Hundreds Attend Trek Casting Call

Hundreds of would-be Trek stars showed up Saturday at the open casting call for Star Trek. Casting officials would only refer to the project by the code name “Corporate Headquarters,” but did acknowledge that it was a big (but not unprecedented) turnout.

More pics and video below

Actors and Trekkies
The crowd seemed to be a mix of Trekkies who wanted a chance at sci-fi immortality and Los Angeles actors wanting a chance to make it into a J.J. Abrams movie.

More pictures from the casting call


Getting measured


Local media covered the event


One guy came on stilts…not sure why


Inside the casting office, getting picture taken

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First though not in line ….pity

Kewl first

Heck if any fan was in the area at the time of the casting call why wouldn’t they give it a shot?

Neat segment – thanks for posting it.

I thought they were looking for odd looking people…bugeyes, long necks, etc…none of these look odd to me…

I wonder if anyone saw William Shatner in line!

=)

Looks like some people had fun. I hope some hardcore fans got chosen as I know that would make their day.

I had the chance to spend time on the sets of TNG, VOY, DS9 and First Contact. While I was always off to the side during filming (in Picard’s ready room door way when he’s going on about the “interplexing becon” on the bridge in First Contact for example) I can only imagine what it will be like for those fans who get to be a small part of Trek’s on-screen world. My word of advice… swipe stuff. I did and I don’t regret it a bit. Being able to hold a little piece of the future is cool.

Now that I live in Montreal, I’m not orbiting in circles where friends are working on Trek. This makes me want to go back to LA just to snag a part of this film to take home.

Intereting, wish they could come down here to Florida!

#5

Now THAT is funny!

Cool video, I hope you jumped in line Anthony!

It’s funny – I was just thinking: No other Star Trek event – TV or movie has ever gotten this level of coverage or intense speculation by the fans and media.

Sweet, eh?

David

what an opportunity for the fans, although if they needed someone be an extra klingon, that would be the only category i would fit into…speaking of klingons…i wonder if the klingons in this movie will have ridges or not have ridges.

oh my

I was there – Shatner was in line behind me eating a sandwich…he was wearing a baseball cap and shades but it was definatly him.

i went. froze my bum off in line, but actually found myself surrounded by a couple of pretty nice, interesting, normal (seeming) people. there were a lot of crazys though.

OMG!:) Thats all I can say.

@ 11 – They should most definitely NOT have ridges.

Even if I knew when and where the open call was taking place, I don’t think I would try out. I don’t want to stand in line only to be turned down, as I know I would have.

hmm i wonder if there will be any overweight people in the movie , i mean really there is never in start trek ! ( i think the was a comment on tng from wesley that they got rid of the obese gene , but still very few big men or women , well other the scotty and like alot of the klingons ,lol i know us bigger people dont look great in the tight uniforms but still! ,

@11 16 , they klingons should have both , i mean ridges and not ridges , cause only some settlements where effected, and lost their ridges , so i say it would be best to have both, but that might confuse people new to the movie, hmm anyway is the movie not about the romulians ,if so the remans better be in it even as background characters like in ent ! !

#5
You are no gentleman sir or madam..

though you are pretty funny :)

I heard William Shatner climbed into a Mugatu costume and, while in disguise, walked up and down the audition line quizzing people about whether they wanted Shat in the new film! Apparently he was strongly encouraging a number of people in the crowd to send a petition (demanding his inclusion) to Paramount …………sheesh!!

As cool as I think it would be to be in a Star Trek movie, I still kind of worry that being on set might ruin the illusion of the future for me.

I was in line too and met some really cool people. And yes, it did get quite cold after 4 pm or so. It was definitely a fun experience. Also, there were some people in line that were dead-ringers for Vulcans–It’ll be interesting to see whether I recognize anyone who makes it into the movie!

I was there as well…I usually don’t do the open calls all that much…I get booked easily enough on my own, but it was for Trek…so, why not!

re: Luke in Montreal…I hear there’s quite bit of work up there, I was just up there a couple of months for a girl (didn’t work out..oh well). I know they’re filming Dead Zone up there now.

#21 your right on.
^
Being in the film as apposed to watching it does take the believablity out of it.
There are alot of actors I don’t want to meet because then they turn into normal folks.
Up on the screen their bigger than life.
(No shatner pun intended).

The girls at the end of the video gave me a Saavik vibe. I’ll bet they all get in. “Fascinating.”

NERD ALERT!!! I just went on Youtube and typed in “Nimoy” and “Las Vegas”…..a bunch of clips pop up, but one is from the August 2007 ComicCon where Nimoy read out four posts from Trekmovie.com regarding the new movie!

Something I wrote about Yoda and Spock’s ears was one of the four that he read and, I’ll tellya, it was a HOOT hearing Leonard Nimoy read aloud a joke I wrote!!! Check it out!!

WOO HOO!!!!!

For those of you who said you went- when will you know if you got a part at all? Do tell us the details!:)

#10 I think Star Trek: TMP got this kind of coverage when it was being worked on back in 78.

I had the good fortune to live the dream during the last season of televised Trek. It was the single greatest experience of my life: two days on set, five different bridge scenes, firing the ship’s phasers, putting the ship on red alert. Heck, I was even in the previews a week before my episode aired with an explosion over my head. More than three years later it still brings a huge smile of thanks to my face to know I got a chance to be on-screen in Star Trek.

