10I am reading a chapter in a guide to all things Star Trek about the creation of the movie STXI in 2009. This is what I came upon…
The most prominent candidate to inherit William Shatner’s role as the captain of the Enterprise was Matt Damon, who met with J. J. Abrams to discuss the role. Deciding that Damon was too old for the role of Kirk as written, the pair discussed having him play Kirk’s father in the opening section of the film, a part that Damon turned down and went to Thor’s Chris Hemsworth instead.
I’m sorry, who’s a what now? Matt Damon as James T. Kirk???
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I’m with you…I don’t see Matt Damon as Kirk. That just does not compute… Rob Lowe was supposed to have Kevin Bacon’s part in “Footloose” but he injured his knee very badly and couldn’t do the part…
Apparently Karl was a nice surprise. For Abrams, Urban was a man of previously hidden talents: ‘Karl Urban surprised the hell out of me by coming in and being crazy good and funny in a way I never thought or knew he could do and blew my mind. He is far more versatile than anyone knows.’
This is such wonderful compliment from Abrams..I’m glad Karl was available. I think he was perfect as Bones, and to be honest I really didn’t know about Chris or Karl prior to Star Trek.
You might also find this interesting: For Abrams, the characters were key to his reinvention of the franchise. ‘[There’s a] feeling of broken and interesting characters in Kirk and Spock’, he told SFX magazine. ‘[We show them] coming together in a way that is unexpected and ultimately throw them into a massive adventure. The approach was to take inspiration from what was in The Original Series and then filter it through what is relevant and vital for now. The goal was not to make it cool or different, but to make it real, with characters that feel true and emotional, like there’s a piece missing from them and they’re up against something significant and the stakes are high. It was fun to figure out a way to make the relationship between Spock, Kirk and Bones [McCoy] come to life.’
He definitely did some character-breaking. Fatherless Kirk, bitter McCoy, and emotionally devastated Spock. :/
Just reading this made me come close to tears. I understand the changes, but I dislike them so much.
I do find this most interesting. Personally, I feel Abrams did a fabulous job in “rebooting” the characters/storyline. I watched TOS and never thought I would like anyone else playing the main characters. There have been other series that used new actors for the characters of some tv shows and I couldn’t even watch.
Damon would have been an incredibly different Kirk, that’s for sure. I can see fatherless, bitter, middle aged (sorry, Matt!!!) Kirk. I have a hard time imagining Damon schmoozing like TOS!Kirk, and definitely can’t see him as the bro!Kirk from the 2009 film.
For me Damon doesn’t have the charisma to be a Kirk. Not like the Shat, and not like the intense, concentrated version Pine portrayed. That’s not to say Damon wouldn’t have done a decent job… I just have a feeling I wouldn’t have connected with the movie and therefore been spurred to join the ST fandom.
Damon has certainly never taken a role like it, but I could see him pulling it off. It would be more an impersonation of Shatner instead of Pine’s caricature. For the movie as it played, Pine was, by far, the better choice. And thank goodness he was chosen, because yay, you! in ST fandom!