[J.J. Abrams] Star Trek: XI

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In the May 2007 issue of Star Trek Magazine, director J.J. Abrams confirmed that James T. Kirk would be appearing in the film. While not going into detail about which era(s) of Kirk's life would be covered by the film, this was the first official confirmation about a character in the film. In a June interview in the NY Times the screenwriters stated that the story will focus on the earliest adventures of Kirk and Spock. It was reported in August 2007 that other original series characters (Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Montgomery Scott, and Leonard McCoy) were also to be cast. The film is intended to be simply titled Star Trek.

Filming will begin on November 5, 2007. The shoot will last eighty-five days, and will take place on eleven sets built at the Paramount backlot, and there will be two weeks of location shooting in Iceland.

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Eric Bana speelt schurk in nieuwe Star Trek-film

LOS ANGELES - De Australische acteur Eric Bana vertolkt de schurkenrol in de nieuwe Star Trek-film. Dat heeft het Amerikaanse entertainmentblad Variety woensdag gemeld. De 39-jarige acteur speelt Nero, al weigeren de producers te zeggen wat de rol precies behelst.
Bana was eerder onder meer te zien in films als Munich, Troy en Hulk. De 76-jarige acteur Leonard Nimoy, die in de jaren zeventig al speelde in de eerste Star Trek-serie, prolongeert zijn rol als de illustere Mr. Spock.
De elfde Star Trek-film vertelt vooral over de vriendschap tussen Spock en Captain James T. Kirk. Het is nog niet duidelijk of William Shatner, die in de jaren zeventig Captain Kirk speelde, ook terug zal keren.
Star Trek XI wordt geregisseerd door J.J. Abrams, die onder meer de succesvolle tv-serie Lost maakte. De film moet kerst 2008 in première gaan.
bron: AD

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Simon Pegg Pegged For Scotty

The search for a Scot is over… and it’s an Englishman! Variety is reporting that British actor, writer and comedian Simon Pegg has won the role of Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. The 37-year-old beat out a number of others who were up for role of Trek’s most famous engineer, including Stargate’s Paul McGillion. Pegg, who is best known for starring in the hit British comedies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, had previously worked with Abrams and many members of his ‘Trek’ team on last year’s Mission: Impossible: III, in which Pegg played IMF technician Benji Dunn (essentially the ‘Scotty’ of M:I:III).

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John Cho Is The New Sulu

TrekMovie.com has another exclusive scoop for JJ Abrams’ new crew. According to sources Korean born actor John Cho has been tipped to be the new Hikaru Sulu for the new Star Trek. Cho is probably best known as a comedy actor for his roles in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and American Pie. At 35, Cho is older than the character calls for (and older than George Takei was when he originated the role), but Cho tends to ‘play younger’ as they say in Hollywood. Cho was not available for comment, but at an event last year he told TrekMovie.com he would jump at the chance to play Trek’s original helmsman saying "are you kidding? to drive the Enterprise, that would be so cool!"

UPDATE: TrekMovie.com’s scoop has been confirmed by the Hollywood Reporter

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Wanna know the cost of a Trek?

Moviehole has received reliable word from inside the cream buildings on Melrose that “Star Trek” is going to have a bigger budget than any of the previous films in the series. I’m thinking Roddenberry’s estate must have been auctioned off to pay for this puppy.

According to our contact, the film initially had a budget of $130 million but now J.J has been handed a few extra biccies – he’ll shoot the thing with a fat allocation in the environs of $150-160 million!

It’s a huge story they’re doing - and boy does it sound orgasmic, even for a Non-Trekkie like me – so not surprised that it’s going to cost so much, just surprised they got it! It’s not only the most expensive “Trek” ever it’s a “major gamble” for Paramount, says our insider. Sounds like someone’s got some high-up pals at Paramount. Nice!

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Chris Pine Confirmed for Star Trek

In a follow-up to this article, White Jazz director Joe Carnahan has confirmed on his official Blog that Chris Pine has bowed out of that film in order to play Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek at Paramount Pictures.



