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Star Trek is a science fiction film directed by J. J. Abrams, written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and produced by Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk. It is the eleventh Star Trek film and features the main characters of the original Star Trek series, who are portrayed by a new cast. It explores the backstories of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), before they unite aboard the USS Enterprise to combat Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan from the future who threatens the United Federation of Planets. The film will be released in conventional theaters and IMAX on May 8, 2009, in North America and the United Kingdom.
Development of the film began in 2005 when Paramount Pictures contacted Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman for ideas to revive the franchise. The creative team contrasted Orci and Lindelof, who consider themselves "Trekkies", with casual fans like Abrams, who all aimed to create a film that would interest a general audience.
They wanted to be faithful to Star Trek canon, but they also introduced elements of their favorite novels, modified continuity with the time travel storyline, and modernized the production design of the original show. Filming took place from November 2007 to April 2008 under intense secrecy. Midway through the shoot, Paramount chose to delay the release date from December 25, 2008 to May 2009, believing the film could reach a wider audience.
Cast:
Chris Pine as James T. Kirk. Pine and Quinto work out at the same gym, and Quinto became supportive of casting him as Kirk. Pine felt his first audition was awful, because he could not take himself seriously as a leader, but Abrams was impressed enough to have him practice a scene with Quinto. Pine cited Harrison Ford's performances as Han Solo and Indiana Jones as an inspiration because of his "absolute grumpy manner; the accidental hero. Not to say that I modeled my version of James T. Kirk on anything in particular but I think I definitely have wanted to bring that kind of Harrison Ford humor to Kirk." Pine watched classic episodes and read encyclopedias about the fictional universe, but stopped as he felt weighed down by feeling he had to copy William Shatner's mannerisms. Pine felt he had to show Kirk's "humor, arrogance and decisiveness", but not Shatner's speech pattern, which would have bordered on imitation. Pine also said when watching the original series, he was struck by the humorousness of Shatner's performance. After being cast, Pine sent Shatner a letter, and received a reply wishing him good luck.
Beforehand, it was widely rumored that Matt Damon would play Kirk. Upon hearing the rumors and that Shatner gave him a "seal of approval", Damon contacted Abrams to ascertain the truth, only to be told that the Kirk in the film was a younger man and he was "too old" for the part.
Jimmy Bennett plays James Kirk as a boy.
Zachary Quinto as Spock. Quinto pursued the role as he was interested in the duality of Spock's half-human, half Vulcan heritage, and how "he is constantly exploring that notion of how to evolve in a responsible way and how to evolve in a respectful way. I think those are all things that we as a society, and certainly the world, could implement." For the audition, he wore a blue shirt and flattened his hair down to feel more like Spock. He bound his fingers to practice the Vulcan salute, shaved his eyebrows and grew and dyed his hair for the role. He conveyed many of Spock's attributes, such as his stillness and the way Nimoy would hold his hands behind his back. Quinto commented the physical transformation aided in portraying an alien, joking "I just felt like a nerd. I felt like I was 12 again. You look back at those pictures and you see the bowl cut. There's no question I was born to play the Spock role. I was sporting that look for a good four or five years." Adrien Brody had discussed playing the role with the director before Quinto was cast.
Leonard Nimoy reprises his role as the old Spock, who has come from the future to provide help. Nimoy befriended Quinto after being cast in the role. Although Quinto watched some episodes of the show during breaks in filming, Nimoy was his main resource in playing Spock. Had Nimoy disliked the script, production would have been delayed for it to be rewritten. Nimoy was "genuinely excited" by the script's scope and its detailing of the characters' backstories, saying, "We have dealt with Spock being half-human, half-Vulcan, but never with quite the overview that this script has of the entire history of the character, the growth of the character, the beginnings of the character and the arrival of the character into the Enterprise crew." Abrams said "it was surreal to direct him as Spock, because what the hell am I doing there? This guy has been doing it for forty years. It’s like 'I think Spock would...'"
Jacob Kogan plays Spock as a child.
Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. Like Pine, Urban said of taking on the role that "it is a case of not doing some sort of facsimile or carbon copy, but really taking the very essence of what DeForest [Kelley] has done and honoring that and bringing something new to the table". Urban has been a fan of the show since he was seven years old and actively pursued the role. Orci and Kurtzman recommended Urban to Abrams, as they had cast him as Caesar in Xena: Warrior Princess.
Simon Pegg as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott. To perform Scotty's accent, Pegg was assisted by his Scottish wife. He described Scotty as a positive Scottish stereotype, noting "Scots are the first people to laugh at the fact that they drink and fight a bit", and that Scotty comes from a long line of Scots with technical expertise, such as John Logie Baird and Alexander Graham Bell. Years before, Pegg's character in Spaced joked that every odd-numbered Star Trek film being "shit" was a fact of life. Pegg noted "Fate put me in the movie to show me I was talking out of my ass."
