Abrams Confirms Not Directing Star Trek 3

In interviews promoting last week's release of Star Trek Into Darkness on home video, director JJ Abrams confirmed that his Star Wars commitments will prevent him from directing Star Trek 3. This really isn't news per se as it was expected almost the moment it was announced Abrams was directing Star Wars Episode VII, but this is the first time he acknowledged it in any interview I have read. In the interview with Collider he also confirms that Alex Kurzman and Bob Orci are already breaking the story but no other details.

Abrams, Stars Promote Star Trek Into Darkness

For the last week or so JJ Abrams and some of the stars of Star Trek Into Darkness have been promoting its home video release. Most of the time they covered the same "you should see this movie" ground they covered when promoting the movie theater release but a few nuggets of interest were said. Eve talks about the underwear thing, Abrams answers questions on Khan & the video game, Peter Weller defends his character, and Kurtzman and Orci focus on story choices. Below are the links to the stories and segments I found interesting. My comments will be in italics.

Spinoff Online - JJ Abrams

I think the thing was that Khan really is the most iconic villain of the series, and it felt like an opportunity to see another side of Khan and to something that, like the first film did, use elements that people were familiar with but in a new. It’s a valid argument that it’s about time for them to go off and discover and see things that have nothing to do with what we’ve seen before, and I think we’ll always have some overlap. But I’m excited about the next chapter.

More Star Trek Into Darkness Cast Interviews

Star Trek Into Darkness has premiered in North America but that doesn't mean the marketing campaign stops. In an interview with Collider, STID producer Bryan Burk discussed editing the film, screening the film while maintaining secrecy, easter eggs and a whole lot more including other Bad Robot projects like the various TV shows from this season and next. Simon Pegg remains the example on how to do interesting interviews as he seems to just cause interviewees to ask better questions rather then the generic ones Pine and the rest tend to get. In his interview with Collider, he was in a blunt mood as he talked about maintaining film secrecy, his dislike of people dinging Abrams about his lens flares, and talked provided a few behind the scene antedotes. As for Karl Urban, he talks about trying to add more to McCoy then just sarcasm, film themes, the costumes and more. Alice Eve discusses how her character has a British accent, deleted scene and more. The links to the interviews are below.

Bryan Burk (Collider)
Simon Pegg (Collider)
Damon Lindelof (Collider)
Karl Urban (io9)
Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto (TrekMovie)
Karl Urban and Simon Pegg (TrekMovie)
Alice Eve (TrekMovie)
JJ Abrams (TrekMovie)

JJ Abrams on The Daily Show

Last night Star Trek Into Darkness director JJ Abrams was the guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that was pretty entertaining. Abrams himself said the same stuff he has been saying for months (or really 5 years) about Star Trek but the joking nature of the interview made it interesting. In the extended edition of the interview (filmed after the "show" segment was done) is more relaxed as they talk about the film making process as Stewart is spending the summer about to direct his first film. Both videos are below.

Pegg On Filming STID

It took a while but finally have a somewhat interesting interview for Star Trek Into Darkness. Simon Pegg actually says stuff of substance. None of it spoiler but much more then the vague nothings the cast has been perfecting for the last few months and just repeating in 25 different ways. To be fair, most media reporters tend to ask the same 10 questions cause their knowledge on any given subject wouldn't fill an index card. Any case in this interview from io9, Pegg talks about taking antigravity on set, filming at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the cast as the "Mirror Universe", and about a deleted scene that was one of the first filmed for the movie. Highlights below, full write-up is here.

Highlights

Star Trek Magazine Interview Highlights, Klingon War for Third Film?

The latest issue of Star Trek Magazine is out and as to be expected, its all about Star Trek Into Darkness. Below are highlights from interviews with JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof as they discuss the film. In a seperate interview with Hey U Guys, Damon also suggested that may the next film might have more Klingons as "this film we've given the audience a little taste, but there's also a promise that there's a larger conflict on the horizon, and that would be fun to see." He also was game for a slight crossover with The Next Generation by suggesting he wouldn't mind exploring "iconic adversaries from The Next Generation ...maybe baby Picard could be born." Keep in mind this is him just spit balling ideas as way to early for anything related to the third film to be in place. At this point Paramount doesn't even know if there will be a third film until they get the box office results with this weekend (Europe) and next weekend's (NA) premieres.