Pine joins a cast that includes Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana and John Cho. The studio is targeting a Christmas Day 2008 release.

Pine previously starred in the 2006 Lindsay Lohan movie Just My Luck. He played a neo-Nazi assassin in Carnahan's Smokin' Aces.

Pine was unable to take on both projects due to scheduling. Star Trek will shoot from November through March, while White Jazz has a mid-January start.

ComingSoon.net

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Bruce Greenwood Is Pike



Last week TrekMovie.com reported that Paramount was ‘close’ to signing their new Chris Pike, and now they have. According to the at Hollywood Reporter the role of Captain Christopher Pike in J.J. Abrams new Star Trek has gone to Bruce Greenwood. The 51 year-old veteran actor has 90 acting credits to his name including starring in the recent HBO series John from Cincinnati. Pike was originally played by Jeffery Hunter. Although the character of Pike only appeared in one episode, as the captain of the Enterprise before before Kirk he will have an important role in the new prequel.

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Winona Ryder is Amanda Grayson



Last week TrekMovie.com revealed that Spock’s parents will be appearing in the new Star Trek movie. And now Variety is reporting that Winona Ryder has landed the part of Spock’s human mother Amanda Grayson, a role originally played by Jane Wyatt.

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Jennifer Morrison cast in Star Trek
As we posted yesterday, spy pictures from the set of Abrams Star Trek revealed a young actress that looked a lot like Jennifer Morrison. Today we received confirmation from her management company that she has indeed been cast, however, they would not offer up which character she will be playing.

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Chris Hemsworth is Kirk's Dad
The IESB has received confirmation from Chris Hemsworth's reps, yes he is in fact cast in Star Trek HOWEVER he is NOT SPOCKS DAD. Chris Hemsworth will be playing KIRK's father. So we were right on the father part just not whose! Hemsworth will be playing the part of George Samuel Kirk Sr. Apparently, when Chris read for the part, the filmmakers, including JJ Abrams, were so blown away by him that he was offered the role on the spot.

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Star Trek XI Teaser To Appear Online Soon

While we already know that the first teaser for Star Trek will warp into theaters this month with the release of Cloverfield, Paramount has recently confirmed when we can plan on catching it online.

The good people at TrailerAddict have confirmed with Paramount that the teaser for Star Trek won't be arriving online until after it has had a chance in theaters.

Paramount has also confirmed that the teaser will appear online on Monday, January 21st.

Given that Cloverfield comes out on January 18th, the trailer will have the entire weekend to draw moviegoers to theaters before (finally) appearing online.
CanMag

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'Star Trek XI' Rumors

The appearance of another familiar foe in Star Trek XI is one of the rumors that have been swirling recently.

UGO has posted various rumors that it has picked up from different sources, including the tactics of the Romulan villain.

According to UGO, the "The storyline is about a Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana) who travels back in the past to either severely cripple or eliminate the Federation by killing its greatest starship captain, James T. Kirk, before he could take command of the Enterprise. Kirk’s best friend, Spock, tries to undo the damage caused by Nero by following him through time."

There are at least five different points in time that will be shown: approximately 2280, when Kirk first takes command of the USS Enterprise, the time just prior to Kirk's birth, and Kirk at age ten and age twenty.

Other rumors are that Spock may witness the birth of Kirk, younger Spock may meet older Spock and they may mind-meld, an incidental character with the surname of Picard may be mentioned.

Trekmovie.com is reporting that Klingons may appear in the movie as well. In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Anton Yelchin had this to say, "Chekov is just on the Enterprise. A lot of it is green screen. I mean, the Enterprise itself, J.J.'s trying to shoot as much of it as he can with out green screen, but I think a lot of space is obviously green screen, what I’m looking at while seeing the Klingon warships."

