Karl Urban On How Bones Changed His Career & Star Trek Sequel October 14, 2010
by TrekMovie.com Staff , Filed under: ST09 Cast, Star Trek sequel (2013) , trackback
This weekend fans of Karl Urban will be able to see him in the action comedy Red. The actor is still out promoting the film, and he continues to talk a bit about Star Trek. Below we have compiled clips and excerpts of Urban talking Trek and more, plus a new trailer for yet another film with Urban coming out later this year.
Urban planning to have fun with Trek next year + says Bones role changed career
Karl is out promoting the action comedy Red, which opens this weekend. Here is a clip of him on Extra talking about the film, Dredd and returning to Star Trek, confirming again that shooting is planned for "mid next year", and he once again calls the team behind the film "a bunch of Einsteins" going on to say "they are going to create something special". The actor says he doesn’t know what is in store for his character of McCoy but he expects it to be "a lot of fun.’
Urban also made a similar statement to Newsarama when asked if he was nervous about the second Star Trek film. The actor replied:
I think it would be dangerous for anybody to take their eye off the ball. While we had a huge amount of fun making ‘Star Trek’, we were also hyper focused on what we were doing. But I have a huge degree of confidence in J.J. and the writers. I think they’re like a bunch of geniuses making it together so I know they will cook up something special.
In an interview with TulsaWorld, the actor talked about how Star Trek has changed his career, but even he can’t get secrets out of JJ Abrams. Here is an excerpt from the interview:
“I have no doubt that some people perceived me as just being simply an action guy, but playing ‘Bones’ went a long way toward convincing them otherwise,” he said. “I can judge that by the number of offers and how often the phone rings since ‘Star Trek’ came out.”
Urban offers no details on the “Star Trek” sequel planned for 2012 other than to say that shooting begins sometime next year. “Prying information out of (“Trek” director) J.J. Abrams is a difficult task, but I’m really looking forward to climbing aboard the Enterprise again,” Urban said.
Karl was also the guest this week on Jimmy Kimmel Live along with Red co-star Bruce Willis. He didn’t talk Trek, but here is the video anyway (including a clip of him fighting Willis in Red).
And here is Karl on G4’s Attack of the Show talking more about Red and giving some details on Dredd as well.
Trailer for Urban’s "And Soon The Darkness"
A while back Karl Urban shot a low budget remake of the horror film And Soon The Darkness. The film is now slated for release on December 17th in limited release, and then on DVD and Blu-ray December 28th. Here is the new trailer.
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Comments»
Karl Urban captured the essence of Dr. McCoy better than any other member of the cast in Star Trek 2009. I hope he gets more screen time in the sequel.
Karl Urban’s Bones was a wonderful homage, the closest to a spot on rendition, without being a spoof or mechanical impersonation. Obviously a guy with a love for the show, as well. It shows in his acting.
Karl Urban was quite simply the best cast member of the crew. He nailed it, he channeled DeForest Kelly in ways us mere mortals cannot. The second best would have to be Simon Pegg as Scotty.
Karl is a terrific actor and a Trekkie. I’ve been his fan since he played Cupid on Hercules. Can’t wait to see his role expanded in the Trek.
“A log of fun”? Is hat an Aussie expression?
Well, I certainly hope that they do get more into the Kirk-Spock-McCoy friendship that we all know and love. That’ll give Karl more to have a log of fun with.
Bruce Willis for Picards grandpop!
@6: Bruce Willis is bald and awesome, but he’s about as French as an all-dressed pizza, so regretfully, no. ;)
Great Karl…..BUT still exaggerating about the Einsteins……hmmmm!!!
8 — Agreed. He is way too fast and loose with that term and “geniuses.” The writers and producers are neither. The film was not that great.
8 and 9 — this was the best reboot of all time. Quit smoking that weed…I mean medicinal marijuana…please. :-)
Karl Urban is a klassy actor. :-)
8,9
J.J Abrams was obviously smart enough to cast Karl Urban, who nailed his character the best and (probably) made DeForrest Kelley smile in the afterlife.
I doubt very many fans, including you two, would’ve had the foresight to cast Mr.Urban.
So let’s give J.J Abrams and the writers some much deserved credit for bringing back Star Trek with “Star Trek”.
