Chris Pine, who takes over the iconic role of James Tiberius Kirk for the re-imagined Star Trek, files his first Captain’s Log for Hollywood.com, with mission details on getting busy with green chicks, feeling the wrath of stuntmen and becoming a Shatnerian actor.
Explain this equation: James Kirk + Green Orion girl + bedroom = a great scene.
Chris Pine: I don’t think I had anything to do with it. It wasn’t my acting ability. I think it’s because the green girls have a certain place in the Star Trek cannon. I remember that day being very long and, yes, that poor girl, Rachel Nichols, was in the makeup chair for two hours getting painted, so there was a lot of green paint on my nose after many a take. It wasn’t as fun as it looked. It was a long day and, yes, the makeup proved to kill any buzz that I might have gotten otherwise.
Were you a fan of a Trek as a kid?
CP: I was not a fan growing up. I kind of knew of the series through my grandmother, who’s a big William Shatner fan, but I was more of a Star Wars kid, and only gained a greater appreciation for Star Trek once I started watching the series after I got the part.
What’s essential to playing a great Captain Kirk?
CP: There are certain things that are just very inherent to the character. I used the script that Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci wrote as kind of my bible, and that gave me my backstory in the sense of who this guy was and why he was who he was. And going back and watching the series, what I was able to take away from it – what appealed to me about Mr. Shatner’s performance and things that I felt that I could use without hitting people over the head with a bad impersonation – were little physical characteristics. What really appealed to me was the way that he moved about the deck of the ship. He’s got a very theatrical quality, just with his physicality, that just made my smile every time I watched it. There were things about how he sits in the chair that are very small. I felt less is more – in my case, at least. At the end of the day, it really was a conversation between me and [director] J.J. [Abrams]. On any given day, it would be ‘So what do you think about this? Do you think it would work now?’ It would just be very small things, but it wasn’t anything conscious, as far as characteristics I must take from Mr. Shatner. It was way more of an ever-changing thing.
How did you handle all of your action scenes?
CP: It’s one thing to read the script and skim through the pages and say “Oh, I’ll get back to that later. Oh, that’s a fight sequence stunt. Okay, let’s get back to the scenes,” failing to realize that those four or five pages take about a month and a half to actually shoot. But we had a great stunt team behind us…On my first day of shooting – it was the bar scene, in the beginning of the movie – I ended up breaking a stunt guy’s nose on the second take. A word of caution to any young actor out there: Do not hurt stuntmen because they will pay you back in kind. The next take after that, this big stunt guy kicked me in the stomach. He said it wasn’t on purpose, but I don’t know. But it was a lot of fun, and way harder than I ever expected it would be.
Do you think Trekkies will follow the reboot into the final frontier, or will they want it to suffer the fate of a red-shirted crewman?
CP: I have no control over what people think and if I were to spend energy on that I would be a lifeless, deadened human being. So I hope that they like it, but I just simply have no control, once it’s in the can. We’ve done a good job, I think. I’m proud of it. I hope they’ll accept these changes to their cannon that they hold so dear, which are definitely changes, but I don’t think I do anything other than tell a great story differently.
What did it feel like when you first donned Kirk’s gold command shirt?
CP: That was a fun day when we shot that scene. But in terms of feeling that the part was mine – in my mind, Captain Kirk will always be William Shatner, and William Shatner will always be Captain Kirk. It’s just an inextricable connection and the relationship between those two men. This was a great role, and as an actor you search for great roles. This one just happened to be named James Kirk. And so for the time being, in this movie, I’m playing James Kirk. But I look at it from part to part and from story to story, so as for the part being mine, I think people will always and forever connect Mr. Shatner to that role.
Can you talk your experience meeting William Shatner for the first time?
CP: I saw him last night for the first time in the flesh and shook hands. He was very busy last night. It was a charity event for him, and he raises money for all these wonderful children’s charities, so I was there more to support him in the great work that he does. But it was great to finally meet him and I hope to have more of a chance to sit down with him for a longer period and actually talk to him about his experiences.
Are you on board for a Trek sequel?
CP: I think it’s presumptuous to start talking about future installments before the movie has come out. We’re very excited about this one. I think people will enjoy this, whether they’re fans or non-fans. I know that Bob and Alex, and Damon Lindelof – the producer from Lost and a friend of J.J.’s for a long time – are now attached to write a second one, if there is, in fact, going to be a second one. But I know that I loved making this and I loved the team behind it, who were my fellow crewmates, so if I were to be asked, I know that I would sign up.
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