trek character when they did a TNG parody and he played Worf (turning the crab head into a real crab). Unfortunately there is no available video, but here is a screencap from the opening credits featuring Bana as Worf.

 

 

VOTE: Big Bad Bana?

The latest poll (right column) wants to know what you think of Eric Bana as Trek’s latest Bad Boy

More:

Bana at IMDB   |   Wikipedia

Fight scene from Bana in Troy

Trailer for Chopper

Bana showing off his comedy skills in Full Frontal sketch (he plays both parts)

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Eric Bana! Awesome!!! (…first)

Nice to see an Aussie in Star Trek :)

One tiny glimmer of hope and then fphip!!! A Romulan named Nero, you gotta be f#@%ing kidding me, played by a whiny emo Bruce Banner. whew, sorry had to get that outta me. I’ll reserve judgment till I see it.

Wow!

I don’t see how it could be a Romulan if the movie takes place before Balance of Terror.

Weird……

Grrr!!! Hulk smash Kirk!

I thought the first Hulk was a stinker of a film and also didn’t like his Bruce Banner portrayal at all. Having said that, he clearly has done other things that I haven’t seen and I’m totally open to him as a Romulan. He’s been cast. so I just have to rest easy knowing Abrahm’s knows what he wants and Bana must have proved he can deliver the goods.

5 good point, even if Nero is from the future, he’ll have to confront Kirk, and that interferes with continuity, unless he’s surgically altered.

I think Eric Bana is a great actor, but I don’t think he can bring the attention to the movie like Russel Crowe would have.

Also, that’s two Trek villains in Black Hawk Down, Shinzon and Nero

#5 Chain….

Maybe they just don’t see him. Maybe he crops his ears…
MAYBE he’s a Romulan from the future!!!

(cue the dramatic time travel music)

(re: #5) I never thought of that! Hmmm, it makes me wonder a little…

According to Spock in Balance of Terror, “No human, Romulan or ally has ever seen the other.”

???

If they choose to not violate this bit of canon, then the faceoff could be even less engaging than Kirk/Khan from TWOK. Or no face off. Wait and see…..wait and see…

They can just tie everything together.

Nero / Hulk / Eric Bana is FUTURE GUY!!!!!

Oh yeah. You guys bring up an interesting… what’s the word… it’s like the chicken and the egg! The chicken and the egg!

Now we’re talkin ladies and gents!!!

Great choice!

I love him in Munich, The Hulk and Black Hawk Down.

I guess we can’t expect to have any bigger names announced in this movie after Bana. When we do find out who Kirk is, we’ll all be like ” oh ok that guy is Kirk”. Unless there are cameos. Or if they hire MAT DAMON like they should!

#13 Kevin

…. yes, it’s the “all good things” omelet at Denny’s.

#11 Admiral… think about it… t i m e t r a v e l.

I think that this was a great decision by TPTB. Eric Bana, IMHO, is a very versatile actor who will bring a lot to the character and the film as a whole. I can’t wait to see how he’s brought in – maybe a spy under cover? Maybe from the future? Maybe a rogue ambassador on a top-secret mission with Starfleet Command? The possibilities are endless, but I know that Alex and Bob will undoubtedly create the best fit.

My only gripes – naming the character “Nero” is an idea that has its merits, but I just didn’t envision that as an evil Romulan. The other is the way the writers will respect the canon set up by “Balance Of Terror”. As previously mentioned, pre-“Balance Of Terror”, no human or Romulan had seen the other. It will be interesting to see how this will turn out!

So, no Russell Crowe, but yes to Eric Bana. I wonder who would have been next if Bana was busy. Mel Gibson? Geoffry Rush? The Australian guy on House?

Eric Bana’s a good actor. He’s good in Munich and Troy. As for the Hulk movie….well, that was just awful for so many reasons, none that were Bana’s fault.

5. chain of command and 8. Noleuser –

If I recall the rumors a Romulan or Romulans go back in time and alter the past and spacetime continuum thing(I think I spelled that right) The Spock played by Nimoy will be Spock from the timeline of the shows (the one with Balance of Terror) and the new young cast are in the slightly altered timeline. Some have said this will be done to explain some changes that will be made. So, if this rumor is true, then things can change and humans can meet Romulans before Balance of Terror.

