Hiya, folks! This week’s Watch brings you Quinto cracking jokes about Trek, movie set reports for Scott Bakula and Winona Ryder, Trek star convention appearances, the final act in the Andrew Koenig legal drama, Stewart hanging with with his fellow Tony-nominees and visiting Goldberg on The View (w/ VIDEO), and a new project for Trek ’09 writers Kurtzman & Orci: What do you guys think about Tom Cruise for President?
Picard, Guinan… and a booger!
Tony Award nominee Patrick Stewart was the guest on The View this morning, promoting his performance of Macbeth on Broadway. This re-united him with his TNG co-star Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan). The segment talked about the play and did get around to a discussion of Stewart and Goldberg working together on TNG. They even showed a clip, after which Stewart noted that it looked like he had something hanging from his nose…check it out:
Stewart and Goldberg also attended the annual Tony Awards Meet the Nominees event at the Hilton Hotel on May 14th. The Tony Awards will be handed out on June 15th.
Patrick Stewart (l) with fellow Best Actor nominee Laurence Fishburne.
Whoopi at the Tony Awards Meet the Nominees event.
Also, there is an hour-long audio interview with Stewart done just this weekend in which the actor goes into a lot of detail regarding the finer points of theater. You can listen to it here.
Bakula on ‘The Informant’
Scott Bakula (Capt. Jonathan Archer) is busy filming The Informant with Matt Damon, and Herald & Review has posted pictures and video of some location shooting that took place on Friday. Bakula seems to be having a good time on the film, and the actor even tells Herald & Review, “We’re having a ball.” Directed by Steven Soderbergh (the Ocean’s movies), The Informant is slated for release on March 9th, 2009.
Matt Damon (l) and Scott Bakula have a laugh of the set of ‘The Informant’.
Wheaton ComicCon appearances
Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) was at the 2008 Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle this past weekend. Comic Book Resources has a report on Wheaton’s appearance, which included a reading from his book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives. Wheaton also describes his experience at the Emerald City ComiCon — and replies to rumors that he bullied Jerry O’Connell on the set of Stand by Me — on his official blog. Up next for Wil is the Super-Con in San Jose, California.
Wheaton reads from his book at the Emerald ComiCon.
Trek stars at Motor City
TOS star Walter Koenig (the original Chekov), DS9’s Avery Brooks (Ben Sisko) and Chase Masterson (Leeta), ENT’s Anthony Montgomery (Travis Mayweather), Star Trek Generations‘ Alan Ruck (Capt. Harriman), and veteran Trek guest star Gregory Itzin will be among guests at the Motor City Comic Con this weekend. Koenig and Ruck will be hosting a limited viewing of the 1st and 2nd parts of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men. Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar) was also a scheduled guest but had to cancel, likely due to the play she is currently doing. The convention starts Friday at 12:30pm and wraps up Sunday at 5pm.
Not funny, Zach
Zachary Quinto (the new Spock) and his Heroes co-stars partied the night away at the Entertainment Weekly party on Tuesday. E! Online describes the event:
…the Heroes posse was in full effect, with one Mr. Smoove Move Masi Oka shaking his groove thang on the dance floor late into the night and Zach Quinto still beaming (i.e., “glowing,” not “beaming up”) from how well his Star Trek filming experience went.
Zach tried to be funny at the party by breaking news regarding the release of the new Trek film. As EW reports:
I geeked out talking to Heroes’ Zachary Quinto, who joked that his impending Star Trek film will probably skip a theatrical release and “go straight to DVD.”
Quinto with Evan Ross and Dania Ramirez at the Perk Marketing party on May 12, 2008 at Nikki Beach in New York City
Kurtzman and Orci plead the 28th
A while back Star Trek 2009 scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci wrote a political thriller called The 28th Amendment which they recently rewrote and the film is now in development at Warner Bros. with Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games) set to direct. Earlier this week EW reported that Tom Cruise is being courted to star and since Moviehole has ‘confirmed‘ Cruise has signed on, along with Denzel Washington. Apparently, Cruise plays a US President (!) who learns the country is being controlled by an organization led by Washington. Political chaos and oval office couch jumping ensue. EW also noted that Cruise has made nice with Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and that a fourth Mission Impossible film is now possible. Orci and Kurtzman (and JJ Abrams) penned the third M:I with Abrams as a director and with their continued close relationship they could all be headed back to IMF HQ.
Tahir talks Abrams
Actor Faran Tahir, who plays Captain Robau in the upcoming Star Trek film, praised Trek’s director, J.J. Abrams, in an interview with The National Ledger.
J.J. is one of those people who has the ability to re-introduce water to you in a new way. He’s such a creative man. I love what he’s done with it because he hasn’t said farewell to the tradition or the story of ‘Star Trek,’ but he has such a fresh approach to it that I think he will re-introduce it to this generation in a way they can relate. It will create this bridge between the people who grew up with it and this younger generation who didn’t know about it.