Chris Doohan, the son of the original Scotty, James Doohan, makes a cameo appearance in the transporter room. Pegg has e-mailed Doohan about the role, and the actor has promised him his performance "would be a complete tribute to his father". Chris Doohan previously cameoed in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Paul McGillion auditioned for Scotty, and he impressed producers enough that he was given another role in the film.
Zoe Saldana as Uhura. Abrams had liked her work and requested that she play the role. Saldana never saw the original series, but agreed to play the role after Abrams had complimented her. "For an actor, that's all you need, that's all you want. To get the acknowledgement and respect from your peers," she said. She met with Nichelle Nichols, who explained to her how she had created Uhura's background, and also named the character. Sydney Tamiia Poitier also auditioned for the part.
John Cho as Hikaru Sulu. Abrams was concerned about casting a Korean-American as a Japanese-American character, but George Takei explained to the director that Sulu was meant to represent all of Asia on the Enterprise, so Abrams went ahead with Cho. Cho acknowledged being an Asian-American, "there are certain acting roles that you are never going to get, and one of them is playing a cowboy. [Playing Sulu] is a realization of that dream — going into space." He cited the masculinity of the character as being important to him, and spent two weeks fight training. Cho suffered an injury to his wrist during filming, although a representative assured it was "no big deal". James Kyson Lee was interested in the part, but because Quinto was cast as Spock, the producers of the TV show Heroes did not want to lose another cast member for three months.
Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov: As with the rest of the cast, Yelchin was allowed to choose what elements there were from their predecessor's performances. Yelchin decided to carry on Walter Koenig's speech patterns of replacing "v"s with "w"s, although he and Abrams felt this was a trait more common of Polish accents than Russian ones. He described Chekov as an odd character, being a Russian who was brought on to the show "in the middle of the Cold War." He recalled a "scene where they're talking to Apollo who says, 'I am Apollo.' And Chekov is like, 'And I am the czar of all Russias.' They gave him these lines. I mean he really is the weirdest, weirdest character."
Eric Bana as Nero, the film's timetravelling Romulan villain. Part of his past involves escaping from the Klingon prison Rura Penthe. Bana shot his scenes toward the end of filming. He was "a huge Trekkie when he was a kid", but had not seen many of the films. Even if he were "crazy about the original series", he would not have accepted the role unless he liked the script, which he deemed "awesome" once he read it. Bana knew Abrams because they coincidentally shared the same agent. Bana improvised the character's speech patterns.
Bruce Greenwood as Christopher Pike, the captain of the Enterprise.
Clifton Collins, Jr. as General Ayel, Nero's henchman.
Chris Hemsworth as George Samuel Kirk, Sr., Kirk's father, who died aboard the USS Kelvin while battling the
Romulans.
Jennifer Morrison as Winona Kirk, Kirk's mother.
Brad William Henke as Frank, Kirk's abusive, alcoholic uncle. Star Trek: Enterprise star Dominic Keating auditioned for the role.
Spencer Daniels as George Samuel "Sam" Kirk, Jr., Kirk's older brother, who appears in a scene with Jimmy Bennett.
Faran Tahir as Richard Robau, George Kirk's captain.
Greg Ellis as Chief Engineer Olsen.
Rachel Nichols and Diora Baird play Orions. Tyler Perry appears as the head of Starfleet Academy. James Cawley appears as a Starfleet officer, while Pavel Lychnikoff and Lucia Rijker play Romulans, Lychnikoff a Commander and Rijker a CO. W. Morgan Sheppard, who played a Klingon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, appears in this film as a different alien. Greg Grunberg has a cameo as a result of a schedule conflict that deprived him of the role Abrams intended for him. A tribble appears in the film. Star Trek fan and Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch (who died on July 25, 2008) cameoed as an Enterprise crew member, and has a line of dialogue. Majel Barrett, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, reprised her role as the voice of the Enterprise's computer, which she completed two weeks before her death on December 18, 2008.
William Shatner wanted to appear as the old Kirk, despite the death of the character in Star Trek Generations. He suggested the film canonize the novels where Kirk is resurrected, but Abrams argued, "You and I could come up with dozens of ways [to resurrect Kirk], but every way that we came up with felt like it was transparently fanboys trying to get Shatner in the movie." Nimoy disliked the character's death in Generations, but felt resurrecting Kirk would also be detrimental to this film. Shatner added he wanted to share Nimoy's major role, and did not want a cameo. Nichelle Nichols suggested playing Uhura's grandmother, but Abrams could not write this in due to the Writers Guild strike. Abrams was also interested in casting Keri Russell, but they deemed the role he had in mind for her too similar to her other roles.
