On the right trek

Transcript by lynaem_88
Sunday Herald Sun
By: James Wigney

ZACHARY Quinto and Chris Pine have big space boots to fill recreating pop culture icons, writes James Wigney.

ZACHARY Quinto remembers well the first time he met one of the great popular culture reference points: Mr Spock. Quinto was at the biggest comic book and pop culture convention in the world, where it was about to be announced to a crowd of die-hard Trekkies (or Trekkers as they prefer) that he was going to don the famous pointy ears in J.J. Abrams’s much-anticipated big-screen reboot of Star Trek when the man himself, Leonard Nimoy, walked into the lift.

Best known for his role as the evil Sylar in the TV series Heroes, Quinto already knew Nimoy had given him the thumbs-up for the part - given he had contractual approval over who was cast - but he had not yet sat down with the veteran actor whose career was defined by the gravitas he brought to the half-human, half-Vulcan first officer on the USS Enterprise.

“The elevator was really slow moving and we had a very perfunctory, weird introduction, so we didn’t really get a chance to connect,” Quinto says as he lounges with co-star Chris Pine, who plays Captain Kirk, in a hotel after the film’s recent world premiere in Sydney.

“Then the doors opened and he just said, ‘You have no idea what you are in for, kid’, and walked off.”

Nimoy, who has a small but integral part in the film, should know.

After more than four decades playing the part on and off on TV and in the movies, and at times wrestling with the fact Spock had overshadowed his other work (such as directing movies including the hit Three Men and a Baby, stage acting and publishing poetry and photographs), Nimoy has embraced his legacy as being central to the Star Trek canon. It’s telling that a part was found for him in the film and not for the franchise’s other central figure, William “James Tiberius Kirk” Shatner.

“It’s such an iconic journey he has been on,” Quinto says. “It has almost been more interesting to understand the impact his relationship with the character has had on his life. So we talked a lot about that stuff.

“The connection was on a deeper level than the practical stuff - and that’s what I am most grateful for.”

The original Star Trek television series ran for 79 episodes over three seasons from 1966 to ‘69.

Despite critical acclaim it rated poorly. It was only after endless re-runs that it turned into the phenomenon it now is, inspiring five spin-off TV series and 11 films.

But after the 10th film, the disappointing and financially unsuccessful Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002, and the final TV spin-off, the lacklustre Enterprise, which was cancelled in 2005, the franchise was in dire need of a revamp.

Enter Abrams, the man behind TV successes including Alias and Lost, and who hit box office gold with Mission: Impossible 3 and Cloverfield. Abrams, who says he was always more of fan of Star Wars over Star Trek, is the son of television director Gerald W. Abrams and accompanied his father to watch the first footage of the original Star Trek movie 30 years ago.

As such, he was aware of the place the adventures of the Enterprise’s intrepid crew had in pop culture, but not in awe of it, and hoped to make a film that would appeal to an audience beyond the Trekkies.

His track record and presence as director also proved a a huge carrot for the cast members, including Karl Urban as Leonard “Bones” McCoy, John Cho as Sulu, Simon Pegg as Scotty and Aussie Eric Bana as villainous Romulan Nero.

“Thank God we have someone on the film who is both a fan and a nonfan,” says Pine, whose credits include Smokin’ Aces, Just My Luck, with Lindsay Lohan, and the indie wine movie Bottle Shock.

“Someone who can bring a fresh perspective to it but someone who is not beholden to trying to please everyone, because it is impossible to do that.

“When I met J.J. and Bryan Burk, his producing partner, I knew within minutes that this was something I would love to be a part of because of J.J.’s energy, passion and positivity.

“He is like a big kid who is able to make big movies - that kind of energy is intoxicating and I loved every minute of it.”

Despite being hailed as one of the most trailblazing series made (its inclusiveness of women and different races was groundbreaking in the 1960s) and status as one of the most successful movie franchises of all time, Star Trek has also been dismissed by many as geek fodder, suitable for those who enjoy dressing in skivvies with knee-high boots, painting themselves green or ordering their dinner in Klingon.

It was parodied to perfection in the 1999 comedy Galaxy Quest, a fact not lost on Abrams. So to make a clean break from what had come before, it was decided to make the new movie a prequel, telling the story of how the much-loved characters met and formed the relationships that would become the core of later stories.

This created challenges for the cast, particularly Pine and Quinto, who knew they had big space boots to fill in recreating roles that had become towering pop culture figures.

Pine, who was turned down the first time he auditioned for the role, was considering another movie when he was offered the part.

He was also conscious of not slavishly imitating Shatner, whose unusual phrasing of dialogue has been lampooned by everyone from The Simpsons to Eddie Murphy. Instead, he took his cues from swashbuckling movie characters such as Maverick from Top Gun, Indiana Jones and Han Solo from Star Wars.

“We want to pay homage to what was done before us and clearly these characters existed on film and TV for 40 plus years, so there is already a collection of images and the nuances of how these characters talk and their physicality,” he says.

“So it was like going in with a scalpel to find what would be the most gratifying for the avid fans without calling attention to itself and taking away from the story. I would be doing my fellow actors and the story a disservice if I was calling attention to myself by trying to mimic or impersonate.”

Shatner, who was more than a little miffed at being left out of the movie, replied promptly and generously to Pine’s letter of introduction after he got the part, but the two have yet to meet.

“Hopefully, after the maelstrom of all this international publicity dies down I will be able to sit down with him and talk all things Kirk,” Pine says.

Quinto, when decked out in the bowl haircut, pointy ears and diagonal eyebrows bears an uncanny resemblance to the Spock of the ’60s series and his path to the role had a touch of destiny about it.

He had read Abrams was making the movie just as Heroes was taking off and he mentioned in his first interview for that show that he would be interested in the part.

From there the story gathered its own momentum, so when casting started he already had a head start on the competition.

The recent writers strike in Hollywood also gave him a perfect, and unexpected, window to work on the film.

“Every subsequent interview that I gave about Heroes involved a question about me being interested in Star Trek and then that evolved into I hear your dream role is Spock,” he says.

“So I just went with it and by the time they got the casting office up and running not only could I send my reel over but I could also send the press of all these interviews I had given.”