Koenig receives suspended sentence; father & son talk Burma
Actor and editor Andrew Koenig – “Boner” in Growing Pains, Tumak in DS9’s “Sanctuary,” and son of TOS star Walter Koenig – was sentenced to pay a $50 fine for protesting in front of a Rose Parade float on New Year’s Day. However, as Pasadena Weekly reports, this sentence was suspended after Koenig’s attorney argued that the eight hours Koenig spent in jail was punishment enough. Koenig does not plan on appealing the decision, stating:
The whole point of this trial was to bring attention to what’s going on in Burma. The cyclone that devastated the country shines a bigger light on Burma than I possibly could.
Walter Koenig also commented on the current crisis in Burma aka Myanmar:
Even in these darkest of skies, the silver lining — and I don’t use that expression frivolously — might be that we see even more clearly just what a despotic, ruthless administration they have there and how badly the people are suffering. Perhaps this finally will be the instigation to bring some real political reform to that country.
Ryder filming ‘Pippa Lee’ in Connecticut
Oscar-nominated actress Winona Ryder – who plays Spock’s mother, Amanda Grayson, in the upcoming Star Trek film – was spotted at a Connecticut hospital last Thursday. But fear not, Ms. Ryder has not fallen ill – she was actually filming scenes for the movie The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, as reported by Connecticut Post. Filming actually had to be stopped in the middle of a scene to allow actual hospital nurses to wheel a patient back to his room. Robin Wright-Penn (not Ryder) plays the title role in the film, which is slated to be out next year.
Perlman back to being bad
Having reprised his role as heroic demon Hellboy in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (opening July 11th), Ron Perlman (the Reman viceroy in Star Trek Nemesis) is going back to playing the bad guy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Perlman will be playing an Eastern European gang lord (and the main villain) in the hybrid martial arts flick Bunraku. The film is set in a “hyperstylized universe” similar to 2005’s Sin City. The film is currently shooting and should be out in 2009.
Happy birthday!
TrekMovie wishes a very happy birthday to the follow Star Trek luminaries who celebrated birthdays this week (and those Trekkers who for whatever reason we didn’t list below):
- Brenda Bakke (45) – played Rivan in TNG’s “Justice”
- Rob Bowman (48) – directed thirteen episodes of TNG
- David Clennon (65) – played the holographic Dr. Crell Moset in VOY’s “Nothing Human”
- Brian Cousins (49) – appeared in three episodes of TNG (“The Enemy”, “Descent I” and “Descent II”) and an episode of ENT (“The Catwalk”)
- Meg Foster (60) – played Onaya in DS9’s “The Muse”
- April Grace (46) – made several appearances on TNG (and in DS9’s pilot) as Transporter Chief Maggie Hubbell
- Michael G. Hagerty (54) – appeared twice on TNG (“Redemption II” and “Thine Own Self”)
- Nancy Hower (42) – played the recurring role of Samantha Wildman on VOY
- Stratton Leopold (65) – original exec producer and unit production manager on 2009’s Star Trek
- Gina Phillips (38) – played Varis Sul in DS9’s “The Storyteller”
- Richard Riehle (60) – played Batai in TNG’s “The Inner Light”, Seamus on VOY, and Dr. Jeremy Lucas on ENT
TrekBits
- Ethan Phillips (Neelix) appeared on this past Monday’s episode of Bones, which you can watch now at Fox.com.
- John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox) guest-starred on the season (and likely series) finale of Women’s Murder Club, the ABC series featuring his Enterprise co-star Linda Park. The episode aired this past Tuesday and you can currently watch it online at ABC.com.
- Michelle Forbes (Ro Laren) will appear in the season finale of Lost, which appears tonight at 10/9c on ABC. (LA Times)
- Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien) will star in The Race, a film about a poor Irish girl who dreams of becoming a race car driver. (Hollywood Reporter)
- Roseville has an article on Robert Picardo (The Doctor)’s new film, Sensored; read it here.
- Actress Alfre Woodard (Lily Sloan) attended and read a poem at the inauguration of L.A. Democrat Karen Bass as speaker of the California State Assembly on Tuesday. (LA Times)
- Images have been posted of a presentation of the upcoming Pixar film Up, which features the voice of Star Trek VI‘s Christopher Plummer (Gen. Chang) as the villain. (/film)
- F. Murray Abraham (Ru’afo) played his final performance in the off-Broadway production Almost an Evening on May 11th. Playbill)
- Tom Hardy (Shinzon) is being tapped to star in a three-part mini-series adaptation of Wuthering Heights. (The Telegraph)
- Star Trek VI cameo-maker Christian Slater (nameless comm officer) will star with Cuba Gooding, Jr., in the action comedy film Lies & Illusions. (Variety)
- Neville Page, the lead creature/character designer on 2009’s Star Trek, is currently designing flesh-eating fish for the remake Piranha 3-D. (Variety)
Whoopi is my favorite barkeep. She’s not as rude as Quark or as perky as Neelix. This makes me happy.
