Karl Urban on Becoming McCoy

In an interview with the Huffington Post to promote his new movie Dredd, Karl Urban spoke a little about his approach to playing Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek and why he made sure that DeForest Kelly's take was part of his approach in playing the legendary character.

Is there anything about your performance as McCoy in "Star Trek" that you want to do different in the second film?
[Pauses] I didn't approach the role like that. You know, when you get a script you just look at the story and break down what your character is doing and how to serve that story the best. But, I didn't sit down and go over everything to find if there was something I didn't get right or that I wanted to correct or anything like that.

But it has to be difficult. DeForest Kelly is so known for that role. Do you go in trying to do what he did? That seems like a slippery slope.
Oh yeah. It's a slippery slope. Here's the thing: As a longtime fan of "Star Trek," I would have felt short changed if I had gone into that cinema and not seen a character that was identifiably McCoy. So, for me, it was the process of analyzing DeForest -- sort of internalizing, I guess, certain elements about that character. And, then, from there it was a process of presenting a younger version of what that character would be. And I think what we ended up with was kind of a combination of some obvious nods to DeForest, but then, you know, I also have to make the character my own. And it is, ultimately, my interpretation of what Bones is. But, having such huge admiration and respect for what he did before, it was important that the character be recognizably Bones.