Star Trek Writers Talk Star Trek Into Darkness

The promotional campaign for Star Trek Into Darkness continues as Paramount is likely to do everything they can to try to take the weekend box office from Iron Man 3 in Europe this coming weekend. Quite the challenge considering the movies $175M US opening, $680M total already. In this post its a look as the writers of Star Trek Into Darkness spoke with TrekMovie.com about the film along with an interview with Karl Urban. Links and highlights below. A final bit is a video as JJ Abrams compares starting work on Star Wars with Star Trek. No information of any real kind is said.

Damon Lindelof Interview
- Unless cloning technology exists, "it is going to be tough" for Abrams to direct ST3.
- Hopes to work on the next feel as "care too deeply for Trek to step away."
- A replacement director would need a "passion for Trek" and a "vision for what comes next."

Lindelof, Pine, Quinto Talk STID; Moscow Premiere

In new articles from the LA Times and i09, Star Trek Into Darkness leads Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Spock) comment on their characters while writer Damon Lindelof spoke about some of the challenges they had in writing the script. Below are the highlights. The io9.com has video of interviews with Quinto and Lindelof while Hero Complex has few more still images from the movie. In addition the Russian premiere of the movie was held Thursday in Moscow with JJ Abrams, Pine, Quinto and Alice Eve in attendance. Click here to check out a gallery of photos from the red carpet.

Highlights

Abrams Talks Trek Characters

The characters of Star Trek Into Darkness are the central discussion as JJ Abrams talks about the movie in a five minute interview from Collider. Video and highlights below.

Highlights:
- Abrams: "Into Darkness is about this now family being tested in a way they never had before. In the first film he gets the captain’s chair and in this film he earns it. It is really about this group being thrust into crazy intense adventure that takes them not only elsewhere but also takes place very much on Earth."
- While JJ Abrams didn't grow up on Trek so didn't feel like "sacrilege ...to play in this sandbox." Grateful for chance to play in it.
- He gets why die hard fans do not like the changes but figures fans should be able to still enjoy a continuations of Roddenberry's creation and let their imagination go.
- Even though a sequel, doesn't assume everyone had seen the first so tries to reintroduce all the characters and provide them with a "critical role in the movie."
- He attempts at keeping secrets is to kind of return to how movies were seen in pre-Internet age when the audience really didn't know much of anything about the movie beside the basics revealed through a trailer or two.

Orci and Kurtzman Interview from Star Trek Magazine

TrekMovie.com has posted excerpts from Star Trek magazine that is out now. In the issue, Star Trek Into Darknese writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman talk a bit about the movie's big bad John Harrison, the development of the crew and some of the themes they were aiming for while avoiding giving any spoilers.

Harrison as opposite to Starfleet believers:

Well he understands Starfleet because he was enlisted in a similar way. Some might see part of the title coming from the fact that he’s kind of a dark shadow of members of our crew. He too has gone through the process to some degree, that some of our crew have gone though, and clearly for some reason it’s failed to bring him over, so I think he represents that part of our heroes.

Enterprise crew still learning:

Simon Pegg On Scotty, More Screenshots

In the newest issue of Star Trek Collector's Edition magazine out now (or via an iTunes app), Simon Pegg talks about how Scotty has evolved in Star Trek Into Darkness. In addition the actor spoke with Empire Magazine for their newest Trek centric issue that has just come out in the UK. Highlights below along with pics from the Empire issue.

Scotty's in sequel:

"He’s still very proud, and he thinks he owns the ship. He’s very principled, and those principles define his role in the film."

Adding, then removing "scotishisms"

Burk Comments on Trek Past and Present

Star Trek Into Darkness is still making the rounds to promote the movie with a recent stop if Russia. As TrekMovie reports, while there he answered a few questions discussing the choice to convert the film to 3D, making the film accessible to a worldwide audience and how the lack of support impacted the previous non-JJ Abrams films. The two images are new from the movie. Per usual nothing specific is provided about the movie.