I don’t know if the rumor is true or not. It should be noted that one version said that Romulans go back in time to kill Kirk’s father to stop him from being born. I don’t get that rumor because Kirk is going to be in the movie as an adult.

Hmm, how could you be at war with a race, faught battles with a race, yet only meet them, what was it? seventy-five years later face to face for the first time in Balance of terror?
One answer.
The Remans

#5: “I don’t see how it could be a Romulan if the movie takes place before Balance of Terror.

Weird……”

Remember, the movie also takes place AFTER Balance of Terror.

And with time travel, which TrekMovie previously confirmed this movie involves, past events can be edited a little: for example, Riker and Geordi accompanying Zefram Cochrane on his maiden voyage.

Who in Kirk’s time would’ve thought that Zefram’s mission was accomplished with the help of an Enterprise crew from Kirk’s future?

:-)

James TIBERIUS Kirk facing off with NERO.

from wiki: Tiberius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero (November 16, 42 BC–March 16 AD 37), was the second Roman Emperor.

This just makes me smile. So much joy.

So is this guy good? I’ve never seen him (which might be a good thing for watching the movie next year).

I was under the impression this movie is pre- Balance of Terror. Correct me if i’m wrong.

Ugh. More time travel. If this is true, sounds like a mishmash of “First Contact” and “Nemesis”. Hope it’s not.

“Remember, the movie also takes place AFTER Balance of Terror”

Where was that ever confirmed?

Jensen Ackles for Kirk!

Yeah, I never heard anything that stated this movie took place after Balance Terror

Eastcoast86, stop with your campaign!! : ) Ackles can stay on the CW, he does not have the charisma of the Shat

I have to go back and see the DVD but does anyone remember if Tom “Shinzon” Hardy, shares a scene with Bana in Black Hawk Down?

Think Remans.
The first clue is in Nemisis when Riker explains that the Romulans used Reman shock troops to fight the Jem’ hadar. This shows that Romulans have a history of fighting proxy wars. It’s clear to me, that when the Feds, and the Roms were at war the Feds were fighting Remans.

#19

“If I recall the rumors a Romulan or Romulans go back in time and alter the past and spacetime continuum thing(I think I spelled that right) The Spock played by Nimoy will be Spock from the timeline of the shows (the one with Balance of Terror) and the new young cast are in the slightly altered timeline. Some have said this will be done to explain some changes that will be made. So, if this rumor is true, then things can change and humans can meet Romulans before Balance of Terror.”

I really hope not. That’s the same crap DC pulled to explain all the inconsistencies in their comics. Jumping from universe to universe and changing whatever they please. It was impossible to follow, confuses people and is just pure lazy. That’s why I gave up on reading comics. I really hope that’s just some fan fiction crap. Like Nimoy playing Sarek.

#25

““Remember, the movie also takes place AFTER Balance of Terror”

Where was that ever confirmed?”

Older Nimoy Spock.

Kevin, well of course the movie takes place in TNG times after Balance of Terror, where Nimoy is Ambassador, but nothing has ever been suggested that the movie in TOS era takes place after BoT.

11# How about First Contact and the Borg? The Borg were first seen in TNG in the future, then in First Contact in the past. Our time is always running forward as in live, but where we are at could be a different time altogether in time travel so you have all the time to change time in your past or future. Not everything has happen yet in Star Trek.

Eric Bana is a good get.

Wow, I didn’t even recognize him in that Chopper clip until I failed to see anyone else who looked like Eric Bana.

Interesting note: Bana starred in an Aussie film released earlier this year called “Romulus, My Father.”

Bana played Romulus.

My two cents: If you’re gonna name the Romulan character “Nero,” which is a hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-sledgehammer reference, you should have some kind of reference in the dialogue to the history of that name, or perhaps joke about the name at Nero’s expense….like, maybe…. as Nero and his subordinates part ways, his subordinates pass by the camera as they down the corridor of their Warbird, and we hear them off-camera mocking Nero about his being a Terraphile or being obsessed with “perverse Terran culture” or something.

walk*

Noleuser,
Nope, nothing like that has been confirmed. Everything seems to point to the TOS era being set prior to “Balance of Terror” and even WNMHGB, because there’s been mention of Kirk and Spock just meeting. But what Treknerd said was that it also takes place after “Balance of Terror.” That means that Romulans could be seen at the point in time that we see Nimoy Spock. But we don’t actually have many answers, just a bunch of questions, conjecture and theories.

