Bruce Greenwood is returning to the role of Admiral Christopher Pike for the 2013 Star Trek sequel. The actor was at the Saturn Awards last night and tried to stay within the confines of the film’s secrecy but did say some thigns about sets, the mood on the set and more. See excerpts and video below.
Greenwood Talks Trek Sequel Secrecy, Sets and Effects
Bruce Greenwood was at the Saturn Awards last night and he spoke to some outlets about the Star Trek sequel. He opined about the secrecy surrounding the project with IFC, saying:
“So the audience can have an experience that isn’t complicated by having to pretend they don’t know what happens,” Greenwood answered. “It makes it trickier to conceal things so that when you see it for the first time you don’t know what’s coming, but that’s okay. You can’t blame people for being interested and excited, trying to find out. But everyone who’s involved in the film is committed to keeping it under wraps.”
Speaking to Collider, Greenwood spoke about his time in the Star Trek sequel, including the "great vibe" on the set. Greenwood also noted that "very little was green screen" and much more was done with practical effects for the sequel.
Found video: Greenwood talks about his action figure – I look like Picard with hair
Just released online this week by Houston PBS was an interview (from 2009 or 2010) with Greenwood where he talks about his whole career, including Star Trek. Watch the Trek segment below starting at around the 10:30 segment where he talks about how exciting and daunting it was to get involved with such a big franchise, and his views on how his action figure just looks like "Picard with hair."
Glad Admiral Pike is back for the sequel. The father figure aspect was really well done. Bruce Greenwood lent some gravitas in the last film.
Greenwood was also great in “Thirteen Days”.
#1
Agreed! Thirteen Days was excellent… well, if you ignore Kevin Costner’s wonky Bhaaaw-ston accent.
NuPike is awesome. IMO, the only character/actor in the 2009 movie who was actually BETTER than the original.
#2.
Agreed about Costner. He sure can’t do accents very well. He struggled with the British accent in “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves”.
Bruce is definitely a class act.
It’s just my personal guess, but I’m thinking either in this movie or the next… somebody we care about has gotta die… and (not that I want this to happen) it could well be Pike. It’ll be some situation that gets Kirk all charged up emotionally, so he can order double red alert and blast the bad guys outta space.
I want him drooling and beeping this time or I call bullsh$t
@6
And my favorite comment of the day,…. any site.
Man, Bruce is like semi-spoiling stuff all over the place, gotta love him! We can now assume Pike’s role won’t just be a one-minute your-mission-is transmission a la Admiral Janeway. :D
So What??… ” Maybe we shot a trailer that had nothing to do with the movie.”… he said to IFC…
Ummm…………………………whatever… I want to see this trailer anyway… ;-) :-)
Pike is wonderful, and despite his initial circumstances, frankly, the “previous Captain of the Enterprise” always deserved a little more showcasing. Knowing “The Cage” and what “The Menagerie” attempted to do is fun stuff, but there’s definitely story for a guy who is ultimately Spock’s mentor and Kirk’s predecessor. I’m glad to have more Greenwood, this go around.
I would just like a TITLE!
11. How about “Star Trek: To Be Announced”? TOS, TAS, TMP, TBA
Greenwood says he did some 3D, so it sounds like something substantial. Maybe an action scene?
#4
Struggled? I don’t think he even tried! :)
Just out of curiosity, but has this ever happened before? I mean, a big, hollywood, summer film that still hasn’t announced a title with less than a year till release? This sort of represents the absurdity of the situation. I can understand keeping plot points under wraps, but the title?
LMAO@ #6!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! Too funny!!!
I loved the lens flares too.
4. Red Dead Ryan – Saying Kevin Costner “struggled” with the accent in Robin Hood is like saying an ant struggled to drag a Volkswagen to its nest. It ruined the whole movie for me. Truly embarrassing.They should have just had Little John introduce him as “Robin, my cousin from Kansas,” so he didn’t have to worry about the accent. It may even have been worse than Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but I’m not sure. I can’t watch either movie.
But Bruce Greenwood is nothing but a class act! I want him in a live action Trek series. He was one of the best things about Abrams’ Star Trek.
@3 “NuPike is awesome. IMO, the only character/actor in the 2009 movie who was actually BETTER than the original.”
I so agree! I’m very glad to see Admiral Pike is back in the sequel.
Oh, a new Star Trek movie is coming around? I just do not know anything about it. Don´t believe it until I have seen the trailer :P
We already have a trailer for the next Superman movie coming out a month after Trek, but do we even have a title for Trek 12 yet? Nope. I am starting to worry that this Top Secret non-promotion campaign is going to come back and bite Bad Robot on its shiny metal ass.
#15 – At last report, they are still deciding on titles.
I would like a TV series about Pike’s time on the Enterprise, starring Greenwood.
23. Plump Spider – Absolutely. I think that’s a no-brainer, and I’ve mentioned the idea before. Nobody ever runs with it. Glad to hear it being mentioned by somebody else.