Trekmovie has received reports from its own sources that the movie does involve battles (and/or a war) and that "Klingon soldiers" play a part in the film. Supposedly, the Klingons have been redesigned somewhat, but to what extent has not been revealed.
TrekToday

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Lindelof On 'Star Trek XI' Date Change And Its Effects
Moving Star Trek XI from December 2008 to May 2009 will have positive benefits, says Star Trek XI producer Damon Lindelof.

As reported by Trekmovie.com, according to Lindelof, based on Paramount's growing understanding of the movie, Star Trek XI was more appropriate for a summer release.

"It was being presented to J.J. [Abrams]," said Lindelof, "and I have been hearing the same thing from the studio, that based on the dailies they have been seeing and hanging out on the set and seeing and beginning to understand what the movie is, I think that they are starting to look at it as a big summer crowd-pleaser as opposed to a very sci-fi, not-as-accessible-to a-wider-audience Christmas release. So the reason that they have moved the release date is for their ability to market the film and sort of position it as the Pirates of the Caribbean for next summer."

There are other benefits to the later release. "On a budgetary level probably the most significant effect it will have is that we will not have to rush our post [production]," explained Lindelof. "As you might imagine there are a gazillion effects shots. I have seen some of the early work being done by ILM and [visual effects supervisor] Roger Guyett and it is nothing short of astonishing. So they’ll basically have more time to render those effects than they would have if we had to release it by Christmas. So that will probably make the movie a little less expensive to produce."

Lindelof also talked about how the move would affect the release of a full movie trailer. "Obviously the schedule is now going to change to accommodate the new release date," he said. "My guess is that the strategy will turn more into a slow burn. But at this point we also have to be cognizant of once the film is done, and the more we shoot the more likely it is to invite spoilers if we are holding everything back. So we still want to release those images. As far as for the first trailer trailer, I heard we were still on for the summer to have a full trailer for the movie. But I would not be surprised if they decide to hold that back."

Those working on Star Trek XI wanted to make the movie appealing both to long-term fans and yet attract a new audience. "When we all sat down and started to talk about whether or not we wanted to take on Trek, the question was very simple and that question has remained the same: do we think we can make it good?" said Lindelof. "And there is a way to make that movie where the fans will feel that literally four decades of storytelling and canon is not being ignored, but you make the movie so there is an access point for people who want to come in and hear the band for the first time, as it were. We talked about that and kicked some story ideas around and became totally infected with it."

While Lindelof feels that Star Trek XI will be a good movie and that the change of release date is a positive thing, he couldn't predict whether the attempts to reach a broader audience as well as current fans would succeed. "...Until people start seeing what we are doing, I have no real gauge on whether or not this movie is going to break through to a wider audience. But obviously Paramount thinks so and that is very reassuring for us. Our job remains the same. We are not pandering to make this accessible to people who have never seen Trek, nor are we pandering to the fans. We are just trying to make the best movie we can.

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New Federation Captain Cast for 'Star Trek XI'
The casting of Fahan Tahir in an important role as an atypical Trek movie captain was announced recently.

As reported at Trekmovie.com, another Star Trek XI role has been cast and a forty-four year old Pakistani actor has landed what is described as a "meaty" and "heroic" role. His Star Trek XI role will have plenty of action scenes and Tahir is reported to have a stunt double.

Tahir is known for his work on both 24 and Sleeper Cell, where he played villains, as well as other TV guest and recurring roles. He will be appearing in the forthcoming Iron Man, again as a villain.

Unlike many past Star Trek movie captains who were weak or flawed, such as Terrell (Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan), Esteban (Star Trek: The Search for Spock) and Harriman (Star Trek: Generations), this unnamed captain will be strong and heroic. "Being a captain in Starfleet should be a special position and we don’t feel that another captain has to be diminished in order to elevate Captain Kirk," explained Robert Orci, co-writer and executive producer of Star Trek XI. "If you are a captain in Starfleet you are a cool mother f—er."

Tahir's character's name is unknown, but since it is listed as a new role, it is unlikely to be that of Captain April. Rumor has it that his ship is of an earlier design than the USS Enterprise NCC 1701.