Friday, March 30, 2007

Star Trek XI??

Just when the Star Trek movie inertia just starts to seem like it is slowing down, my brother sent me this little piece of news. Apparently, the Star Trek folks are looking to jump on the prequel bandwagon.

I'm all for decent Trek, but I'm not sure that this will be it. Get a load of the (unofficial) casting ideas:


Captain Kirk to be played by Matt Damon.

Mr. Spock will be rendered by Adrien Brody,

Gary Sinise will be the inimitable Dr. McCoy.


Brody's face is far to expressive to be convincing as a Vulcan, in my opinion, especially with those large, mournful eyes of his.

I just can't picture Matt Damon bringing the boyish, mischievous charm to the role of Kirk that Willliam Shatner contributed to the role in the original series (which transitioned rather appropriately to crotchety wit in the more chronologically advanced film versions of the character).

I do think Gary Sinise could pull off McCoy, though. He has the ability to render that sort of character admirably, and his facial features are reasonably close to Deforest Kelley, who originally played the character.

Add to that the fact that prequels can be perilous territory anyway, and it becomes clear that this film will have to be made VERY carefully if it is going to do anything but cause riots. (Watch out for some of those really obsessed Trekkers/Trekkies. They'll come after you with their phasers drawn)

Related Links, for those who may want to keep up to date on this:
IMDB
Official Movie Website

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to admit though that at least Mat Damon and Gary Sinise are name actors. Where Shatner was a B level actor with a bunch of nobodies (at the time).

Christina said...

The entire outfit for the original Trek was very very low budget on every level. :) (You should see what they used for some of their props!) With the right people, though, minimal resources can provide opportunities for innovation and creativity. :)