Star Trek’s villain, Eric Bana was named Best Actor at the Australian Film Industry Awards tonight for his role in Romulus, My Father.
This is Bana’s second AFI Best Actor Award. He won in 2000 for playing the title role the gangster movie Chopper. Bana also picked The Reader’s Choice Award last night…so it look’s like Star Trek is going to play big down under. Romulus was the night’s big winner taking home Best Picture and 2 other acting trophies (the film had a total of 15 nominations).
Bana finished time traveling
Bana flew back to his home country of Australia to attend the awards after recently finishing shooting in Toronto for The Time Travelers Wife. Apparently he hasn’t been needed yet on the set of Star Trek.
More info and video at Australia’s Daily Telegraph
More info on Romulus, My Father at the official site.
Way to go Eric, good luck on the Trek movie!
Let’s hope he’s also a winner in his next visit to Romulus…
Yeah, pretty ironic, he goes from winning for Romulus to working for Romulus!
How fitting.
Bana is going from a movie titled – ‘Romumlus, My Father’ to playing a Romulan in STXI. It must be in his blood.
Hah, when I first read this, I thought it meant that he won the award for being the second best actor. Either way, good on him.
I’m sure Bana’s name will at least give a small boost to the box office takings here in Oz..he’s quite well known.
Decent actor and will make a great bad guy..
Romulus, My Father, and now a Romulan… reminds me of how Shatner guested on The Outer Limits episode that featured a “Project Vulcan.”
From Romulus to Romulan, from Time Travellers Wife to Time Travelling Trek movie.
Did Abrams trick him into Star Trek by making him think the contract was just for those first two movies? :)
I don’t like this guy..but it’s all based on his “performance” in the Hulk movie, which was a total piece of crap. So, I guess it’s slightly unfair.
I’m sure he’ll do fine playing a character named “Nero”. Seriously, couldn’t they think of a better name? Nero is what I use to burn CD’s on my PC!
Peace. Out.
9, Nero means black in Italian and is quite a significant name in the Roman empire. It’s simple, but it’s actually quite fitting.
I don’t like it either, though. :P
I was wondering how many of you out there are familier with Eric’s performance in a movie called “Chopper”? For the aussies here on the board, I am sure it will be amusing seeing Chop Chop in a Trek movie!
But seriously, Bana is a fantastic actor and hopefully this film will bring Trek back. I can see it going 2 ways, bringing Trek back into the mainstream and giving it life again, or killing it off once and for all.
God I hope this movie rocks.
Good for him. I really like Eric Bana, but would have far preferred him as a ‘good guy’, say a Starfleet Commander such as ‘Pike’, for this forthcoming Trek Movie, rather than as a badly monikered ‘bad guy’ this Movie…as I’d hoped for a villain played by an actor who I could really dislike…
And yes, I know some good actors can play a range of characterizations, but Eric Bana is pretty formed in my opinion now, as someone who I like to see in roles like the noble Achillies from ‘Troy’ best…
He did a good acting job in The Hulk.
(I was told to not have a sense of humor in a previous post, so I guess from now on this is the kind of bland post you’ll get from me).
Off topic … but love this story I just found. I’m assuming it is true. Want to make sure Anthony has seen it to maybe get some more details. This is exciting!
http://lost.sc/2007/12/06/cool-gesture-by-jj-abrams/
#9 Im not sure if you have seen Black Hawk Down but he was a total bad ass in that movie.! I didn’t see that movie till after Hulk and was blown away that was the same actor.
15 — Cool story. Is it true?? I thought they didn’t start filming shipboard scenes until next month. He got a line? Are we sure this wasn’t for a trailer or promotional thing? Is this really in the movie?
Did Eric Bana split after he picked up his award?
Am I the only one here who doesn’t think that his name will actually be Nero in the film and that it is some sort of metaphor for the basis of his character (watch the galaxy burn type) ??? Being named Nero would be a bit corney, especially if you have any sort of grasp of Roman histroy.
