Articles by Anthony Pascale

Zachary Quinto was a popular person to nab for questions at the recent Spike Scream awards. For the most part, the new Spock repeated his usual comments about being “excited” and “humbled” about the project and working with Nimoy. But MTV did get him to open up a bit more. Here is Quinto on younger Spock I think there’s a distinction you need to make as an actor that you’re clear when and where you drop into that character. [Spock] evolved over a long period of time, so to pick that up and establish it at a time before you knew those characters is exciting. It allows me to discover some of the origins of these things.

Back in May we reported that both J.J. Abrams and Keri Russell dropped some hints that they would both be open to her being in the new Star Trek, but it seemed to just be usual celebrity log rolling. Russell was the star of Abrams’ first TV series Felicity and appeared in his first feature film, Mission: Impossible: III. In a new interview with TV Guide the actress reveals that there is actually some fire to the smoke. She says that she is in discussions on some film roles and that she talks to J.J. Abrams “all the time.” When asked specifically about a possible role in Star Trek she said:

In August a rumor surfaced that Tom Cruise would be playing the role of Captain Christopher Pike in the new Star Trek film. That was actually the second time that the star of J.J. Abrams’ first feature film (M:I:III) came up in relation to Star Trek. In both cases TrekMovie.com reported that Cruise’s people denied the rumors and today Empire reports that Cruise himself has denied the rumor. The Tom replied to the inquiry “What? No, I’m not in that,….Nope. It’s just rumor.”

Here is the behind the scenes video from a recent photo shoot with the new Mr. Spock

JJ Abrams has his new crew for his vision of Star Trek. According to StarTrek.com and The Hollywood Reporter Karl Urban has signed a deal to play Dr. Leonard McCoy. TrekMovie.com first reported that the 35 year-old Kiwi actor was up for an unnamed part two weeks ago, and last week we reported Urban was ‘in talks’ for McCoy but they were working out details related to his busy schedule. Urban was the last recast member of the Original Series crew to sign on, although there are still other roles (such as Pike) to be cast. For a complete current cast list, check out our Star Trek (2008) CAST page. For more on Urban see the original story and follow-up story.

Well the Chris Pine as Kirk story has evolved over the last week from ‘may be’ to ‘apparently’ to ‘almost’ to now ‘done.’ As of this morning the deal wasn’t done, but TrekMovie.com just got sent an update saying the deal ‘is closed’ and Chris Pine is James T. Kirk for J.J. Abrams new Star Trek movie. Once Pine pulled out of the Joe Carnahan / George Clooney White Jazz film it was just a matter of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. Bear in mind that whenever any one of these actors signs on they are also signing on to sequel options, so the deals are certain to be complex. Pine should begin rehearsing with Zachary Quinto and his other co-stars this week.

Last week news broke that Chris Pine was weighing his options between the role as James T. Kirk in the new Star Trek and a role in Joe Carnahan’s White Jazz movie. Today on his official blog, Carnahan confirmed that Pine had chosen to go with Trek: The young man playing Junior Stemmons has opted to ‘go where no man has gone before’ and thus, had to bow out of WHITE JAZZ.

It looks like the JJ Abrams is looking to the south for his country doctor…and by south I mean south of the equator. Two weeks ago TrekMovie.com reported that New Zealand actor Karl Urban was being considered for an unnamed role in the new Star Trek film, but not (as reported elsewhere) the villain. Since then we have learned that Eric Bana will be playing the villain ‘Nero.’ And today TrekMovie.com has confirmed with a source that Urban is now in talks for the role of Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, the role originally played by DeForest Kelley. According to the source the deal is not certain and Urban’s schedule seems to be an issue with a film currently shooting and another in pre-production. 

TrekMovie.com has another exclusive scoop for JJ Abrams’ new crew. According to sources Korean born actor John Cho has been tipped to be the new Hikaru Sulu for the new Star Trek. Cho is probably best known as a comedy actor for his roles in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and American Pie. At 35, Cho is older than the character calls for (and older than George Takei was when he originated the role), but Cho tends to ‘play younger’ as they say in Hollywood. Cho was not available for comment, but at an event last year he told TrekMovie.com he would jump at the chance to play Trek’s original helmsman saying "are you kidding? to drive the Enterprise, that would be so cool!"

It has been about a year since Zachary Quinto first started talking about Spock in the new Star Trek film and now it is really sinking in. In a new TV Guide interview the actor admits that he campaigned for the role by telling everyone he knew or would listen "I want to be Spock." But it appears some prosthetic pointy ears finally made the part real, saying: I just had my first fitting for my Vulcan ears. It felt incredible, and in that moment there was a huge shift for me. Suddenly it was real, and I was like "OK! Let’s get this thing going!