On 3D

We decided for Star Trek we wanted to make [the 3D conversion] special, which is why nothing you are going to see tonight is in 3D. It turns out that the process that we chose to use is significantly more laborious and precise than we ever imagined. We are literally going shot by shot and frame by frame pushing things further than they have ever been pushed. Our stereographer – the guy who is in charge of doing 3D – we regularly have these conversations and he says ‘you can’t further than this, nobody goes further than this’ and we say ‘go further!’ So when the movie comes out we will have it in IMAX and in 3D – hopefully like nothing you have seen before.

Lindelof Talks Spoilers, Trek Big Bad

In a new interview with Hero Complex, Star Trek Into Darkness writer Damon Lindelof talks about a goal to stay true to Star Trek and the efforts to avoid revealing spoilers, especially the real identity of John Harrison as played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Its pretty much assumed that is an alias for the true character's name.

“If the first movie was about meeting and introductions, this movie is about becoming a family,” Lindelof said. “The title of the movie is not just about the mission that the Enterprise is going on but what happens when you get to know each other a little better and the hurdles you must jump over in order to truly become family.”

“If anything, we’ve become more terrified,” he said. “We kind of got it right the first time, [we thought], ‘Let’s really not screw it up this time.’ You really have to honor the 40-plus years of canon and legacy that this amazing franchise had before we put pen to paper.”

Star Trek 3 in 2016?

In an interview with Digital Spy, Star Trek Into Darkness producer Bryan Burk answered a few questions about the movie. The most intriguing is that it seems that Paramount and Bad Robot would like to have something for the 50th anniversary of the franchise which is 2016 but that its too early to have any specifics.

Do you keep an eye on the online reaction once you reveal a trailer or something big from the movie?
"Yes is the answer. It's funny because when we did Lost we would just gravitate towards things that people didn't like or things that were confusing. Even when talking to JJ, he will say, 'What didn't they like?' It's not looking for affirmation as much as it is seeing if people are not liking something. We feel excited about Star Trek Into Darkness, we definitely feel this is better than the last one."

You created a new timeline with Star Trek in 2009, will there be a lot of referencing back to the original series and movies for those fans?
"Yes, one of the things is that the movie will always be for Star Trek fans. In the process of all us five producers working together, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof, to a slightly lesser extent, are crazy-hardcore Trekkies. They understand the world so we had long conversations where they put things in and would be laughing hysterically. I had no clue why they were! There are tonnes of references and nods."

Abrams Talks Klingons and Carol Marcus

MTV continues to slowly post their December interviews with JJ Abrams and the actors from Star Trek Into Darkness as they discuss aspects of the film. Once again the Abrams cone of silence remains so while he talks about Klingons and Carol Marcus, he doesn't really stay much about the story. Video after the break.

Alice Eve Denies Khan Rumors, Pegg Wants Abrams for Trek 3

Sunday was the British Academy Film Awards which honors films from around the world. Attending it were to native UK Star Trek Into Darkness cast members Alice Eve (Carol Marcus) and Simon Pegg (Scotty) who answered a few Trek questions. Alice Eve is flat out denies the Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan rumors saying "He is not playing Khan." Simon Pegg discloses he thinks that JJ Abrams "will do Star Trek [3]" after he completes Star Wars while voicing his support of preventing spoilers from leaking. Keep in mind this is a hope on Pegg's part and not inside information. Discussions on Star Trek 3 are probably not even going to start until after Into Darkness comes out. Videos below.

I suspect Paramount will take a wait and see stance until the schedule of Star Wars Episode VII becomes clear. They might wait on Abrams but if the Star Wars gets bumped to 2016 (which I think is all but inevitable), I just don't seem them waiting until 2017 for the next film to come out so will move ahead with a different director. It execs are really on the ball, once the numbers come in on 2 to judge its level of success, they need to get aggressive on at least prepping a script as Paramount should claim summer 2015 when Star Wars gets pushed back as coming out in 2016 against Wars is a non-starter and 2017 just means they might as well wait for Abrams. In short, any Abrams directing Star Trek 3 talk is idle speculation until two things happen - 1) Star Trek Into Darkness is judged a box office success and 2) the official release date of Star Wars Episode 7 is announced.

