Quinto: Star Trek Sequel Script Still Evolving

For most of the time the last Star Trek film was in production, Hollywood was working under a Writer’s Guild strike. This time that isn’t an issue and, according to actor Zachary Quinto, the writing team is taking advantage of the opportunity to make changes as they are going along. More details below.

 

Quinto: Star Trek script is evolving

At the Producer’s Guild Awards in Hollywood, Star Trek’s new Mr. Spock talked to E briefly, contrasting how things are different with the script for the sequel:

 "It was the middle of December and finally I had to be like, ‘We need to read the script,’" Quinto said, with a smile. "They waited a pretty long time, but that’s because they were working on it. There was a writer’s strike the first time so they weren’t able to let the script evolve. Now it’s really changing…on a regular basis."

While not unusual for a feature film, edits to the script during shooting is a change for this team and Star Trek. JJ Abrams first Star Trek film went into production on November 7th 2007, one day after the Writer’s Guild went on strike. Abrams worked closely with writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman in a mad rush as the deadline closed because they all knew they could not change anything once the filming began. In fact, Abrams later noted how this constraint caused some frustration. The strike was lifted in February about a month before shooting ended on the film.  

Quinto talks co-stars and Spock hair

Regarding the start of Star Trek production, Quinto noted "it’s been an incredible return to that world." He also said of his new co-stars :

All of them (Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Weller and Alice Eve) have folded in so beautifully and brought a whole new level of intelligence and sensitivity"

The actor also talked a bit about one of his less favorite parts of shooting Star Trek, the effect on his hair, noting "My eyebrows are shaved and I do my hair in a way that people don’t know I actually have my horrible Spock hair."


Zachary Quinto arriving at the Producers Guild Awards on January 21st, 2012 in Hollywood


Star Trek director JJ Abrams with Quinto at PGA Awards 2012

And here is Getty Images video of Quinto on the red carpet:


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In that photo he looks like Clark Kent.

‘Folding in’ with BC implies that he’s not a distant character that would share minimal screen time with the key crew. Maybe BC and PW are both Vulcans?

Bring on the Vulcans! Always fun to hear from and see pics of gorgeous ZQ.

#1,Craiger,I agree! Looks like he might dash off at any time and go save the day! :) Anyway,this don’t worry me;I just thank God they are filming!!

Great interview. The eyebrow and hair thing… one suffers for art! ;)

My comment must have fell into a blackhole… anyway, this is always good news they have the opportunity to improve the movie as they go…

How did Nero’s incursion cause Spock’s facial hair to grow seemingly more rapidly than his prime counterpart?

Cant wait for the first “on set” pic !!

Come on JJ,, hand someone a camera!

:oD

I watched the Day of the Dove last night & realized what a dead ringer Peter Weller is for Kang in both face & voice.

I reallly hope he’s a Klingon in this.

I hope Weller’s playing a descendant of his character from Terra Prime! Wheels within wheels. NX-01 lives!

Yes, Zachary Quinto would make a great Clark Kent/Superman and I bet he would be as good if not better than the recent Tom Welling in the role. They shoulda cast him in the next Supes film!

Thank God. Keep working on the script until the thing is in the can. The dialogue in ST09 was awful. I’ll give the brain trust the benefit of the doubt because of the strike, but this time there will be no excuse. #WittyBanter #WatchStarTrekII #Don’tMinseWordsBonesTellMeWhatYouReallyThink

There was a bunch of great dialogue in Star Trek. I will admit that “I am Spock.” “…bullshit.” is one of my favouritest Trek dialogue exchanges ever.

Hey Bob Orci. Are you evolving the Script.

Quinto does look like Clark Kent. he would make a pretty good Supes.

12. Although I still cringe at how Shatner delivered some of those lines. Don’t mince words, indeed.

Khan is evolving.

Abrams looks like Quinto’s “mini-me” in that picture :)

Good grief! I just watched the red carpet video on this thread. Unbelievably obnoxious ‘press.’ Can’t imagine having to stand in front of such a crowd–and we’ve sometimes, here, criticized these actors for how stiff they look in still shots from such events. Talk about lens flare. I’d want to start spraying rubber bullets into a crowd like that.

19 – LOL! too true!

Quinto: Star Trek Sequel Script Still Evolving

“Now it’s really changing…on a regular basis.”
______________

Excellent news.

@The writing team.

“Sugar plum” , remember those words, gentlemen….

Somebody please stop selling thick frames to Hollywood; it hasn’t been hip to be square for like three weeks now.

@11 Couldn’t disagree mor;, Qunito isn’t square jawed enough & doesn’t exude the authority needed for Superman.

He would just be another Brandon Routh.

Superman has been & it’s looks like continues to be done all wrong; it should only ever be set in the 1930’s where his type of hero belongs & the actors they cast are way too young. He should be about 35-40 as he was in the 1950’s tv series & the fleischer cartoons which defined that character.

The same is true for James Bond; that series should never have left the 60’s cold war era.

Oh my God, oh my God!! His exebrows are gone!!! Spock is officially back. :) Huhh…I waited for this moment so long to capture him as Spock!!

I want to message to Mr. Quinto, that his SPOCK hair is the sexiest thing on this world…Besides his SPOCK eyebrows. My boyfriend has the same style and it is not nerdie or something. Be proud to play a character like that. And be proud that you play wonderfully!

Just lovely!!!!! :-) :-) :-)

You know ZQ is playing Spock again when he starts wearing those hipster glasses again.

I wonder if Benedict Cumberbatch is playing a Vulcan bent on revenge.

