Earlier today Paramount took their Star Trek Into Darkness promotional tour to London where Brit stars Alice Eve and Bendedict Cumberbatch previewed the movie prologue and had a Q&A with the press, joined by producer Bryan Burk. There were some new details revealed, including a target run time for the movie and more information about Eve and Cumberbatch’s characters. Get the London highlights below along with audio, video and photos from the event. [Some Spoilers]
Highlights from London Into Darkness Press Event w/ new character reveals
Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, and producer Bryan Burk were at the BFI IMAX theater on Friday to promote Star Trek Into Darkness. They were joined by Simon Pegg and JJ Abrams via recorded messages. TrekMovie has distilled the info given out in interviews and via the Q&A to the press and compiled some videos, audio and photos from the event.
Here are some highlights…
- Bryan Burk (and JJ Abrams via recorded message) indicate run time for Into Darkness will be 2 hours – with "upwards of 40 minutes" shot with IMAX cameras
- Burk refuses to take bait on confirming "Khan," saying" our villain is John Harrison"
- Eve reveals her Carol Marcus is "a doctor, a PhD" and (in interview with IGN) says Marcus is a weapons expert
- Cumberbatch describes Harrison as "a terrorist" who "does despicable things for a noble cause"
- Also reveals Harrison is a master at in weapons, hand to hand combat and "psychological warfare"
- Burk said that they felt even with all the good will from 2009’s Star Trek they team wanted to "step up our game" and make Into Darkness "much bigger than [2009’s Star Trek]" but with also more "character development" as well
- Burk says John Harrison is "a much stronger villain" than Nero (in ST09)
- Burk reveals that even though London in Into Darkness featured, no shooting was in London
Press even Q&A audio (via TasticFilm)
Video interviews…
IGN UK spoke to Cumberbatch and Eve at the event where they talk about the grey areas of the villain John Harrison. She describes
And here is a video of Eve and Cumberbatch chatting with the "Trekkie Girls" podcasters. Eve talks about the "richness" of the Star Trek universe and how it was a thrilling experience. Cumberbatch talks about the "fun" of the rumors and speculation, but also how his character is "three dimensional."
Photos
I cannot tell you how good these comments make me feel, on the part of those involved. They are at the top of their game!
John Harrison is really… John Harrison! :P
First person to give Alice Eve crap for saying Carol Marcus was in TOS is a d-bag.
Just wanted to get that out of the way.
Great stuff. Sounds to me like the movie is all-but in the can already, especially if they know running time and how much was shot with IMAX cameras that made it to the final cut, etc.
Hey, Anthony, correct me if I’m wrong, but before ST09 came out, was there not a completely surprise “ambush” screening of the movie at a theater somewhere in the US? Seems like I remember Nimoy making a surprise appearance, and I want to say it may have been in Texas. Any inkling they might opt to do the same kind of thing for STID?
Can’t imagine how awesome it would have been to be in the theater for a surprise premiere of a Trek movie. That would rock.
I knew I wasn’t nuts. Found the link myself: It was in Austin, Texas, about two months before the regular premiere.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/geeks-gone-wild-spocks-surprise-appearance-at-star-trek-screening/
Nobody believes you, Cumberbatch! Haha!
She looks incredible…but what the hell is she wearing?
I think it’s safe to assume that Dr Marcus is involved in a project creating augment supersoldiers, probably using protomatter in order to induce rapid aging.
If that “April’s Gattling Gun” stuff is legit, her boss is probably Commodore Robert April played by Peter Weller, who decided to revive illegal genetic research to answer any potential future threat to the Federation, all in consequence of the Nero incident.
This project MAY involve Khan, or rather Khan’s DNA. Maybe “John Harrison” is an augment based on 21st century genetic research, based upon the same DNA as Khan. The project presumably is London-based, with an agressive strain of protomatter or some radiation having affected some children close to the secret facility, now also growing rapidly (or may the kids are part of the project in the first place – it may not be a random hospital after all)…
After Starfleet, presumably Admiral Pike had tried to shot down the project, April’s Frankenstein ran amok, striking at the very heart of the Federation, detonating Starfleet HQ and going on a “noble” quest to infect any potential alien threat with a deadly bioweapon…HIMSELF…
and the Klingons are his first objective…the lethal aspect of him being a one-man WMD maybe his own DNA…we know what augmented human DNA can do to Klingons!
Now Kirk and crew are on a mission to save the Klingon race from biological obliteration and to restore peace as all hell breaks lose…
Remember that Klingon ambassador in TVH accusing the Federation of having created Genesis as a bioweapon to anhillliate the Klingon people? Maybe in this timeline, this is what actually happens, due to the hysteria the destruction of Vulcan has caused among the high ranks of Starfleet…
These interviews are impressive. I like what they said. Gives me hope for the movie.
