Last night JJ Abrams Star Trek movie picked up another award, this time from the Casting Society of America. Star Trek casting directors April Webster and Alyssa Weisberg were honored with the 2009 Artios Award for Best casting in a studio feature film. This latest award keeps the Trek buzz alive as we head into award season.
The 2009 Artios is Webster’s third, she previously won for her casting on Lost and CSI. Webster also won an Emmy in 20005 for casting, which she also shared with Weisberg.
Casting directors approve of the new crew
More buzz for Trek
Regarding the Artios Award, HitFix notes in their Oscar Buzz Watch column:
This isn’t a major award towards the road for Oscar except that it shows the casting directors saw "Trek’s" ensemble as one of its strong points. That could be a sign the film might sneak into the SAG Award’s Best Ensemble race which would be another nice recognition for the rejuvenated franchise.
For the full list of winners at the Artios Awards see The Hollywood Reporter.
Perhaps Khan can be in the next casting picture.
i wanted Gerard Butler for Scotty, but its ok anyway…
Congratulations! More honours for an excellent film. Brilliant casting and well-deserved.
What next? Best construction accountant, best assistant production coordinator, best stand-in….
These awards are just retarded.
I hope the sequel will feature every Star Trek character ever and that Paramount is now in contact with every living actor for the sequel.
The Jerry Goldsmith theme music from the Star Trek Insurrection end credits should have been used at the end. Even Russell Watson’s ‘Where My Heart Will Take Me’ (the album version which is one of the greatest, most inspirational and underrated songs of all time) should have been included in the film. The Original Series theme music and new theme music in the movie was unnecessary. The soundtrack was disappointing overall. ‘Labour of Love’ was the best part of it.
Whether they admit it or not, when J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman came up with the alternative reality idea, they automatically came up with a way to include William Shatner in the film series. As this is an alternative reality, this new James Kirk can go on to live a long, full, rich and happy life, get married and have a family. A flashforward of an old James Kirk played by William Shatner would suffice just like when Harrison Ford made a special guest appearance on The Indiana Jones Chronicles television series.
Four stunningly beautiful and talented actresses were wasted in ST09 and should have had more screentime. Jennifer Morrison only appeared at the beginning and we don’t find out what happened to her, Rachel Nichols was only in it for three minutes and we don’t find out what happened to her, Winona Ryder was in it for nearly ten minutes and was needlessly killed off and Diora Baird was nowhere to be found (except in a brief cut scene).
James Kirk loses nearly every fight. He should have been a hardcore badass like Christian Bale in Batman Begins and particularly in The Dark Knight, Daniel Craig in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Matt Damon in the Bourne trilogy and Liam Neeson in Taken. He should have won the fights against the Starfleet officers, Spock and Nero. The fight between Kirk and Nero was pointless and anticlimactic. A wasted opportunity for an amazing and action-packed fight which would have made Kirk’s triumph at the end all the more emotional and uplifting. He didn’t seem to care about avenging his father. He should have gone after Nero after shooting Ayel. The fight between Jean–Luc Picard and Shinzon at the climax of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) was more satisfying and even the William Riker and Reman Viceroy showdown.
@4 Ran
What a narrow-minded and moronic thing to say. Surely, these kinds of awards are very industry-specific, but casting is one of, if not THE single most important aspect to a fan concerning these kinds of films. How many times did you think, “well, I hope the new Trek movie has a good storyline, but I don’t care who plays Kirk.”
Not only that, but the performances factor into the casting. Good casting means that all the actors perform well together, maintain good chemistry, are believable in their roles, and look like a cohesive group. Wouldn’t you say that was accomplished in this film? And the people who make it happen – casting directors – should be honored for their accomplishments.
@10
The answer is no. I was giving my opinion to Hollywood’s constant need to pat themselves on the back.
@11
If you’re still bitter about not enjoying the film, then that’s a different claim altogether. Besides, this isn’t Hollywood patting itself on the back. It’s the Casting Guild recognizing the work of their fellow casting peers. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I vote we just ignore the simple complaints from a narrow mind.
I’m glad that Trek casting was recognized, and appreciate all the hard work the people infront of and behind the camera.
Enough with Khan
Khan is the new Shatner ;-)
Best Casting???
Man, Hollywood will give out awards to themselves for any- and everything these days. What’s next: Best Onset Catering?
^ Best onset toilet facilities?
@10 & @16
Try watching your favorite movies or TV shows with crappy actors and then lets hear from you.
Do you know how many actors wouldnt even be where they are today if a casting director hadnt taken a chance on them? Theyre the gatekeepers of peoples dreams…no little thing.
Congrats to both Alyssa and April. Great job.
#4
Dude you don’t know what you’re talking about. Do you even realize how important Casting Directors are? Comparing their award to some arrogant blabble about “best stand in” is just a shame. So much goes into consideration while casting films. Especially an finding an group of stars that work together on film so well.
Congradualtions on winning the award, a film well casted!
This is really the most successful of all Trek movies dude!
It might hva ebeen the most sucessful, Manilla, but it WAS NOT a Trek movie…not by a long shot. Still, kudos to the casting directors and regards to the writers dunsels.
#9—-There wasn’t a single thing about Nemesis more satisfying than ST09….I don’t know how you could even bring yourself to post that….
23. Closettrekker – November 4, 2009
Thank you for your reply. Please comment on the rest of my post and I’d also like to hear your comments on the intriguing views in posts 5-8.
Finally an award that there is no doubt deserved by STXI. Congratulations. This is the greatest success of this film.
After all, Star Trek was
1. badly scripted (most, if not all, the plot holes and logical inconsistencies could have been corrected with subtle tweaks to the story);
2. dumb (I’m still not sure what the science adviser did except steal her pay check — bring back Sternbach!); and
3. poorly filmed (the shaking and camera flares were absolutely indefensible and the result of bad set design, so it was all a mess building on a mess).
But they cast it damn good. =)
I hope the next casting director gets this message…
If “Yeoman Janice Rand” is going to be in the next story line, you need to cast “Mary Lynn Rajskub.” She is a dead ringer for Grace Lee Whitney was on the first season of the original Star Trek.
Best Cast movie of the year? Abso-freaking-lutely! Success here made the movie as good as it was and SAVED Star Trek. Best Cast movie ever, as far as I’m concerned =P