Abrams and Company Promote Star Trek in Toyko

While it seems a bit early, JJ Abrams, Chris Pine, and Benedict Cumberbatch were in Tokyo this week to promote Star Trek Into Darkness to the Tokyo Press. While the event was spoiler free, the translations provided by TrekMovie from Japanese sites Cinematoday, CinemaCafe, and EIGA did have them commenting on the films bad guy, the title and more.

Cumberbatch: (on his character) "He is very ruthless…He is not a clearly good or evil character. He is a villain but the actions he takes has intent and reason. ...He is a complicated character not to be judged by white-or-black, or good-or-evil. But this is the appeal of J.J.’s works and I felt challenge as an actor."

Abrams: (on Cumberbatch’s character) "The character is a villain and scary, but I was looking for an actor with humanity who audiences can sympathies with. When I saw Benedict in Sherlock, I wanted to convince him whatever it took. I expected a lot from him, but Benedict responded by acting beyond my expectations." (to which Cumberbatch responded "This may be better than Sherlock. (laughs)"

Abrams: (on the title) "I would avoid saying ‘Part 2′ and hate titles with colons. This time, each characters steps deeper into darkness. It reflects that." "No matter how great visual effects, it means nothing if characters don’t have appeal. Particularly, this movie has theme that Kirk and crew are ‘tried’ in face of an unexpected and horrible event."

Pine: "I am proud that the movie is scaled up from the previous one. At the same time, the characters filled with humanity. This is sci-fi, but you’ll enjoy down-to-earth drama…Kirk was selfish before, but he matures humanly. Confronting with anger and conflict, he became a leader with mind of self-sacrifice. ...In the previous movie, Kirk was a selfish young man. This time, as a leader, he grows up to be a man leading everyone despite getting out of his mind. I my acting is influenced by growing as an adult in the last four years."