And one more thing: More Mcoy. More Karl Urban. More Kirk, Spock, McCoy moments. That would be great, thatnks.
P.S I honestly believe, with the right script and dialogue, that Karl Urban can be nominated for an Oscar for “Best Supporting Actor” as Dr. Leonard McCoy. That would be historic. That would be sweet.
that should be “More McCoy” as well as “thanks” instead of “thatnks”!
DAMN TYPOS!!
#10
Best reboot… nah. It’s a pretty good movie, but it’s far from knocking sliced-bread off its golden pedestal.
I think the honor of best reboot should go to Casino Royale—intelligent script, top notch direction and acting, and the first Bond flick in a long time to make Bond seem like an actual government agent and not a Playboy Club member looking for his lost key.
But isn’t it sad that now we argue about which reboot is the greatest and not which MOVIE?! Or… maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just being nostalgic for the time when ‘reboot’ was only used in computer manuals and on Saturday morning TV. ;)
#14
“Batman Begins” was great as well!
#15
D’oh! I forgot all about Batman Begins! Hmmm…. now I’m not so sure. I’ve been a Batman fan a lot longer than a Bond or Star Trek fan….
Well… as the Black Knight said, “All right. We’ll call it a draw!” :D
They rebooted Batman when they made it a comedy in the 1960’s camp TV version of it. :-) “Holy comic book parody, Batman!”
I DEMAND MY FAIR SHARE OF SCREENTIME! Oh, and maybe a shot of Scotty caressing my transfer coils…mmm (He always did have a thing for me) And LOSE THE FLASH GORDAN NACELLS, I prefer the utilitarian look, with the pulsating ruby buzzard collectors.
Don’t forget, I’m a big part of what Star Trek is all about. Them red, gold, and blue shirted guys just press the buttons, but it’s ME that $ave$ the day.
Show a lady some respect.
Casino Royale and Batman Begins were solid reboots. But I still like the original “Batman” reboot in the 80’s better (not the series, just the first movie compared one-on-one to “Batman Begins”), and Casino Royale pales in comparison to the 60’s Connery Bond movies.
Ha! If Urban needs more info on what’s going to happen in the next Trek, tell him to come here! We always figure it out before anyone else, that and Orci shows up and blabs…I mean confirms our suspicious…
That, and Urban/McCoy needs more screen time. He was absolutely amazing. I would swear he was channeling Kelly. What a professional.
#17 & #19
I don’t think the Batman series or Batman ‘89 were necessarily reboots; they were simply reflecting the Batman comics of their respective periods. Just look at Batman comics of the 50’s and 60’s before the series aired. They were cartoonish and campy—just like the show. Then look at Batman comics of the 70’s and 80’s before Tim Burton made his movie. They were darker with a more serious tone—just like the movie.
It was What’s-His-Face who ‘rebooted’ the Batman movies (Batman Forever and that other one that shall go unmentioned) by making them more campy. Thank God for Nolan rebooting it back.
Ugh. Could we retire the word ‘reboot?’
I loved Star Trek, however I feel we should have the original triplet of Kirk, Spock and Bones back.
Uhura just did not interest me, sure have her romance Spock that’s fine. At the end of the day it’s just I’m no fan of Miss Saldana, then again I suppose I could always be proved wrong eh Mr Orci? :-)
Vultan, good points. I think that Batman is endlessly fascinating because he’s so human and superhuman at the same time, without being literally almost invulnerable.
Superman is fundamentally a superbeing that tries hard to be human; Batman is human who has achieved being superhuman.
The two are opposite sides of the same coin.
I like modern mythology a great deal.
Someone once said that in a sense, Superman is the disguise for Clark Kent rather than the other way around. That’s an interesting way to look at it. If that’s true, then is Bruce Wayne the disguise for Batman?
Batman came first, since Bruce the millionaire was, first, the child who saw his parents murdered — the child who was the sine qua non of Batman. In that sense, Batman existed before millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne.
#23
Very good points, Hat Rick.
There’s a scene in Kill Bill Vol. 2 where the character of Bill gives a wonderful speech about the identity issues of Superman/Clark Kent you mentioned. I don’t really remember how the speech fits into the scene (it’s Tarantino you know!), but it really makes you think about Superman in a whole new way. At least it did for me.
