Rumor

And now for something not completely different. Last week’s Tom Cruise as Pike and Russell Crowe as a villain Star Trek rumors rippled across the world and are now rippling back from British tabloids. This past week, the Daily Star ran a story claiming that Tom Cruise had actually ‘signed on’ to make a cameo as Captain Pike in the new film, even though that very same rumor was denied a week earlier. According to the tabloid’s supposed ‘source,’ “Star Trek was the start of the huge sci-fi craze and Tom is fascinated by all of it.” More recently, it appears that the Daily Express has received word from yet another ‘insider’ that Crowe “is definitely considering [director/producer] J.J. Abrams’ offer.” The insider also claims that Crowe “was always a ‘Star Trek’ fan as a kid, which is a big bonus.” Of course once the rumors got upgraded by the Brit tabloids they then got picked up by other news outlets (examples: here, here, and here).

Multiple reports (including TrekMovie.com’s sources) have indicated that Paramount and the Star Trek film makers want to balance the lesser-known actors of the main cast with some big name stars. They are determined to have the new Star Trek appeal to a much wider audience than previous Trek films and well known stars are part of that plan. The likely spots for the big names would be for Captain/Fleet Captain Pike and for the villain. IGN recently hinted they had heard about interest in a very big name for the villain and now they have revealed that name to be none other than Oscar winning actor Russell Crowe. However, they also noted this was only interest and that their source ‘seriously doubted’ that Paramount and Abrams could convince the busy star to make time available from his other big film projects. Although it is likely that Crowe will not be the one, it is an indication of the caliber and star power they are looking for.

Another Star Trek movie rumor that seems hard to kill is the Matt Damon as Kirk rumor. A few readers have sent in links to a long MSN Movies article on Matt Damon that had a paragraph about him playing Kirk, starting off with the line "After "The Bourne Ultimatum," Damon has agreed to play Captain James Kirk." Although some thought this was confirmation it was actually just a bit of rumor inertia working its way into the article. In the last couple of days MSN has updated the article and the paragraph on him playing Kirk is now gone. Damon recently denied the rumor and now in a new interview with the Australian AP he repeats he is too old to play Kirk, saying…

Remember last fall when TrekMovie.com crushed the Tom Cruise in Star Trek rumor, when his own people told us it wasn’t true. Well it is hard to keep a good rumor down and now IGN are saying that JJ Abrams wants Tom Cruise to play a cameo as Chris Pike…the captain of the Enterprise before Jim Kirk (originally played by Jeffrey Hunter). TrekMovie.com cannot confirm or deny this report at this time. IGN has good sources, but some of their previous casting rumors didn’t pan out. UPDATE: Rumor DeniedArnold Robinson, a publicist for Mr. Cruise, tells TrekMovie.com that this story is "not true." TrekMovie.com has also not been able to get any confirmation of the story from any sources.   

There is a new rumor being floated by the UK’s Daily Star tabloid that singer Robbie Williams (wiki page) is  in "final discussions" to be the new James T. Kirk in the new Star Trek film. According to their report Williams is a big time Trekkie who "jumped at the chance." The Star even claims to have a quote from  director JJ Abrams saying "I think he’d be a good Captain Kirk. The Kirk in my movie is quite young, it’s like the early years…. But I can’t comment on who we are casting just yet. You’ll have to wait." TrekMovie.com cannot confirm this rumor and has heard nothing about it to date (unlike both the Nimoy and Quinto casting which there were rumblings of for the last couple months).

Heroes star Zachary Quinto (IMDB page) has made it well known that he is interested in being the new Spock, as we reported in May and in Decmeber. However it appears there may be more to the story. TrekMovie.com has heard a few times that there have been some talks between Quinto and the film’s producers, but that no deal is done. It is of course almost impossible to nail anything down with regards to casting so this is just rumor at this point, however it seems that CHUD have been picking up on the same thing. They report Quinto is "in negotiations" to be Trek’s new Vulcan science officer. As we learn more we will bring it to you. Quinto’s work as the villain Sylar on Heroes (where he co-stars with JJ Abrams best friend Greg Grunberg) has been quite impressive and created a buzz about the 30 year old actor. TrekMovie.com has been hearing that the producers are leaning away from ‘big stars’ for the staring roles of Kirk and Spock, and if so then Quinto would be an excellent choice. Hopefully by Comic-Con we will know more.

Well the latest rumor comes from Star Magazine, so bear that in mind as you read it. And here it is: SPOCK LOVES JEN GARNER!Star has learned exclusively that in the new Star Trek film, which is a prequel to the original hit series, the outwardly emotionless vulcan Mr. Spock has a love interest! Not only would Jen, 34, "be just the right person for Star Trek because she’s a chameleon," an insider says, but the film’s director, J.J. Abrams, cast her on Alias and has a history of giving jobs to people he worked with before! Beam her up!

Just a quick follow-up to last week’s article on James McAvoy playing Scotty in Star Trek XI. TrekMovie.com has spoken to McAvoy’s publicist Rupert Fowler and he says there is no truth to the original story in the Sunday Mail. "He has not been approached there have been no meetings or conversations," says Fowler. He suggested that the rumor may stem from McAvoy being a "massive Star Trek fan" and since he is Scottish someone just put those things together and voila…a good rumor. It is of course still possible that someone at Paramount is considering McAvoy but has yet to contact him. However TrekMovie has also not been able to get any confirmation of this rumor from the Paramount side, and are told that no one is being signed until after the film gets a budget.

Here is yet another recasting rumor for you to mull over, this time for Scotty. The Scottish tabloid The Sunday Mail is reporting that Last King Of Scotland star James McAvoy is the leading candidate to play the iconic engineer in Star Trek XI. The paper cites a ‘studio insider’ saying that "the producers are keen to have a Scot play Scotty." It is hard to judge the validity of this report, but it isn’t a good sign that the paper takes it as a given that Matt Damon has been signed on to play Kirk, quoting their source as saying "they (the producers) think he could form a brilliant double act with Matt (Damon)". For the record, Matt Damon has previously stated that he has yet to be approached by the studio. In addition, negotiations for any roles will not happen until after Trek XI gets an approved budget (with the possible exception of the leads and possibly Shatner and Nimoy).

Well there is another rumor on the internets about an actor wanting in to Trek. This time it is none other than the new James Bond, Daniel Craig. World Entertainment News Network is reporting that Craig is a huge Trekkie, and quotes him as saying "I would love a stint in the (Star Trek) TV Show or in a film. It’s been a secret ambition of mine for years." However before you start screaming ‘Bond is Kirk’, remember that WENN aren’t exactly considered the most trustworthy lot in the industry. They are the same outfit that put out the ‘Cruise in Trek XI’ rumor, which TrekMovie.com quickly debunked as completely made up. We have put out some inquiries on this one as well and will see if we can get it confirmed (not holding our breath).

Yesterday we reported that the Tom Cruise in Trek XI rumor appears to be bogus. But of course it is hard to keep a good rumor down, and anything with Cruise in it is ‘good’ to the tabloids. The British tabloid Daily Star has picked up the rumor but morphed it into ‘Cruise Will Be Spock‘. That story is now being cited by others including ITV a British TV Network, but so far this is our favorite… Original ‘source’ (TV Guide Canada) denies ever running the story…

The WENN entertainment news service is reporting TOM CRUISE is in negotiations to reteam with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 director JJ ABRAMS for the next STAR TREK movie. The movie superstar is reportedly a huge fan of the sci-fi franchise and jumped at the chance to play a cameo role in the new film, which will be directed by Abrams. An insider tells Canada’s TV Guide magazine, "He didn’t even need to be begged to appear in it.".