“It is green.” -Data
First methinks?
That 28th Amendment movies sounds intriguing! I love political thrillers.
I got to work with Whoopi in Ster Act II. She is as warm and real as she appears. There’s nothing phony about her. And Yeah, Guinan was the greatest bartender of them all, even with the pizza-sized hats.
Tom Cruise and United Artists supported the Writers Guild during the strike by breaking ranks with the big studios and signing an agreement. He’s jake with me and I don’t care who knows it. ;-)
RE #3
“Shuttle Head”
Watch the clip…
I really hope Patrick ditches the Gandhi look soon.
Otherwise, cool! Seemed like the women were more interested in his work than in Bill’s book.
# 5–I heard Whoopi say “shovel head,” but they aways looked to me like she could store a large pizza in there!
Heh, looks like Quinto’s eyebrows are going back well!
Looks like Quinto’s eyebrows grew back in with no problem, which is good, considering Heroes has already starting filming.
Would be much more comfortable with Denzel Washington as prez. Tom Cruise? That is one Abrams decision which makes me shake my head and wonder “What was he thinking?”
#9 Denise de Arman — JJ Abrams didn’t cast Cruise as the president, the studio did. Abrams isn’t even associated with the project.
That doesn’t look anything like Matt Damon in that picture with Scott Bakula. Is the caption right?
11, on closer examination using the zoom feature on my IE, I think it’s correct. He looks different with longer hair and glasses — much different from his Bourne appearance.
Scott Bakula seems way taller than Damon, doesn’t he?
uh huh uh huh
Charles Trotter said “Boner”.
uh huh uh huh uh huh
=h=
Sweet. Captain Archer drives a five-oh Fox body ‘Stang.
#11 BrandonR — yes, the caption is correct. Watch the video and look at the rest of the images, you’ll see Matt Damon does not look very Matt Damon-ish in this movie at all. :)
I’m going to the MotorCity Comic Con this weekend, it’s going to be GREAT!
WHO IS THIS DANIA RAMIREZ???
And where can I get some?
A remake of Piranha……in 3-D…….WHOOOO-HOOOOOO !!!!
Matt and Bakula are standing on a sloping driveway with Bakula at the higher end, so hard to tell from this picture who’s taller. Joel McHale is also in this movie, and is much taller than either of them (he’s like, 6-3). I can’t wait to see this movie. Matt Damon in ‘serious actor’ mode is awesome, the director is great and love the whole cast.
It was great to see Patrick Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg again!
Wil Wheaton looks different, too. Didn’t recognize him from the photo and was surprised when I read from the caption that it was he.
Maybe they’ll cast him in a future Trek sequel as a young version of another Will — Will Riker. ;-)
Chuck#10- Thank you for the correction. It is good to know Abrams was not the source of that vacuous idea.
#17 WHO IS THIS DANIA RAMIREZ???
She’s the actress that plays Maya in Heroes. She so cool.
Bad Zach! We don’t like that comment. We want to see the Enterprise in all its glory on the big screen!
I suppose direct-to-DVD isn’t too bad of a rep. Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum are both direct-to-DVD and from what I’ve been reading on other sites, The Ark of Truth has been widely successful in sales and reviews and they expect the same for Continuum.
No idea if Mi3 was a good movie or not. I mean, I watched it, but since Cruise was in it, I am not sure if that’s why I hated it so much.
I used to live 30 miles away from the Scientology Headquarters. The Scintology “free stress test” was regularly handed out on my university campus. Short version of the story: they are crazy in a dangerous sense.
Sorry to say that I just can’t enjoy anything Cruise is even remotely attached to for that very reason.
Hello Trek (no Trek on ISS? Why?) I read over at WOWOWOW Whoopi tell a story about Marlon Brando coming to visit her – a day earlier! I am so happy she, who hasn’t been getting any scripts has a job on The View. I once was somewhat obsessed by Barbara Walters dry cleaning having stopped by the place and my girlfriend Dee Dee (never Myers sigh…) family phone was listed as Arlington Walters. Nice interview…thanks Patrick Stewart for putting Macbeth more in perspective…the porter does what? Now if we could get someone like Sarah Bernhardt to be “Hamlet” again…(she saved Mrs. Lincoln).
I’m really looking forward to the Informant. With Soderbergh directing and Matt Damon, Joel McHale and Scott Bakula in the leads, how can you go wrong?