Week Three To Boldy Go Charity Video

It is Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban's turn to promote the Star Trek: To Boldy Go Omaze charity that gives you an opportunity to win a tour of the Star Trek set.

For Star Trek 3, Karl Urban Wants Originality

While promoting his television show Being Human, Karl Urban on the record to IGN what all Trekkies have been saying - that Star Trek 3 needs to return to its roots with original story telling that explores strange new worlds. He also was emphatic about not trying to use his connections to JJ Abrams to get a role in Star Wars Episode VII.

Somewhat taken aback by the total clarity of his denial, we asked if he was a fan of the Star Wars franchise. “Oh my God, yes,” Urban replied immediately. “I grew up watching it. That was the Holy Grail for me. I was a fan of Star Trek growing up. Star Wars was it. Star Wars was like…I remember waiting for two/three years for that next installment, for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I’ve seen every single Star Wars film, even the animated, The Clone Wars, and all that sort of stuff. I just love that universe, but that being said, I have no desire to be part of it. I don’t see the worlds of Star Trek and Star Wars joining. I’ve made a commitment to Star Trek and I’m going to keep it. It wouldn’t feel right to me. Being in Star Trek, to suddenly be in Star Wars wouldn’t feel right to me.”

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)

New Volcano Clip, McCoy Profile for STID

Below are two more videos promoting Star Trek Into Darkness. The first is a new clip that shows Spock entering the red planet's volcano core while the second is a character profile of McCoy.

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."

More from Cast on Star Trek Into Darkness

Below are two videos combining interviews with the cast of Star Trek Into Darkness as they talk about the film from Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. Nothing story wise is really revealed only saying its bigger, better, and gets more into the characters.

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.

SDCC 2012: Karl Urban's Star Trek Footage

As promised, Karl Urban has posted his Star Trek 2 footage for the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con. It does seem he was having fun with fans as the video is ..umm an interesting choice as most of it shows Urban surfing. As the very end (3:26 point, see below), he added a phone camera recording of what is likely a little moment to mark the last day of shooting. The brief moment shows director JJ Abrams, Assistant Director Tommy Gormley and Cinematographer Dan Mindel as they each hold objects used for various special effects, color correction and the like. For example, the shiny ball is used to record reflects so can be added to a CGI object to give that extra level of realism.

SDCC 2012 Karl Urban Teases Possible Trek Footage

Karl Urban might just be becoming a useful source for Star Trek info, or at least he enjoys pretending to release related info. Last week he might have accidently revealed the villain of the sequel. In a new interview with ComingSoon to promote Dredd, he said "I can promise you that before the end of [2012 San Diego] Comic-Con, some exclusive Star Trek footage, it's going to come out. You're going to find it. It's going to come out." This is despite Paramount's decision to skip SDCC. It would seem to be a wasted opportunity to not release something.

He also commented on the villain slip saying "I'm really not at liberty to discuss anything about Star Trek. All I can say is that I did that interview after a 22-hour flight from New Zealand. I literally hopped off the plane into the interview." The info has not yet been officially confirmed however.

Star Trek 2 Villain Is...?

Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy) may have accidently let slip to SFX who the main villain of Star Trek 2 is while doing marathon interviews to promote his movie Dredd. In the interview he said spoke of Trek and Benedict Cumberbatch saying "He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary."

Gary Mitchell was a character in the original series 2nd pilot episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Mitchell was a long time friend of Kirk's who was also a crew member on the Enterprise. When the Enterprise attempts to cross the galactic barrier (border between our universe and space to next universe), Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner where given mental capabilities that grew in power with every moment. As if to prove the phrase "absolute power corrupts absolutely", the more power Mitchell had, the more corrupt he became until his humanity began to slip away. In a final struggle with Kirk and Dehner on a planet surface, both near gods were killed.

Trek Cast Talking Sequel at SDCC

The San Diego Comic-Con has come to an end but TrekMovie has done an excellent job of finding the videos, pictures and more from the actors of the franchise and the great costumes fans put together. If seeking information about the Star Trek sequel, it remains in the scripting phase with a production started date of mid-next year. Most of the actors just spoke of how they had faith in the "Einsteins" and that the resultant script would awesome. Hit the links below to year from Karl Urban, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and even an odd moment with Brent Spiner.