Trekkie girls are great…ahhhh…felt a very fatherly bond there….wish my daughter had an ounce of their Trek love, she dismisses anything Trek as extreme boring geekdom…which is the job Paramount has given JJ to reverse that perception. Funny thing is she was absolutely blown away with Cloverfield! Making Trek mainstream is still strangely tricky. In the early 70s that was not the case, Trek syndication and popularity was huge and mainstream, even here in the UK…as big as any other of the classic franchises yet to come…a fact that seems to have been forgotten a bit. No reason why it can’t happen again given the “richness” of the Roddenderry Trek universe.
Aww great interviews by trekkie girls!
I’m loving what Alice Eve has been talking about Carol Marcus … definitely seems that the character is quite relevant in the plot!
@8
You’ve got me hooked. And that feels so much like a classic ‘Star Trek’ adventure. Will love to see if you were right at all come May 17th.
Saw the imax 9 min preview tonight
WOW is the only word fit to describe it!!!!!!!!!
Roll on May
Second star to the right…….
The Hobbit was good too by the way.
Nice to see the site back to normal
I saw the 9 min preview today. I was blown away! This looks very, very good. It will definitely be bigger and bolder than Trek 09.
But, I never once got a Khan vibe nor did I find the story Khan-esque from what I saw. The was Cumberbatch’s character is at the beginning… it was very un-Khan like to tell the truth.
I think he really is playing a guy named John Harrison.
Harrison isn’t that much of a threat, it’s a safe prediction Kirk and crew will have him safely destroyed by the end of the movie.
Still wonder if too much secrecy has backfired on them and now some still aren’t believing Cumberbatch is just John Harrison. Unless John Harrison is still just an alias for Khan.
Could John Harrison just be a 23rd Century terrorist with no genetically engineered enhancements? If so wouldn’t this go against what Roddenberry had envisioned for a Utopia 23rd Century an Earth at peace? Unless Nero changing the timeline changed all that?
Keep in mind, this is a different Starfleet thanks to Nero’s incursion as well. When the Kelvin survivors brought back records, someone at Fleet figured out they were Romulans, but DID NOT figure out they were from the future. That means the Federation spent 25 years with the possibility that lurking on the far side of the Neutral Zone was a fleet of behemoths like the Narada. They also would have gleaned some ideas from the sensor readings which I presume delayed the construction of the Constitution class project until that science could be applied to the new series of heavy cruisers. The Fleet’s been on a war footing for a while now, so Dr. Marcus applying her talents toward weapons rather than terraforming is not a stretch.
its really starting to sound like ‘John Harrison’ is really part of Section 31. Carol Marcus a weapons expert? So this time she’s going to develop the Genesis Device to really do what the Prime Klingons thought it was for?
I love all the news, but I still don’t completely understand why they’re doing so much press for a movie that’s not coming out for another six months. Is this standard procedure these days?
#20 – Good point. Maybe Harrison isn’t a 23rd Century terrrorist but a Section 31 operative. They allways believe they are doing what is good for Starfleet. I forgot about Section 31. Sisko allways had trouble getting Sloan. That was the Section 31 operative’s name in DS9 right? Would the general movie going public have to know anything about Section 31 since it was in the previous Trek series JJ says he wants people going to see the new Trek movies not knowing anything about the previous series.
Wow, you can see Alice Eve’s outfit from way back in the cheap seats, eh?
I would like to know, when there will be a Trek film that will be more than two hours long. Oh wait….
I really, really hope there are no ‘this is where Carol Marcus got the idea for Genesis’ signals (a la ‘see, these are the first plans for the death star, which will be built 2 decades from now’ in the Star Wars prequels.) There’s no reason she has to be tied in any way to events 23 (or so) years in the future, in a very different timeline. I pray for no ‘I always thought the Mutara Nebula was so pretty!’ In-jokes.
If it’s part of the character — she’s a quantum physicist or whatever. Sure.
It’s like saying Shatner should have been wearing a corset 40 years ago to foreshadow the future. Er, bad example.
They are doing a lot of press now because Cumberbatch has back to back film tv series projects for the year. I dont even know how he’ll find time to go to any premieres. He starts with the Assange film in January – then Sherlock series end March – then straight onto Brian Epstein film. Phew.
I remember reading on the twitter account of a woman who manages a fansite of Benedict’s that she was talking to Benedict’s Mum and Dad at the Cheltenham Festival in the middle of last year and the Mum let slip that he is playing someone who is regarded as Canon so he cant just be Harrison. There is more to it. The mother had mentioned she had seen him dressed head to toe in leather. I tried to find the message again but couldnt.
Cumberbatch seems very happy with the quality of big acting scenes he’s been given. I’m excited.
@3 Amen. Alice Eve is smart enough and knows the whole “little blonde lab tech” quote from Mitchell in WNMHGB. The old guard fandom has taken the blonde lab tech to be Carol Marcus since 1982. And obviously, for David Marcus to “exist” in 2285, Kirk had to know Carol Marcus in the TOS timeframe. She wins. In more ways than one!
#11 Chris Pike – Things must’ve been different in the UK than in the US in the late ’70s-early ’80s. Trek in the US was considered a rather “fringe” fandom until probably STIV TVH. Then ST:TNG came along & helped make ST a national viewing audience. I don’t recall TNG really hitting it big until 3rd season. Could be wrong, but it wasn’t til TNG that moat Americans knew the diff between Star TREK and Star Wars. Glad JJ is making ST nationally popular but wish SO much for a “Journey to Babel” -type plot vice a Journey Thru Hell … but that’s the movies these days … intense darkness staved off by a small & valiant band, followed by zeitgeist of despair.