And I do think that Batman is the real Bruce Wayne… or at least it’s his inner, angrier child that continually takes over and lashes out at those he perceives to be in the same league as the man who killed his parents—call it childhood wish-fulfillment!
And the same goes for the Watchmen’s Rorschach… but in a much darker way. :)
I thought Karl Urban was terrible casting when he was first announced in the role and now he’s without a doubt my favourite actor from the new cast. I think this time around I’m going to keep an open mind regarding any news and announcements. I’m still hoping the sequel is going to shy away from doing Khan but if they do go down that route then I’m not going to get too upset about it.
There was Oscar talk re: Urban’s Bones (that some would call it mimicry but it definitely made the movie and he should have gotten a supporting actor nom) from at least one major newspaper (canada’s National Post). Maybe next time.
MORE BONES IN 2012 !!!
The trinity of KIrk(Action/leadership), Spock (Logic/reason), McCoy (humanity/compassion) was missing in the first movie.
….maybe missing is too harsh, but it was not a major theme as it should be!
26. I agree. They got the spirit of the thing right.
Agree CDR – infact they missed most of the essence of StarTrek in the first movie.
I think the ingenuity of Star Trek (2009) was creating something that was neither a reboot, prequel and sequel but all at the same time. They managed to push the movie in a new direction while still following the story that came before. Being fond of canon, I would have been bothered by a clean reboot that just ignored everything. That would have created an us vs them atmosphere in Star Trek. But doing it the way they did avoided that and allowed total fans like myself enjoy and accept the new Star Trek without feeling we are writing off everything that happened before.
I love the Bond movies. The reboot worked well there, partly because each Bond movie is really a self contained movie anyway, as opposed to a sequel (except for Quantum of Solace). A side note–I hope MGM gets their act together. I am anxious for the next 007 film also.
I also give them kudos for picking the cast. Urban and Greenwood were definitly at the top of the list.But the entire cast did a good job (Yelchin needs a little work though, of all, he seemed most like he was mocking the original actor).
While ST09 was not MY ST…I am willing to cut some slack since it at least brought ST back to the screen and generated some excitement from even admited previous non-fans like Mario. That being said, I am hopeful that more of the essence of TOS will come out in ST12 and still continue the positives in ST09.
Until then, it is definitely NOT the best reboot or original movie around. I am okay with the recasting of TOS without trying to be totally Shatner-Nimoy-Kelly and the others–the alternate universe certainly gives the actors room to reimage the characters in their own likeness. Like others here have noted, I too think that Urban best captured Kelly’s McCoy without trying to be Kelly playing McCoy.
So, in true Trek fashion…there are always possibilities!
Battlestar might be the best reboot, but Star Trek could be too.
I think the consensus is unanimous: more Urban/McCoy and more Kirk/Spock/McCoy “stuff.”
#25 – “Watchman” was unwatchable — a train wreck of a movie.
28 and 30 — Bones/Kirk and Spock had just met for the main portion of the movie, so it would not have been believable is the three of them started behaving in TOS-mode instantly — that would have looked force. The movie showed it developing though, which is as it should be. I will expect in the next movie that we will see more of TOS-mode behavior between the three.
35. That’s what I heard, but when I rented it I ended up loving it! As in all things, it’s all a matter of taste.
#35
Actually, I agree with you about Watchmen (it’s the only movie I’ve ever walked out on), but I was referring to the comic book Rorschach.
That is, the comic book character of Rorschach, not his own comic book—you know what I mean.
Karl Urban is a class act. Let’s hope JJ & Co get the Kirk/Spock/McCoy balance right in the next movie.
Urban was also great in the Lord of the Rings
The casting of Trek 2009 was amazing, and Karl Urban by far the best of all! Can’t wait for the sequel! I love the Kirk/Spock/McCoy relationship dynamic as well but hope the other characters are not left in the background as set decorations… please develop the triumvirate but not at the expense of the entire team. Sulu,Uhura, Scotty & Chekov need vital screen time too!
#41 — Check out a little known gem called “Pathfinder” — a surprisingly good action movie with Urban in the lead. Vikings meet American Indians in the 10th century and all hell breaks loose.
#1 of course he captured the likeness of bones better then any other cast member (He’s the one who played him, remember.) I’m kidding…. your correct, he did an excellent job. I was a fan of him from LOTR and Star Trek only solidified that.