In February 2008, Paramount announced they would move Star Trek from its December 25, 2008 release date to May 8, 2009. The move was not due to the end of the WGA strike, but because the studio felt more audiences would see the film during summer rather than winter. The film was practically finished by the end of 2008. Paramount's decision came about after visiting the set and watching dailies, as they realized the film could appeal to a much broader audience. Even though the filmmakers liked the Christmas release date, Damon Lindelof acknowledged it would allow more time to perfect the visual effects.
The first teaser trailer debuted in theaters with Cloverfield on January 18, 2008, which showed the Enterprise under construction. Abrams himself directed the first part of the trailer, where a welder removes his goggles. Professional welders were hired for the teaser. The voices of the 1960s played over the trailer were intended to link the film to the present day; John F. Kennedy in particular was chosen because of similarities with the character of James T. Kirk and because he is seen to have "kicked off" the space race. Orci explained that: "If we do indeed have a Federation, I think Kennedy’s words will be inscribed in there someplace."
Paramount faced two obstacles in promoting the film: the "MySpace generation"'s unfamiliarity with the franchise and, the relatively weak overseas performance of the films. Six months before the film's release, Abrams toured Rome; Cologne; Madrid; Paris; London; New York City and Los Angeles with 25 minutes of footage. Abrams noted the large-scale campaign start unusually early, but this was because the release delay allowed him to show more completed scenes than normal. The director preferred promoting his projects quietly, but concurred Paramount needed to remove Star Trek's stigma. When asked where they would go from there, Abrams replied "Oh, there's a whole crazy campaign [...] We have a life-size Enterprise, but I'm not allowed to talk about it."Promotional partners on the film include Esurance, Burger King and Intel Corporation, as well as various companies specializing in home decorating, apparel, jewelry, gift items and "Tiberius," "Pon Farr" and "Red Shirt" fragrances.
IDW Publishing began the comic book Star Trek: Countdown in January 2009, presenting Nero's backstory and bridging the gap between the film and the old Spock's last appearance in The Next Generation episode "Unification". It also features the characters Jean-Luc Picard and Data, following the events of Star Trek Nemesis. The comic was written by Orci, Kurtzman, Tim Jones and Mike Johnson, and drawn by David Messina. The story came about because Anthony Pascale, editor of TrekMovie.com, kept requesting a way of having The Next Generation "pass the baton" back to the original characters.
When asked whether the filmmakers' involvement in the comic made it canonical, Orci stated he was in no position to declare whether it as such, though he felt it could easily remain as such unless it was contradicted in a future film. Orci and Kurtzman also helped Alan Dean Foster in writing a novelization of the film – Foster's first Star Trek novel in over 30 years. Foster was allowed to watch the completed film in February 2009 during writing, although the novel will still contain scenes not in the final edit.
Playmates Toys, who owned the Star Trek toy license until 2000, earned the merchandise rights for the new film. The first waves will be released in March and April 2009, and another in September. Playmates hope to continue their toy line into 2010. The first wave consists of 3.75", 6" and 12" action figures, an Enterprise replica, prop toys and play sets. In order to recreate the whole bridge, one would have to buy more 3.75" figures, which come with chairs and consoles to add to the main set consisting of Kirk's chair, the floor, the main console and the viewscreen. Mattel, Hasbro and Fundex Games will promote the film with brands including playing cards, Monopoly, UNO, Scrabble, Magic 8-Ball, Hot Wheels, Tyco R/C, 20Q, Scene It? and Barbie lines (some of which are based on previous Star Trek iterations rather than the 2009 film). CBS created caricatures of the original characters named "Quogs" to appear on various merchandise to further bring Star Trek to a wider audience. Master Replicas also have the merchandise license.
When promoting the film to the mainstream press, Abrams exaggerated the fact he preferred other shows to Star Trek as a child with statements like "I'm not a Star Trek fan" and "this movie is not made for Star Trek fans". Orci compared Abrams' approach to The Next Generation episode "A Matter of Honor", where William Riker is stationed aboard a Klingon vessel. "On that ship when someone talks back to you, you would have to beat them down or you lose the respect of your crew, which is protocol, whereas on a Federation ship that would be a crime. So we have to give JJ a little bit of leeway, when he is traveling the 'galaxy' over there where they don’t know Trek, to say the things that need to be said in order to get people onto our side."
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