Meet the ‘Trekkie’ who’s helmed the 12th edition of one of the biggest movie franchises of all time – JJ Abrams. Plus a sneak peek into the soon-to-be-released sci-fi delightWe are just a week away from experiencing the sheer brilliance of JJ Abrams’ latest visual treat Star Trek Into Darkness. Based on the 1966 hit American TV series created by Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek is one of the oldest and the most successful franchises to invade the entertainment space.
Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof, and produced by Abrams, Bryan Burk, Lindelof, Kurtzman and Orci, this is the 12th Star Trek film and the sequel to 2009’s Star Trek.
Actors Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Bruce Greenwood return to play their respective roles from the previous film, with the addition of Alice Eve and Benedict Cumberbatch to the cast.
Indian ‘Trekkies’ already have reason to rejoice, since not only is the latest edition of this sci-fi cult phenomenon all set to hit cinemas on May 10, a week prior to its international release, but the film will also release in IMAX 3D.
We, at Box Office India, took a sneak peek at a 40-minute special preview of the film and we’re definitely impressed.
The film begins with a video diary of director Abrams, who assures viewers that with this edition, he hopes to surpass the expectations of Star Trek lovers and that it will be worth every scene. He also apologises for the fact that the preview was in 2D because the 3D scenes were still being locked. But that was a minor blip in the cinematic wonder we were about to experience.
The preview showcases several key scenes, among which was the one where Spock (Zachary Quinto) gets trapped amid hot molten lava and James T Kirk (Chris Pine) rescues him.
We also sampled the menace of the alleged bad guy played by Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch, but his identity has been kept under wraps. Is he really the bad guy? Well, you’ll discover sooner than later when the film releases.
The shots of building demolitions and the havoc created in a highly populated town are as good as scenes of outer space and space ships, scenes laden with special effects. These scenes look phenomenal in 2D celluloid and will be even more mind-blowing in IMAX 3D.
Q & A follows:
Why Benedict Cumberbatch for the role of John Harrison?
JA: People have asked me why I chose Benedict for this and I answer that by saying, ‘Why not Benedict for everything?’ He is crazy good. I loved working with him. He brings exactly the respect and intelligence and depth and also humour to every scene as I was hoping he would. When I saw his work in Sherlock, like so many others, I was impressed by his seemingly effortless dexterity and ability. It was almost like watching an Olympic gymnast go from one incredible position to another incredible position. He really is an exceptional talent and,
in addition to being the great actor he is, he was an absolute joy to spend some time with.
There have been some memorable villains portrayed by British actors over the years. Did that give you food for thought?JA: I didn’t have qualms about any nationality but I had qualms about not having the best possible actor. He (Benedict Cumberbatch) just elevated everything. And while you don’t want the classic, clichéd British villain, which we’ve all seen a million times, my guess is that we’ve seen just as many American villains. I think Benedict is one of the best actors alive. So the real question is, why did he accept the movie? Watching him in Sherlock blew my mind and I had the feeling he would be great for almost anything. And he exceeded all my expectations.
What was it like when you first walked on to the Enterprise set for Star Trek Into Darkness?
JA: I remember walking on to the set for the first movie and that really was a magical moment. This time, we had an even bigger set and it was the same feeling when I first walked on to The Bridge of the Enterprise. It’s a magical feeling and it’s almost like there’s some power coming from that set and all the people on it. It was like returning to your favourite place – a place that you hadn’t been to for a few years.
Have other films influenced Star Trek Into Darkness?
JA: Everything borrows from something and certainly with the opening of this movie, we were aware of a kind of nod to the opening of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. But, really, the spirit of the movie is that it’s about a group of characters that I hope you like, that make you laugh and that you cheer for.
If you are going to a place as intense as some of this stuff is in our movie, I think you need balance. There are moments that are pretty dark and crazy but those sequences won’t matter to you, and you won’t care about them, if you haven’t been laughing along the way and rooting for these characters who you feel for.
Is it true that you were reluctant to use 3D at first?![]( "76251355166072-hh-27766r-2")
JA: Frankly, the decision to do it in 3D was made for me. The studio said, ‘If you want to do this movie, we have to do it in 3D’. I was against it because I was not really a fan of 3D. But then, I was also never really a fan of Star Trek to begin with. So the idea of working on something that is not necessarily your favourite thing or your forte can actually help because it forces you to engage with something in a way that an outsider can appreciate. But my initial feeling was that I didn’t like 3D. But it was very helpful in some ways because we worked with the 3D crew in a way that didn’t assume that we loved the technology.
Why didn’t you like 3D before?
JA: I have trouble with 3D sometimes – I can’t see it quite right, I get a headache, I hate the glasses and it annoys me. So I approached it cynically. And the fact is that we have been using techniques that haven’t been used in 3D before. And they have made enough movies in 3D now that they can understand ways to eliminate some of these problems.
We shot the movie with anamorphic lens so it had the same look and feel as the first movie. But because we were converting it to 3D later, we had so many more creative opportunities to do things, push certain things and limit certain things. And it actually allows you to be able to fine tune it and the audience gets to see something that is really fun and dynamic. The key for me is I got to make my 2D movie, that I really wanted to make, just the way I wanted to, and it gets to be augmented in 3D but it doesn’t detract from the 2D.
You’ve got a big ensemble and you’ve got new characters in Star Trek Into Darkness. Is it hard to find moments for all of them to develop their characters?
JA: In a way, the first movie was easier because it introduced all these people. In a way it, was easier to give these characters moments to be introduced because they would be introduced to each other and to the movie. The key to this one was not just how to introduce them to the audience again but how to give them moments so that the story couldn’t take place unless they were all there.
If you take out any one of them, it would fold like a house of cards. We knew that in the first film, when we introduced these great characters to the audience. They each had their part to play. We needed to do the same thing in this one, and it was really important that every single character had a moment. Without that, the story just wouldn’t have worked. Part of the multi-layer process of developing the script was making sure every single character didn’t only have their moment, but their thread, their story line.
You talked about how special a moment it was when you first walked out on to the Bridge of your Enterprise set. You must have had quite a few special moments making these two films?JA: I remember meeting William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy separately and just hearing their stories about what Star Trek was like back in the day was wonderful. The first screening of the movie we had with an audience was the premiere at the Sydney Opera House
and that was an incredible evening. It was so big that I couldn’t tell if they hated the movie or not. I couldn’t tell what the reaction was. And I was fairly certain they didn’t like it because it was such a big place and you couldn’t hear the audience the way you can in a normal movie theatre. And when it was over, they gave it a two-minute standing ovation. It was just this crazy relief of ‘Oh, OK, they didn’t hate it..’
That was really nice.