(Oh, and I unapologetically love every Trek incarnation. Enterprise had some rough spots, but anyone who missed the fourth season should catch up.)

(Oh, pt. 2, great site, Anthony! Love the friendly banter and non-snarky comments from everyone. Fantastic work to all the posters.)

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Unnamed_Enterprise_%28NX-01%29_personnel#Relief_Tactical_Officer_.282154.29

Hey, this just occurred to me now, looking at the pics (great journalism, as always, Tony): Have we ever seen a picture of The Great Leader himself? C’mon, Tony! Give us a face to put to your byline sometime!

14. devolution – “i went. froze my bum off in line,” HAHA, that’s real funny. Freezing in LA – what, did it dip below 70 deg? Shivering at 69 deg? I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time, thanks.

14. devolution – “i went. froze my bum off in line,” HAHA, that’s real funny. Freezing in LA – what, did it dip below 70 deg? Shivering at 69 deg? I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time, thanks.

Yeah, I found that amusing myself. I’m just north of Seattle, what was it like 45 today? What I wouldn’t give for a 70 degree day!

I’ve never seen any local news in LA, but they’d cover something like this?

They must have entertainment reporters then.

#33 I used to live in the LA area, and yes the local news covers a lot of entertainment stories because the entertainment industry is big business there. I found it odd when I first moved there, but it’s similar to the Seattle local news covering a lot Microsoft and Boeing stories – because they are big businesses that affect many people and other businesses in the area. (In today’s Seattle Times the big news item on the front page was “Microsoft Campus expands…” The war in Iraq didn’t even make the front page.) In LA, it’s the entertainment industry, and it really is an industry employing many people.

#31 and #32 haha ok, yeah it was like 65′, that’s about 10 degrees above freezing in LA. the instructions were to wear something form-fitting, so i left my jacket at home…

#27 they said it could be monday, it could be a month from now, they didn’t know when they would need us. i got a good vibe from the casting woman, but it could just be high hopes. i was afraid they’d ask me to shave my eyebrows to be a vulcan…

as i was standing in line, i realized that if i did get called to work on this film, i’m not sure how much i would be allowed to reveal. and i’m also not sure how much i would want to reveal. the thing about extra-ing, though, is that you rarely see a script and rarely get a good sense of what exactly is going on. you sort of inhabit your own part of the set and look at it all pretty technically.

that said, i got a chance to visit the set of ENTERPRISE when they were shooting the mirror episodes and i felt like my head was going to explode from sensory overload.

Re #10 and #28

throw your minds back to 1984, in the weeks before “The Search for Spock” came out.
Everyone wanted to know if Leonard Nimoy was going to be in the movie as “Spock”
Nobody thought that Leonard Nimoy would play Spock because he was directing,

and to hold people in their seats longer,, Leonard Nimoys name wasnt in the credits at the start of the movie, (only at the end)

Keeping that secret must of been tough,, and also during filming the Production was endangered by the great fire at Paramount.
William Shatner helped fight the fire and rescue a crewmember before firefighter reinforcements arrived.

“The search for Spock” in mymind has been the biggest talked about trek so far,,

( until now *smiles* )

and by the way,,,

To keep the secrecy, the name “Spock” was never used in the movie script, but instead the alias “Nacluv” (reverse of “Vulcan”) was used

=)

gee I wonder if theres a name of “Rentahs” in the new Trek spript !

=)

Or even “Oemacaton”.Hmmmmmmm now let me think who could do all those syllables justice?

Everybody waiting in that line looked — I dunno — NORMAL! (except for the one wearing stilts.)

This can’t really be a bunch of trekkies waiting for their dream job of a lifetime, can it?

Re #22, on dead ringers for Vulcans.

I got that a lot. Quite a few people told me I looked like I’m related to Nimoy.

I hope that’s a good sign!

I went, too. Got there early enough to be near the front (I’d be in one of those pics, but I’m standing behind someone). Some of the people were Trekkies, some were geeks who preferred Star Wars, some were just actors. Of course, some of us were Trekkies who just also happened to be professional actors/extras. I wish there was a place on the info sheet to put your level of excitement about Trek. I’d love to be anything, no matter how much make up may be involved. I’ve been a Trekkie practically my whole life, so this would just be so freaking awesome. I hope I get called. For those wondering, we didn’t find out if they wanted us right away. They just call the people they want a day or few in advance, so I guess we won’t really know if we get it or not until filming’s all over or they call us, whichever comes first.

I just went out last night to a couple of drinks and got recognized…not for anything I’ve worked on, but because they saw my pic on aintitcoolnews.com and other sites. So, I found what they were talking about on the LA Times site…and there I am…pretty much the first thing ya see is me (I’m the youngish Beatle looking guy). They do also mention my Chris Walken look a like pal as well.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-trekcast12nov12,1,4875339.story?ctrack=5&cset=true

Most likely know one will answer this email but if you do, please write back to armmat@gmail.com

I wanted to know how do I find out about such casting calls?? I’m an engineer who works at JPL and love sci-fi…I would have loved to have gone as it’s not only an interest but I also like acting too.

Thank you very much