Zachary Quinto | Chris Pine | Karl Urban | George Takei | Costumes and Brent Spiner

Cast Continue Sequel Talk

As summarized by TrekMovie, three cast members from Star Trek have recently commented about their expectations for the upcoming sequel.

Karl Urban
Q: What do you think of evolution of your character is going to be like in the next “Star Trek”?
Urban: I have no idea. I just know it’s going to be good. I’m really looking forward to getting on board that one and I feel now we’ve introduced all these great characters. It’s going to be really interesting to see where we can take it.

Q: Have you made any requests to the writers about where you want your character to go?
Urban: No, I think that they’re geniuses and you should just let them do what they do. I have officially thrown a genius label on them. I’ve got full faith that whatever they come up with is going to equal and surpass the first installment.

Zoe Saldana

Zoe is hoping to make these films before she does “Star Trek 2.” “Within a month, we’ll have specific filming dates for ‘Star Trek 2,’ ” she revealed. “So we have to do whatever we have to do before the Enterprise comes calling.”

John Cho

I don’t think they’ve written anything yet, some of our writers are on other projects right now, so I don’t think any decisions have been made.

Star Trek Cast Talk Sequel Character Development

TrekMovie.com has posted additional videos with various members of the cast of Star Trek as they discuss their ideas for what they would like to see in the sequel. The first video is with Leonard Nimoy (Spock). He believes it is unlikely he will be in the next movie as he served his role of bridging the old with the new and that to his knowledge Shatner has continued to avoid watching the movie. The second video is with John Cho (Sulu), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (McCoy), Zachary Quinto (Spock) and Bruce Greenwood (Pike). Sulu wants to "turn Sulu's battle internal", Zoe wants the opposite with Uhura kicking some butt, Quinto wants more explorations of Spock's dual heritage, Urban wants to evolve McCoy further as the triumvirate emerges, and Greenwood wants to Pike to be on the Enterprise and avoid the chair.

Leonard Nimoy


Cho, Saldana, Quinto, Urban & Greenwood

More Cast Interviews

The Star Trek cast is making the rounds to fill theatre seats for tomorrow's night opening of the movie. Below are snippets from each but click the links to read the whole thing.

Zachary Quinto - Two video clips from ABC. The first clip is an interview were Quinto discusses the movie, becoming Spock, and Trek tradition. After a commercial break, the second clip airs wtih Quinto talking about what would be on Spock's iPod (classic rock and Bob Dylan). Thanks to Brian for the link and info.

Karl Urban (Leonard "Bones" McCoy)

Did you and JJ sit down and decide to go that route with Bones –to make him the one that would be the closest to the original?
Urban: No, actually. We never really had that conversation. As a long-term fan I felt it was important to see some semblance of continuity to the wonderful work Mr. Kelley had done. And really, to me, it is about the character’s attitudes. And there is a certain specific way that the character of McCoy reacts in certain situations and I really could only do my version of what that could be. There were certain character traits that were keys for me. Finding a voice was important. I remember JJ coming up to me one day and he says "what you are doing is wonderful, it is not DeForest Kelley, but it is something that is Bones, but it’s different, and keep on doing what you are doing." I had a lot of fun working on this character. I got to do and say some fun things. I am just very grateful that the character has gone down well thus far. I look forward, if I get the opportunity, to continue to develop it in further installments..

TrekMovie: As a fan. what was your biggest fanboyish moment in making this movie?
Urban: I think it was meeting Leonard Nimoy and being on set the very first day that he became Spock again, the first time in seventeen years. to be this close, as I am to you, to an actor and character of such iconic status who you have enjoyed and has been part of your childhood — to be that close to him was such surreal moment. To hear him deliver those lines in that Spock cadence — I’ll never forget it. I feel very privileged to be part of it and blessed that he was part of our film.

John Cho (Hikaru Sulu)

TrekMovie: Once you got the script, what was it like for you, since Sulu is a little different than he was in the show and has a lot of action. Were you nervous about that or excited?
Cho: A little bit of both. I was thrilled he was out of his chair and getting into the mix. If I had one complaint about the old show, as an Asian-American, I wanted to see Sulu get involved a little more and kick some booty. And this is it, this is happening. I can’t believe I am fulfilling my own personal dream and having Sulu shaking it. And secondly, I was like ‘I have never done this before’, I have never done action before so it was a completely different way of working for me, where I led with my body. Strangely, that stunt work we did a couple of months prior informed everything else. I was surprised by that. That the way my body changed as a result of doing all that training, kind of made me a different person. I was like ‘I like this, I am going with this’ it was a little like an Academy experience for us. It informed how I sat in the chair, how I attacked every line. It was surprisingly useful.