Who were the other contenders for this award? Err, I can only think of Russell Crowe… oh, and maybe Skippy.
I think it is a moot point to discuss how corny a name like Nero would be when we have two alien planets named directly after 2 Roman brothers. I find it infinitely harder to swallow that the Romulan home worlds were named what they were before any Earth contact than a Romulan taking an Earth name after a hundred plus years of contact. For the schools of thought that the Romulan home world names are close Earth translations of the Romulan names, then the same can apply for our buddy Nero. Either way, the damage to believability was done back when they first uttered the name Romulan.
I hope Chris Pine has the chance to kick his arrs. Prefereably hand to hand. Let’s not repeat the mistake in Star Trek II by never giving Kirk the opportunity to do the same to Khan.
By the way I would have cast Bana as Apollo (ST-TOS).
Could we REALLY be reading things wrong here?
It’s just me, I know, but I always read Eric Bana’s name and think of 3 scoops of ice cream covered with chocolate, strawberry, and pineapple syrup topped with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Add chopped peanuts if you like. No sprinkles.
My new nickname for him will be “An” because that’s what he is missing.
(note to self: Turn computer off and get out more)
Dude, Bana rules!!! This guy is a really talented actor! He deserves a little more respect here in my opinion. You guys are gonna base your opinions of his acting off The Hulk? What about “Chopper”, “Black Hawk Down”, “Troy”, “Munich”, just to name a few.
Absolutely and completely off-topic, please forgive, but this is pretty interesting:
A film made in 1967 about what life would be like in 1999, and surprisingly accurate in it’s basic concept:
http://ultimatenewsflash.blogspot.com/2007/12/year-1999-ad.html
I noticed one of the comments below the video asked if the lady in the film was in the TOS episode “Spock’s Brain.” Anyone know?
Eric Bana will prove to be a good thing for star trek. Star Trek has always beenm good at finding the slightly lesser known (at least by the average audience memer) but briliant actors. For example look at F. Murry Abraham. He was fantastic in Amadaus (for those who haven’t seen it watch it at least once, it is really good), and did a comendable job on star trek. I think Bana will do the same. Is it actually possible that Star Trek could be up for some acting awards. It should have been in the Emmy department for TNG (Stewart or spiner. Spiner is the best actor I know, hands down. He played Data, Lore, Soong, everybody on the western holideck program).
To: Oregon Trek Geek
Facinating.
#26
Let’s hope Eric can rise above F. Murray! He really hammed it up on Trek IX. Of course, I’m pretty confident he can, but I’m still crossing my fingers.
25
I’ve seen that video before, and I’m absolutely convinced that’s our brain thief, Marj Dusay. That particular cred doesn’t show up at IMDB, though.
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
#25 et al,
As a followup, here’s a link to the photo gallery at Marj Dusay’s website:
http://tinyurl.com/3xksao
Click on “It’s a Mod Mod Mod Mod Marj” for images of her in all her groovy 1960s glory, and judge for yourselves.
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
Bana seems really boring, an average actor at best and registers zero on the charisma metre…..and what’s this crap about winning the Australian Best Actor Award?
How many other guys did he have to beat out for this distinction? Maybe two? Wow, what an accomplishment!!
I was amused when I saw him briefly when we had the AFI awards on (I think he was presenting an award at the time). I saw him and said “Hey, he’s supposted to be in America shooting Star Trek!”
*idly wonders if he’ll put on an American accent for Trek*
Bana is a damn fine actor, you americans who are basing your opinions of him on Hulk have really gotta go find & watch Chopper. And believe it or not there are many thiving film industries outside the US making better movies than Hollywood f ormulated box office shlop. and of course he’ll be using an american accent otherwise they all feel too threatened.
Some of us Americans love Eric Bana, I’m one of them and I would hope he uses his natural accent in his role on Star Trek. I have no doubts of his abilities and even though I like him as a good guy, the fact he can play both good and bad is proof of his talent. I can’t wait to see his performance. So Munken be kind to those of us who love Aussie stars and films outside Hollywood.