23. Me, too!
I see a lot of title-speculation that focuses on Star Trek “Something” or Star Trek: Something.
But not a lot of “Something Star Trek”. I think I’d actually dig it more should they add something before the classic title rather than after. So long as it’s not “Another Star Trek”.
Agreed on 13 Days, then.Motion carries.
Also a motion that Kevin Costner never play in any movie requiring more than a flat or Southern accent [see Hatfields and McCoys- really- see it– it’s very good]. Second?
25. boborci – so make it so!
@5. CmdrR
Not my Pike! Noooo, they better not kill him! You wash your mouth out!
@23. Plump Spider
I think a LOT of ladies would be glued to that TV series.
Bruce Greenwood is spectacular. He seems to have this ethereal humility about him combined with a distinct presence of command, both perfect for the role of Captain/Admiral Pike. Hunter-Pike was from what is briefly known of that character, via “The Cage” and “The Menagerie, Parts I & II,” intelligent, charismatic, and cerebral, all in ways and styles different from Shatner-Kirk; Greenwood-Pike has those qualities and more. Greenwood-Pike has from what I see a paternalistic badassery, that is your more than run of the mill badass father figure, and a man with a sharpened sense of wit, perfect for command. In my opinion Captain Pike and to an extent Captain Robau made Star Trek 2009 great, both are captains I want to know more of.
21. I completely agree with you! The whole sense of “non-promotion” is one that the Bad Robot producers seem to think will be a clever one, but it WILL bite them in their shiny metal asses. If they’re not telling anybody that a movie is being made, then how in the Hell are people supposed to know about it?
Cant have a series about pikes time on the enterprise before kirk cuz it didnt happen.,,enterprise was new when pike took it out in trek 09…..he had her for one half mission bfore spock n kirk took over puttin him outta work….so no cage….no aliens with bulging butt head brainsv..sigh….no susan oliver as a she hulk slave babe..damn..there goes my aolescence fantasies….
how can we fix that mr orci sir?
#21/31 – I love how people complain that nobody will know this movie is being made while fans, the stars, and various media outlets keep talking about it–even though it’s a year from release. I know non-fans who have asked about the sequel, so clearly people are hearing about it.
It’s not uncommon for films to get little official promotion until a few months before being released–in fact, that is fairly standard–so you’re complaining about something that is COMMON PRACTICE.
A lot of concerns are legitimate–worries about them using Khan (please no, please no, please no) and so on–but the constant whining that they aren’t promoting it enough yet is both laughable and really, really annoying.
Ooooh, we don’t know the title yet! SO WHAT?! That doesn’t take away from the anticipation, nor from the trepidation, over the sequel. Awww, we don’t have the villain confirmed! BIG DEAL! Lots of great movies exist where the audience doesn’t even know who the villain is until the end of the movie, or partway through it (think back to some Kevin Spacey films, for instance).
Knowing the title will just give you something new to gripe about, which is your real motivation–more griping! Abrams & crew earned a lot of trust with their success on the first film (except the godawful lens flares), so why not just go along with the ride?
Whining that the mystery is still a mystery, and saying that this secrecy is going to harm the film’s success, is just ridiculous. Relax, cupcakes.
Saying that it’s normal for a big movie that’s due out in just 10 months to not have a title and little promotion is just crazy!
Marvel knows how to generate buzz for their movies without giving away the plot. The new Iron Man just started filming and they released a gorgeous set photo the first week. It got me anxious for the new movie and didn’t give away anything about the story. They’ve already announced the titles for the next Thor and Captain America installments and they aren’t even filming yet. Even the latest Batman movie got people talking way back at the beginning of shooting just by releasing a picture of the back of Tom Hardy’s Bane character.
If JJ thinks that his mystery will get people talking up the movie to their friends and family he’s mistaken. One well chosen set photo will do a lot more to generate anticipation than all of the actor interviews where they do the expected complimenting of the story and reassurances of how awesome it will be.
6. Even if he’s not drooling in the film, I’ll be drooling in my cinema seat. Will that do?
More Silver Fox!…*sigh*
“If JJ thinks that his mystery will get people talking up the movie to their friends and family he’s mistaken.”
–posted by a person talking about the movie to his friends
But, I agree that we’re well past the point where the studio should have started the build-up. Half-billion dollar box office takes don’t just happen. They take work.
How do you not have a title by now? That’s really hard to believe but if it’s true, it shows a lack of direction and a goal.
I’m getting worried about how this film is being handled. I’m not demanding anything and I know that we aren’t entitled to anything from the producers. What I’m saying is that it’s things like them not having a title less than a year out, that the actor who was to play the lead bad guy was replaced by two other guys and the one who was finally chosen is substantially different in appearnce that the first and second, and that they are keeping so much hidden about the story and plot makes me suspect that they are having problems. That the cast & crew is fawning all over this film means nothing. Like in many movies that are only fair or worse, TNG’s cast did the same thing about Nemesis and even they have since expressed disappointment with that film. Transformers 2 was awful; didn’t these guys write that one? Are JJA & Co. worried and that’s why they are keeping everything under wraps? By releasing a title and a general plot, they could make such concerns go away. Until then, I’m worried…
I’m so delighted that Bruce Greenwood will be back as Pike in the sequel.