#1
He’s from New Zealand not Australia.
As much as they might try to defy the odds, there is world of difference between us.
#5
He’s from New Zealand not Australia.
As much as they might try to defy the odds, there is world of difference between us.
#45 & #46
One world of difference… coming from a cloned Aussie. It’s the Twilight Zone!
;)
Is he still calling JJ an Einstein?
Dear Lord.
#48
Hey, who knows? He could be making a Back to the Future reference.
Woof!
In addition to playing Cupid, he also played Julius Caesar in Xena. The show actually had a great supporting cast.
When I saw Karl Urban in the Bourne Supremacy, his character was so determined and malevolent. In Star Trek 2009, his character was so determined and irascible. It’s called fine acting!
:Sigh:
I sort of liked the Watchmen movie. I didn’t love it, but it was okay. :-)
Parts of it were very intensive and somewhat repulsive, morally and otherwise, and it left no doubt as to the lack of moral judgment it had upon the actions of the Watchmen. I think that the character of Nite Owl appealed to the inner geek in all of us, and yet he was utterly powerless in the face of Doctor Manhattan.
:Spoiler alert:
Completely off-topic:
I found it hard to believe that Ozymandias was so foolish as to believe that his machine would kill or even hurt Manhattan, since, as Manhattan himself said, he was created in the very field that Oz tried to kill him with. It would be like trying to kill a human being with amniotic fluid. Manhattan had to conquer that field in order to survive.
There were other logic conundrums.
However, I am given to understand that the movie was, plot-wise, close to the original comic, which was heralded as a major classic if fiction, in any format.
Having never really even heard of it until seeing the movie, I really liked Watchmen. Right after seeing it, I bought the graphic novel and read it and I think they nailed it. I mean, they pretty much did a frame-for-frame recreation of the book!
45 and 46 — Put another shrimp on the barby for me, would you?
Say, impatience has probably ruined Del Toro’s overrated career…if he could have just sucked it up for 3 months more he would be a part of the Green Light announcement today on The Hobbit….hope you enjoy doing the 10th remake of Frankenstein, Guillermo. Patience is a virtue!
53, although I’ve never read the comic, that’s pretty much what I’ve read, as well — that it’s very close to the comic.
In the next Star Trek movie, I hope McCoy will be able to give Kirk some advice that Kirk will listen too. Kirk pretty much did whatever he wanted in the last movie, which was fun, but now that they’ve settled in Kirk needs to listen sometimes.
At first I thought he was going to address how Dr. McCoy changed his career by joining Starfleet. Why would a full-fledged medical doctor have to start his career over by going to the Academy with all the young kids? Did his wife take his medical degree in the divorce, too?
How can he be a doctor and a cadet at the same time?
McCoy may have wanted to get as far away from his wife and her sharky lawyers as possible. Being a significant number of light years away aboard a starship exploring and defending outer space can be a remarkable antidote to the machinations of divorce lawyers. (Although even so, they could probably try to serve him subpoenas via subspace.)
58 — Obviously he had only previously been trained to be a doctor for humans. Think of his cadet training as a special medical grad school.
58. Does being a doctor make you an astronaut?
61. Being a doctor in space does. Technically, the entire crew are astronauts.
i saw “Red” last night. It was blast. And if you’re tired of movies made for teenagers, this one featured a bunch of old people, make that mature people kicking ass. Karl Urban was great as usual. I’m not his agent but more McCoy for the next movie. In the series, he had a big heart and got the funniest lines. Who can forget the last line in “Journey to Babel?”
After McCoy directs Kirk and Spock to shut up, he says this line.
McCoy: Well, what do you know? I finally got the last word.
I agreee with #12, more Bones and the triumvarate for screentime and humor! Karl was spot-on with his interpretation and tribute to the character, but let’s have him take the ball and run with it. What De Kelley would have LOVED to have done with the character as an over 40 yr. old, handsome, physically fit, smart, honorable, compassionate and witty man of present day? Wait, I just described a heroic ‘real man’ of today’s standards WITHOUT all of the superhuman manly bravado of the comic hero of films today. It’s an all-ages movie, but can the ST franchise step it up from comic book to a real universal adult appeal? Aye, there’s the catch . . . lead the way, Karl/Bones! And step on it, Abrams or whomever!
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