Recasting…does it work?
One of the issues that many Trek devotees seem to be fixated on is that of recasting. The assertion of these fans is that audiences will not accept new actors in the roles made famous by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. But Hollywood has never shied away from recasting roles…even iconic ones. This week the top film is Miami Vice, in which original show creator Michael Mann has recast quintissential 80s stars Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. The film made over $25 million in its first weekend in the US (The LA Times saying it is on track to exclipse Mann’s 2004 hit Collateral). Are Kirk and Spock any more iconic than Crockett and Tubbs?