Star Trek Filming Begins Thursday

While at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour to promote the upcoming premiere of Alcatraz, J.J. Abrams fielded a few questions about the Star Trek sequel. He mentioned that principle photography begins Thursday, and last around 4 months while also providing details on Star Trek 2 post converted 3D and the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock). In short, Abrams didn't push for 3D but the studio wanted it. From tests run by converting the first Trek film, it seems like post converted 3D would work out so he agreed to that. The casting of Cumberbatch was due to him being the best actor for the role and his brilliance in Sherlock and play Frankenstein. The full conversation can be read at Collider, below are a few choice quotes.

Because the popularity of 3D has died down some, are you worried about the commercial viability of 3D?
ABRAMS: I did not fight for the 3D. It was something that the studio wanted to do, and I didn’t want to do it. And then, when I saw the first movie converted in sections, I thought that it actually looked really cool. So, I was okay with their doing it, as long as I could shoot the movie the way I wanted to, in anamorphic film, and then let them convert it. So, those who want to see it in 3D, which looked pretty cool, can do it, and those that want to see it in 2D can do that too.

What was it that made [Cumberbatch] your villain?
ABRAMS: Who said he’s our villain?

What made you want to cast him?
ABRAMS: He’s a genius. Honestly, he’s just an incredible actor. If you’ve seen his work in Sherlock, he’s just got incredible skills. He’s an amazing stage actor. He did amazing work (on stage) in Frankenstein. He’s brilliant. You try to cast people who are great. We got lucky.

Is it safe to say that this Star Trek movie is totally in its own universe, moving forward without any changes in the timeline?
ABRAMS: Yeah. I think the job of the first movie was just to establish it. I don’t want to give anything away, but I would say that the burden we had in the first movie was just existing at all. With this movie, instead of having to stand on the shoulders of the original series, we built a little bit of a platform for us, with the last movie, to tell this story.