EW Star Trek Into Darkness Cover Story and Images

Entertainment Weekly has released images from their feature article that will hit newsstands on Friday (and available via Apple's Newsstand App now) to go with their covers. As usual with a JJ Abrams production nothing specific is revealed but below are the images and highlights from their cover story. One thing of note that has captured the attention of the blogosphere is EW's title to promote the issue as "Voyage Into The New Star Trek Kirk & Khan" that has since been changed to "Kirk and Spock". Some are seeing it as an accidental reveal of a key story point that Benedict Cumberbatch's real character name is Khan Noonian Singh. While I am on the bandwagon that this a true story point in the film, it has not been officially confirmed by anyone associated with Star Trek Into Darkness and I don't believe EW knows either. It was just an easy title to promote the issue and nothing more.

Highlights:

Cumberbatch Hints Into Darkness Terrorism Story

MTV has posted more from their interview with Benedict Cumberbatch from December when he and other cast members were making the press rounds to promote the release of the Star Trek Into Darkness trailer. In his comments he seems to hint that the movie story-line does strong parallel the terrorism problems of today.

"[Look at] real social history and present history, everything that's going on: uprisings, people who are trying to spread democracy or fight their cause, not necessarily through political means ... he is a terrorist, and sadly, that's part of the fabric of our modern world," he explained to MTV when we spoke at a "Star Trek" event in late 2012. "You don't need to look far to research that one."

Cumberbatch continued, saying he looked towards "certain terrorist groups in the past" to see how they operated. But he wasn't only concerned with real-life terrorism. The actor emphasized the importance of turning towards his character's roots within the "Star Trek" universe itself, saying, "It was important to me to ground him in a reality that's based more on his story than, say, a parallel in the real world."

"What should certainly be chilling are the parallels to the modern world," he added cryptically.

JJ Abrams Talks Trek and More

While participating in the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour to promote Revolution, JJ Abrams spoke with Collider about his other projects including Star Trek Into Darkness. In regards to the film he spoke about fan response to the preview, Benedict Cumberbatch, and keeping secrets. The full interview is here, Trek related segments below.

What can you say about the experience of showing the Star Trek sequel to the dying fan (Daniel Craft)?
ABRAMS: I’d rather not comment on that, if that’s okay. But, it was an honor to be asked. I’d rather not talk about it because it feels insensitive, but for that to have been a request was unbelievably touching.

How did you feel about the response to the preview of the Star Trek sequel that was shown in theaters? Did it hit the way you expected or wanted it to?
ABRAMS: I got some anecdotal response about it. It wasn’t like there was a target that I was aiming at and I wanted to hit a certain mark. I don’t know how I could quantify what the reaction was. It’s hard. There’s no focus group or ratings or box office for what the response was to either the trailer or the preview. But, I will say that I’m very happy about how that sequence works in the movie. I can only hope that people enjoyed what they saw.

Empire Magazine's Interview, Hi-Res Images

Empire Magazine has posted hi-res images and one of their stories from their recent issue with Benedict Cumberbatch and Alice Eve. For the interview they seem to be providing commentary for the various images with comments on either what they were doing while filming a scene, characters and other actors. Below are a few highlights with the the full article and images here.

Cumberbatch: Ah, Chris. He’s got something on his face, the dirty boy. Seriously though, Kirk really goes through it by the end of the film…

Alice Eve: Actually, when you spilt food on your costume on set, that was called ‘doing a Chris Pine’ because he did it that much.

Cumberbatch: He did keep doing a Pine… He’d just take a drink in his hand and forget to put his mouth to it. The boy – sorry, the man – was so tired carrying that film, I’ve got to say. He’s brilliant in it, I’m really excited to see his performance.