Great Article. Trekmovie is on top of it’s game.
@3 Agreed! Not everyone’s a trekkie. That should be taken into consideration.
21. et
FIVE months, my man!
20 and 22.
Which TOS episode(s) featured a ‘Section 31’? Just wondering.
I’d actually like to see the new Trek movies dovetail with ( but not slavishly follow ) the original films.
That way, even if the exist in seperate ‘timelines’ you COULD hypothetically watch them sequentially and still enjoy them as one big saga.
E.g. providing they do nothing in STID ( or further JJ Trek films ) that contradicts future event in Wrath of Khan, you COULD imagine Wrath of Khan is a story that happens to these characters 20 years down the line, if you wanted.
Even Search for Spock/Voyage Home could work as the ‘future’of JJ’s Trek characters if one could take the imaginative leap whilst watching those films that the planet Vulcan is actually the ‘New’ Vulcan ( colony world ), established in the wake of the destruction seen in ’09.
I hope I’m making sense – just taking the movies and nothing else ( no books/no series/etc. ) you could watch the dvds of the orignial crew and the new crew as if they were the same characters basically, but at different periods of their lives ( of course putting to one side the aesthetic design/actor differences ).
@22 no they would not. To the general audience Section 31 would appear to be like the Federation CIA. And yes, the DS9 operative was Sloan. VERY relevant, since JJ also made Alias.
@33 although none, in one of the IDW comics detailing the adventures of nuKirk and crew in between the 2009 film and Into Darkness, all of which are considered official canon by JJ and crew, there was a flashback where an ultra-secret group within Starfleet tried to recruit Sulu. It could only BE Section 31.
Section 31 is so far away from Roddenberry’s vision it not even funny! I loathe the thought!
34.
I don’t think you understand what a reboot is.
The Wrath of JOHN!
“more character development”
Well, it is about time!
&
“a much stronger villain than Nero”
Wile E Coyote was stronger villain than Nero.
Please give the characters depth without childish dialogs.
Precisely what I’ do @34, other fans have other ways and still others have other ways as well, some are having a hard time adjusting.
Too bad, just enjoy and adjust or cry.
@11 Chris Pike
It’s really simple, Chris. The cynical group of young people during the mid to late 90s basically made the notion popular that Trek was only for geeks and even admitting to liking it was some kind of a curse. Even to this day I know some grown men who almost seem to take offense to the fact that I have three versions of the Enterprise on display in my room. (TOS TMP and JJprise).
The part that reinforced this notion was the failing series Enterprise and the bad performance of the TNG films, implying that only geeks watch them. (Though truth be told I think most fans had given up on Trek by the time of Nemesis and Season 4 of Enterprise. It was on it’s last legs creatively and had no fire.)
Ah, well. I hope that in all this talk of making Trek cool, hip, awesome, and “exciting.” We don’t actually forget the soul, i’d argue forget it “again” as latter day Trek from a decade ago had forgotten it pretty largely and had no heart left in it.
@33 Well, Section 31 exists in ENT before the Federation was formed, and Section 31 exists in DS9. It’s not illogical that it existed between those points, too. Just because we didn’t see it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. Could explain some inconsistencies during TOS, too.
@37 Really? Roddenberry who made “A Private Little War” where the Federation was giving arms to the faction on Neural? Roddenberry who created Captain Ron Tracey in “Omega Glory”? Merrick in “Bread and Circuses”? Roddenberry had plenty of rogues in TOS. There’s no reason to think that something wasn’t going on behind the scenes.
“First person to give Alice Eve crap for saying Carol Marcus was in TOS is a d-bag.”
Not quite sure what that means. Carol Marcus did appear in the TOS movie. I regard the Star Trek movies 1 to VI as continuations following on from the TOS TV series.
Alice Eve’s outfit looks like she raided the remains of the 60s TOS wardrobe department LOL
What I am most looking forward to is seeing the backstory of Carol and Kirk so that is what I have been thinking about, not the villian. Now
that we know ‘the villian’ can spread thoughts and apparently mind
control.. what if he forces Kirk/Marcus into a relationship? Now, quit
your laughing — Kirk never needed any reason as we all well know.
But maybe this particular relationship needed a little help from both
sides. (The writers’s could have gotten this idea from PLATO’S STEPCHILDREN.)
This would explain a lot.
Just a thought. (Today is my birthday so please be kind when
you totally laugh out loud at this theory.)
Just two questions –
Where is Chekov? No pictures at all
Who is Peter Weller playing? No pictures of him either
46, Happy Birthday!!!
Thank you. Were you being kind in not reflecting on my theory? LOL
(By the way that was also used in DAGGER OF THE MIND)
It’s not hard
Harrison => underground augments
Magneto => Mutants
That is Star Trek Into Darkness in a nutshell!