TrekMovie: You talk about getting back into the chair. You and Anton [Yelchin] still do a lot of ‘in the chair’ work in this movie. So you and he worked out some system so you know what does what at that consoles? Like you guys have figured out a system where you know what to do if Kirk says ‘fire the photon torpedoes’?
Cho: Not precisely, but vaguely, yeah. We made decisions and it was building from scratch. I went in there and I called JJ over and I was looking at the set and I said ‘what is the language?’ I realized we are setting something here, we have got to feel confident going forward. The set was an in interesting mixture of the digital vibe of the original show, and kind of the — I hate to bring this up — but the analog vibe of Star Wars. The bumpiness and used feel and the real dials. It was funny, Star Trek was such a smooth sleek view of the future and how do you combine that. Do you depress things? We could have gone in a bunch of ways. We relied on the touch screen more than anything else.

Zoe Saldana (Nyota Uhura)

TrekMovie: You mention kissing aliens, so I can’t help but bring up something. I would say as a Trekkie it was the most surprising thing about this film. Were you nervous about the love connection with Spock and tell me how you prepared for it.
Saldana: I thought JJ [Abrams] was out of his mind when he and Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman decided to take that route. My concerns was what effect it was going to have on the fan community and whether or not it was going to go according to what they had known for so long. But at the same time there was no way to disprove that something like that had taken place before on the Enterprise. So after I gave myself that permission I allowed myself to go back to the script and read the story and focus on these characters and their journey and it made perfect sense to me. He is half human, half Vulcan, at some point if he was only going to be a Vulcan man, then why even make him half human. You are constantly waiting for him to break. It is that battle that makes Spock who he is and connects Spock to the beautiful friendship he has with Kirk and keeps him connected on a sensitive level when it comes to life. And I felt Uhura was a very commanding and — Nichelle [Nichol]’s Uhura was just so sexy and she always had things together and she had a swagger to her that was absolutely sensuous but confident. And she had already gotten there. I couldn’t necessarily start here there because there would be no journey for her. She was definitely very determined and a very strong woman and really wanted to be on that Enterprise and be the xenolinguistics expert since she was like five years old. So who else but Spock for her to look up to and have an infatuation with, more than Kirk.

Zachary Quinto (Spock)

TrekMovie: I know that you have tried to make this role your own, as directed by JJ and as Leonard [Nimoy] understood. But what would you say is the most different about your interpretation of Spock, and on the other hand what would you say was the most the same?
Quinto: I will take the second part first. I think there are a number of characteristics of Spock that are inextricable from who he is and what his heritage is and what his cultural history is. There is a certain way he carries himself and a certain way that he speaks and way that he relates that is defined ultimately by Leonard, but more than that, by the history of the mythology of the character. For me that was the part of the character that was most similar to the version that Leonard played. I think the versions that were different is that that he is much less at ease about his duality. He is much more in conflict internally and I think he has much less control over the stirrings of his human emotion, and that allowed me a little bit more room to play with then many Leonard felt he had with his experience with the character.

TrekMovie: How did you prepare to literally go where no Spock has gone before? It is very new territory.
Quinto: [laughed] It is new territory, but I think it is very important to our movie. On one hand, I think it infuses the story with a certain levity and a certain humor between Kirk and Spock and this sort of rivalry. Between Kirk and Uhura there is this sort of cat and mouse thing going on. And that is the source of a lot of laughs for me. I think between Spock and Uhura it actually provides a sort of depth and complexity to these characters and relationships that adds a kind of value to this movie and sets it apart from what has come before it. Uhura represents a canvas onto which Spock is able to project the emotions he cannot express. To that end I think it is a valuable device and I think it is well laid in to the evolution of this story and I hope that it is not too disruptive to the die-hard Trek canon fanatics.

