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In the 10 August 2007 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Jeff Jensen, announced, in a story and interview with J. J. Abrams, the director and creator of the new Star Trek film which is thought to be a reboot of the franchise focusing on Spock and Kirk in their younger days and possibly back at Star Fleet Academy, that NBC's "Heroes" villain Zachary Quinto will play the younger Spock. So, that's set. The rest of the casting is yet to be done. So, it seemed like it might be fun to offer some casting suggestions for Mr. Abrams. After much thought and pondering, and having no idea whom else from the original character set might also be in the film, here is my proposal. As an avid Trekker since age 8, please forgive me if you disagree with my selections. Instead, just happily post your alternatives below in my moderated forum.
movieEVERYday.com Proposals for J.J. Abrams consideration in casting his new Star Trek film:
James T. Kirk....Travis Van Winkle (Transformers, Accepted)
Dr. Bones McCoy....Cillian Murphy (Sunshine, Batman Begins)
Scotty....Padraic Delaney (The Wind that Shakes the Barley)
Lt. Uhura....Logan Browning (Bratz)
Sulu....James Kyson Lee ("Heroes")
Chekov....Stanislav Ianevski (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Nurse Chapel....Mamie Gummer (Evening)
Ok, so those are my casting choices. Can you do better? Let's see what you've got. Post your suggestions below. Have fun!
Since these suggestions were put forth, here is a link to what another blogger has written.
cillian_daily
As of 7 November, and according to the IMDb, this is how the casting for the new Star Trek film is shaping up. Unfortunately, none of the mEd.com suggestion were taken to heart. Commentary on each is provided.
Zachary Quinto ... Spock
mEd reaction: Zachary Quinto is a fine actor and a mesmerizing villain on "Heroes". So far, however, we've not seen him prove capable of being stoic and matter-of-fact. It remains to be seen how good he'll be as Spock. One thing he may be able to do well is play up the tortured human half (remember that Spock is half human half Vulcan) quite well. Perhaps in his younger years, Spock was not as perfectly robotic. Hmm, could be interesting.
Chris Pine ... Kirk
mEd reaction: Well, mEd is a fan of Chris Pine. He's not a good choice though for Kirk physically. It's pretty hard to picture him 'growing up' to look anything like William Shatner. Maybe that's not J. J. Abrams goal. I'm still going to posit that Travis Van Winkle would have been a better choice. The other draw back to Chris Pine is that he's ventured into the avant garde a bit with his roles like that of the Tremor Bros in Smokin' Aces. Taking this role will mainstream his career, and that's probably not what's best for him.
Simon Pegg ... Scotty
mEd reaction: If you don't know Simon Pegg, you should get to know him fast. He's amazing. See Hot Fuzz for a quick course in his brand of English comedy. As for a young Scotty? Huh? No offense, but he's nearly a decade older than Quinto and Pine. Was the age difference that great between James Doohan and William Shatner? Let's see:
William Shatner born: 22 March 1931, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Leonard Nimoy born: 26 March 1931, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
James Doohan born: 3 March 1920, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Chris Pine born: 26 August 1980, Los Angeles, California, USA
Zachary Quinto born: 2 June 1977, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Simon Pegg born: 14 February 1970, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Why yes he was in fact 10 years or exactly 11 years older. So, maybe this is a fine fit agewise. Of course, Simon Pegg looks absolutely nothing like James Doohan. There is not even a remote resemblance. At least he was born approximately closer to his character's homeland, I guess he's got that going for him. Actually, Simon Pegg is hilarious, it's hard to imagine manning the transporter all the time and fixing the warp drive. The jury is out on this one.
Karl Urban ... Leonard 'Bones' McCoy
mEd reaction: This choice is out of left field. Kiwi Karl Urban best known for his role as John Grimm in Doom is about as logical as picking Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie to play the Bobbsey Twins. And, is this character going to be willing to say things like, "Jim, I'm a doctor, not a cosmetologist!", "Darn't Jim, I'm a doctor, not a late night talk show sidekick!", "Jim, come on, I'm a doctor, not a household appliance repair jockey!"?
John Cho ... Sulu
mEd reaction: John Cho is a fine young man. But, sorry, this has to be the most disappointing casting job of all. Why on earth would you pass up on Masi Oka?
Eric Bana ... Nero
mEd reaction: According to rumors, Nero will be the villain of the story. I prefer Eric Bana as the good guy; but, at least, his acting prowess will foster a higher level of expectations from this young (with the respectful exception of Simon Pegg) cast. But, then Pegg doesn't need much guidance and advice, what's it take to slide three little buttons up and down.
Zoe Saldana ... Nyota Uhura
mEd reaction: Zoe Saldana is a very offbeat choice to play Uhura. She will bring new ethnic heritage to the role, probably heritage that has been omitted from the Star Trek world and needs inclusion.
Anton Yelchin ... Pavel Chekov
mEd reaction: Bravo! Not a bad choice at all. Of course, if you were going to go with mop tops J.J. Abrams could have picked Shia LeBeof for the role of Chekov. Why not? Oh, he might already be involved with a few films. Still, honestly, Anton Yelchin is an ok selection. One of the more logical ones. At least he sort of looks the part.
Leonard Nimoy ... Spock
mEd reaction: Well, who knew! Of course, Leonardy Nimoy will play the 'old' Spock. Maybe the entire film will be his flashback, who knows. The plot of the film is a closely guarded state secret. Recently, however, William Shatner was noted to have been visibly shocked, not a badly as Cory Haim was to find out that he was not originally cast in the sequel to The Lost Boys, but close, that he has not been asked to appear in the film. And rightly so. However, this would present the very casting issues that have been pointed out. Zachary Quinto does bear a much stronger resemblance to what we might imagine a young Spock to look like. If you are going to put William Shatner or any of the other original actors in the film (James Doohan, bless his heart, unfortunately passed away in 2005), with the rest of these casting choices, one of the pair would require a serious make-over. This adds to the odd casting job. And, sorry, but I find it hard to believe that actors bearing greater resemblances to the original cast couldn't be found. I'm going to assert that my list of actors is far better when it comes to physical resemblances. And casting agents who have nothing to do but sit around and look at photos and pick possibilities would probably be able to do an even better job. But how are we supposed to imagine that Chris Pine grows up to look like William Shatner? Good luck with that.
1 comment:
These are certainly inspired choices. I wouldn't have thought of Travis for Kirk, but when you look at him, you can see the young shades of William Shatner in him. Bravo
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