I’m looking forward to seeing him in MANY scenes. At least as much airtime as the last movie. I’ll be on pins and needles as the opening date gets closer. So excited! It’s PIKE I want to see!
Greenwood’s comments in a nutshell:
“We don’t want you going into the movie with any preconceived ideas or expectations about the villain you’ve see before, therefore we won’t tell you who he is. We want you to re-discover the character our way.”
There ya have it, folks!
@25
So would I & if anyone can ‘Make it so’, it’s you Bob!
Although he didn’t really bear a physical resemblance of JFK, he still had me totally convinced that he was indeed JFK in the film 13 Days. That’s what I consider to be great acting.
I was very happy when I first heard he was going to be in Abram’s first Trek film, and I’m equally happy to hear that he’s returning as Pike in the second.
Glad Greenwood is back; I really liked his interpretation of Pike. I used to watch (and enjoy) his 1990’s series, “Nowhere Man”; it was kind of a updated attempt at “The Prisoner” (1967), one of my favorite series of all time.
When I first heard he was Pike, all I could think was ‘Perfect fit!’ ;-)
Just call it Star Trek- that JJ thing-
43. Sebastian S. –
‘Nowhere Man’ was a great show that like so many genre shows, never got the chance to achieve full potential. Greenwood was great in it as well as in ‘St. Elsewhere’ before that. SE was for years my favorite non-Trek show, until ‘The Sopranos’ came along.
No doubt a Pike show would be something we’d all like to see.
@boborci
I wanted to keep this post 100% positive but the frustration’s set in again. With STAR TREK there is a universe (or more) of potential that, from the outside looking in, seems to be wasted (the operative word being ‘seems’). And more and more this appears to be the result of ‘over-calculation’ for the sake of control. Now I’d never begrudge artists control of their work but I’ll state the obvious here – Enough is enough. And too much is too much. All I want is a title (we’ve already got the stars the steer her by). But I’m not fooling myself. Once I get that I’ll only want one other thing, and then another.
But seriously – TOO MUCH! The time is right, seems to me.
# 45 crazydaystrom~
Agreed.
The secrecy is, for me at least, beginning to create a bit of apathy (the hype will be so high that NO movie will be able to live up to it). And I still think the movie’s lack of representation at this year’s Comic Con (with less than a year to go) was a really BAD idea….
34. DiscoSpock… I thought the idea was to appeal beyond the fanbase. I run a Library and see the Trek 2009 DVD come and go quite often, and I usually tell the patron, “you know, they’re filming the sequel” (now its “you know, the sequel is coming next summer”) and I can guess that maybe 1 out of 10 knew about it before I told them. If Bad Robot only wants die-hard fans to know about the movie, then they have done an outstanding job.
And it is absolutely nonsense to proclaim that not having the title of the movie <10 months out is "Common Practice". We already know about "Thor: The Dark Worlds", "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and "Captain America: Winter Soldier" coming in late 2013 and early 2014. For what presumably is expected to be a summer tentpole film for Paramount, we know distressingly little about it.
Name another Summer 2013 film that we know less about than "Untitled Star Trek Sequel".
#47 – So, you “guess” that 1 out of 10 know about it. Meanwhile, I’ve had lots of non-fans mention the sequel to me (“I guess you already know about the sequel, huh?”), so I can “guess” that 5 out of 10 know about it. Or 3 out of 10. Or 47 out of 122–whatever guess you like.
Non-fans don’t care what the title is. They’d be as happy with “Star Trek 2” as anything else because they’re not obsessed with the title, as so many of the fans here seem to be. And do you really think they could sustain full-bore, wide-open, no-secrets publicity of this film for an entire year?! Get real.
You say that “we know distressingly little about it.” Really? You’re distressed about not knowing the title? You’re distressed about not knowing exactly who the villain is? If you’re really distressed by this lack of detailed information, then I’m really sorry for saying anything since it’s probably just adding to your distress.
“Distressingly” little….wow! I guess I’m one of those fans who doesn’t get too worked up about NON-ISSUES that shouldn’t distress ANYONE.
If knowing so little is really distressing…get a life!
#122:
Wow! Way to sail over all of Thorny’s post and obsess over a single word and be a total d!ck about it! We knew what he meant even if you didn’t.
His level of “distress” is nothing compared to your level of “hysteria” about it!
But I’m glad to hear that all non-fans voted you to be their official spokesperson to pass on their unanimous opinion about the lack of a title!
The creative team of this movie have created a few blockbusters. They have some ability to plan and pull off a good marketing campaign.
No need to panic, unless Mr. Orci posts here and reveals chaos, procrastination, and absolute anarchy within the team.
Maybe their plan is good, maybe it is bad. We will find out opening weekend if their strategy worked.
We should stick to worrying if the movie will be any good :)