Eric Bana (Nero)

Let's talk about your character, Nero. He has such a tragic back story. Did you ever feel like a tragic hero?
That's a good question. Tragic hero? I guess to a degree. I never really saw him as a villain, even though he sort of performs that function for the drama of the story. To me, yeah, he was Nero, leader of the Romulans who has been wronged and is seeking revenge, and that's kind of how I see him so I think. Yeah, I like your description.

I'm curious about your movements in character. You're very aggressive and strong, did you come up with any of those reactions and jumps yourself or was it all planned out?
Some of them were a bit spur of the moment. It was a pretty intense character. I passed out, I think, once during one of the takes, I got so carried away. Lost about twenty seconds, down on the floor, and got up, and the camera was still rolling and it was like, "I guess I just continue now." Um yeah. It was pretty crazy.

Karl Urban On McCoy

Here is another excerpt from SciFiNow (previous talked about here), where Karl Urban talks about his take on Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

"He's a kid from Iowa whose father was a famous captain of Starfleet, who's approached one day by Captain Pike to see if he wants to join Starfleet like his father." Pine told the magazine "His aptitude tests are off the chart and he obviously shows a lot of promise, but hasn't really been doing anything with his life other than getting in bar fights and drinking too much."

"That's huge, though not referenced in this film." Urban said regarding the euthanasia scene in Star Trek V "But his divorce is. He's immediately coming off the back of that. That was always in the back of my mind as well - the divorce as well as that are two incredibly painful episodes to have had to occur to anybody. At the beginning of this film, when we find McCoy, he is literally running away to join Starfleet. At the same time, he has this incomprehensible fear of space flight and space itself. You know, Alex and Robert wrote the most amazing dialogue for me. Lines like, "Space is full of disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence" - that, to an actor, is just gold."

Star Trek Clip - Disease and Danger

Yahoo Movies has posted a clip from Star Trek that shows off Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. It’s pretty good and captures that "it can get worse" mentality of the good doctor.

Five More Cast Images

EW has posted five more images to go with the previousily released 9 shots from Star Trek. They are essentially "hero" shots of the James T Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), McCoy (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho) and Nero (Eric Bana).

Mini Karl Urban Interview; Teaser Trailer Date?

The Deadbolt had a brief interview with Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy) discussing his current projects including Star Trek. The full interview is here but below is the Star Trek portions of the interview. Probably the best piece of information is that a teaser trailer may be released with Abrams other project Cloverfield that is coming out 1-18-08.

THE DEADBOLT: As for Star Trek, how far into filming are you?
URBAN: We’re about a month in.

THE DEADBOLT: What's been the hardest part for you so far?
URBAN: I think the hardest part really is maintaining the level of security and secrecy that we have all been forced to adopt. I mean it’s really kind of paranoid crazy, but sort of justified. We’re not allowed to walk around in public in our costumes and we have to be herded around everywhere in these golf carts that are completely concealed and covered in black canvas. The security of it is immense. You feel your freedom is a big challenge.

THE DEADBOLT: How will McCoy be different than what we already know?
URBAN: The film that we are making is very faithful in ways to the original series and the characters are the same archetypes which were established in the original series from the '60s. And I think the fact that Leonard Nimoy has chosen to reprise his role as Spock for the first time in 15 years is an incredible endorsement and he wouldn’t be involved if he didn’t believe in J.J. [Abrams] and the authenticity of the project. I’m just really excited about this film and it’s amazing [how] every day someone new comes in and turns up on set, like we had Stephen Spielberg pop in yesterday. Everybody is thoroughly intrigued to see this one and it’s going to be phenomenal. I think the teaser trailer comes out on the front of Cloverfield in January, so people will get their first kind of taste of the look and feel. And I think after Indiana Jones opens in May, this film is going to be the most highly anticipated film of 2008.

Karl Urban for Doctor McCoy

The rumors where only half true. People thought he was up for the role of the main bad guy (now Eric Bana). Turns out he is has been cast as Young Doctor McCoy. Not sure I see they connection but like the actor so why not. Should be interesting to see. With this casting, the Enterprise bridge crew as been reformed for Star Trek XI.

Update: Changed post title with correct name. Oddly I named the photo right, go figure.

Karl Urban the Star Trek Villian?

More casting rumors, this time that Karl Urban has been offered the role of the lead Romulan villain in the plot to destroy the existence of James T. Kirk. This new rumor is after Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe were supposedly being tagged for the part. Karl Urban may be familiar to some as Eomer in Lord of the Rings.