Oh good Lord this thing is getting confusing. In the words of Miles O’brien… and future Miles O’brien “I hate temporal mechanics.”

Now if you’ll excuse me. I have to go un-cross my eyes.

#13 & #17 LOL. I’m suddenly hungry for IHOP’s cellular peptide cheescake, with mint frosting.

Honestly, I’ve never heard of this guy, so I guess we’ll have to see. I skipped the Hulk as Bill Bixby remains in his grave.

Kevin

Part of me–a really, really big part–agrees. I hope those are just rumors. The alternate timeline stories always were the least satisfying to me. There’s nothing to lose. Or gain, for that matter. The writer can literally kill off ,change, etc. whomever or whatever he or she wants to and it doesn’t have any consequences. The Next Generation, ds9 and Enterprise had a few episodes like this (it seems like anytime you saw someone blow up, or killed off on the shows, it was explained away with alternate timeline, or a person from an alternate reality.) I honestly think it’s a weak way to go as a story teller. It’s tantamount to saying, “it was all a dream.”

But, who knows? Maybe it’s just rumor. Maybe not, and it will be one of a few times that it works out.

I also have to admit that a this guy being named Nero–it’s too obvious.
Who’s next? An evil Klingon named Stalin?

Eric Bana is a great actor, and a choice I can definitely get behind.

Oh and ‘Hulk’ bitching is soooo 2003.

isn’t it odd that Berman and Co would be telling us that the “movie will be awesome” and “totally different” at this point, but JJ and Co are trying to keep everything secret and assure people it’s not that different?

Just a thought.

So Romulan CHill Pill afterall, eh?

Eric Bana is a good actor. He’ll pull it off.

And who says the Romulans have to announce to everybody that they’re Romulans? They could easily say they’re Vulcans, or hell, make something up.

Thus continuity is preserved since they would have no idea that they had ever seen Romulans.

Considering the recent Robert Orci Interview could Eirc Bana be revealed as Future Guy?I have always beleieved The Romulans were behind the Sulbian on Enterprise so this could be a connection for fans being made.Also they have keep saying the Wrath of Khan Is their favorate film.Remember Kirk and Khan never came face to face.It Is possible only audence will know who the villians are.

I wish people would chill and come to understand just because they aren’t able to see the answers it doesn’t follow there aren’t answers to be had or that a good imaginative writer can’t find ways to play with holy “canon”.

And “Nero” is actually the most “Romulan” name we’ve had in Star Trek in awhile its way old school! Here’s hoping these are Romulans without ridges! Though I’m also hoping for a female Romulan as well.

Yeah. Croat in Star Trek. :)

I think that would be cool if “future guy” was a Romulan, but if I remember correctly future guy was from the 27th century, Nimoy Spock would be dead by then, so how would he know their plans of altering the TOS timeline???

Anthony!

DUDE…you are SLOOOOOW on the news today…

Bana…and now Chris Pine…?

What…are you asleep at the wheel…?

awesome to see an Aussie in Star Trek!

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi! Sorry can’t help myself. Russell would have been good but Eric is OK.

Don’t know whether you Guys know that Eric was a comedian on Aussy TV in the early 90’s. He was in his own variety show and a show called Full Frontal which did a lot of TV send up’s including Star Trek. I will dig deep to see if there is a video of Eric doing a Star Trek sketch. Could be interesting.

I’ve been satisfied with everyone who is working on this movie and happy with almost everything everyone associated with this new Trek film has said, but I have to say that if time travel is indeed involved…man, I’m so over time travel as a plot device. It’s just been done to death in Trek and elsewhere. Time for a clever, new SF plot maguffin, folks, a la the Genesis device in TWOK. That rocked.

That gripe aside, Eric Bana is a fine actor, and should be an asset to the film.

Scott B. out.

re: 46 — what about Chris Pine? I’m confused…