Now mind you, I LOVE “Star Trek – The Motion Picture,” but I hope this film’s script isn’t evolving on a daily basis like the 1979 classic did.

I think having the opportunity for some changes to the script is probably a good thing. If something that works on paper just isn’t working in front of the camera, then you need the flexibility to change it. I guess that means that the script will involve a lot of human interaction in addition to complex action sequences.

Gee, I wonder if the actors were allowed time for rehearsal before filming?

It would be pretty awful if one day after the close of principal photography, ZQ discovered that his eyebrows had decided to take a vacation from growing back. (I wonder if there are such things as prosthetic eyebrows, and why he wouldn’t be wearing them in public? Maybe the art of artificial eyebrows hasn’t been perfected.)

On the other hand, it would guarantee that he would want to continue to play Spock for quite a long time thereafter.

Or at least that he would wear a certain style of eyewear (see photos in article) for an equivalent period thereof.

;-)

I would love to see a random pic from the set, like maybe a grip setting up some rig or something.

C’mon, give us something!

31. Let me talk to JJ

Im having anxiety attacks just watching that video of Zach on the red carpet get his picture taken 10,000 times in 30 seconds.

I don’t know about you, but I might not mind a permanent Spock eyebrow look. The bowl-cut hair, well, that’s a different story.

@32 Please do, Bob :)

New Star Trek projects cause distortions in the space-time continuum for me. The time spent anticipating the new movie or series seemed to pass ever so slowly. I remember reading the newspaper as a kid back in the late 70’s to look for stories about ST:TMP and the thrill of seeing that Nimoy had finally signed on to reprise his iconic role of Spock. Fast-forward 30+ years and time still passes at a crawl for me waiting for the premiere of the latest Star Trek. Yes, we now have the Internet to keep us informed of the progress of the movie but it doesn’t effect the relative passage of time. Once the film is released then the space-time continuum jumps to warp speed as life returns to normal. I just hope that this film is worth the stress of the anticipation otherwise I may have to make the jump to the Mirror Universe. Strangely enough in the Mirror Universe I don’t have a goatee.

@32: Yes, please, but something recognizable as action around Trek filming.

@32

At least something on a set already seen… since its not so secret anymore.

@31

Please.

Bob’s going to send us a picture of a lens flare.

Thanks Bob Orci for Trying. You are the best.

31. VZX.

Way to represent, VZX !!!

:)

As a promotion why not sponsor several primary schools in one area offering to provide a hairdresser to give any willing student a Spock hair style.

Parent permission of course and all willing participants also get a set of ears.

Maybe that works out better in my head than could be practically possible but i wonder if that could get kids of that age into playing star trek in the school yard apart from the obvious publicity.

Interesting about the script ‘evolving’ even after it’s started filming. I know that because of the last strike, the script for ST09 was essentially locked and that movie turned out pretty good.

It’ll be interesting to see what little evolutionary changes occur this time around (I assume Quinto means there might be some improvisation this time?). I’m officially intrigued…

And it looks like Quinto also found the perfect pair of glasses to hide his partially shaved eyebrows this time as well….

;-D

How about a picture of one of Cumberbatch’s pecs, Bob, just to see if he is measuring up as Khan? ;-)
Nipple at your discretion.

“There was a writer’s strike the first time so they weren’t able to let the script evolve. Now it’s really changing…on a regular basis.”

First everyone says “The script is amazing” now it’s “we’re changing the script on a regular basis”. Of course that’s how making movies works. Even Robert Wise made changes to the “Day the Earth Stood Still” script. I just think it’s funny when the film makers, actors and producers praise the script before production, yet it goes through so many changes on a regular basis.

@40: I expect him to come back of a picture of the dailies:
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/4/46991/1164306-white_super.jpg
Of course, he’ll note “we hadn’t turned on the projector yet”.

@36: Shades of ’79 all over again, indeed! Wonder if there will be an Untitled Star Trek Sequel Happy Meal, though?

@10: Weller as Kang? Interesting. They did have a full Klingon helmet and outfit set up. “Imagine Star Trek’s greatest rivals… working together in a common cause… to defeat an alien civilization that will if allowed to spread will end the galaxy as they know it….”

“Captain Kirk having stopped Nero, is given a special mission to pick up and take [insert Weller CEO character here], head of a powerful Klingon conglomerate suspected of being behind Nero’s escape from Rura Penthe and his easy destruction of the Federation fleet at Vulcan, to Vulcan jungle world P’Jem for an inquest by the Vulcan High Council. Kirk is one of the few people available who would have known nothing about any fleet conspiracy, so he is the ideal man for Pike to send on the mission. Another passenger is Dr. Elizabeth Dehner [Alice Eve’s character], a Federation psychiatrist/mentalist expert and the Vulcan (or is he?) Stonn [Cumberbatch] — a rescued prisoner from Rura Penthe with an inexplicable story of capture, torture, and escape. But on the way, they encounter a vessel crewed by aliens from a strange new world…. Together, adversaries must come together to prevent those aliens from ending the galaxy as they know it.”

@#32

If possible, can the cast, or someone from the cast (say, someone wearing a blue shirt with pointy ears :-)) be in the distant, blurry-fuzzy, background? That can’t be giving up too much, can it? If it helps, pretty please with a cherry on top. :-)

Thanks.

@#45

From what I can tell, I like you, but I can tell you must have been a grinch in a former life. ;-) I’m just joking around, so no offense.

32. boborci – January 26, 2012

31. Let me talk to JJ

Please don’t TEASE Bob!