J.J. Abrams STAR TREK XI

Ah. I see.

 

Simon Pegg is Scotty, according to Variety and Coming soon and Paramount has now given Abrams a budget of aboug 100-150 million.
Guess they have a lot of faith in Abrams.

I'm kinda glad they are going in a new direction, the TNG films after First Contact were kinda boring and Berman and company needed to go.

 

Pretty good choice for Scotty, IMO.

Now if we can just get the final choices for Kirk, Sulu and McCoy, we'll be all set.

 

Sulu is Harold
Harold is Sulu



John Cho and Simon Pegg have boarded the Starship Enterprise.

Cho has been cast as Sulu, the Enterprise's helmsman, while Pegg has signed on to play Scotty, the ship's Scottish chief engineer, in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" feature for Paramount.

The "Trek" casting deals appear to be closing at warp speed this week, with Eric Bana signing on Wednesday to play the movie's villain, Nero.

Already on board are Zoe Saldana as Uhura and Anton Yelchin as a young Chekov, the Russian-born navigator, as well as Zachary Quinto as a young Spock. Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role of Spock, is on board as well. Chris Pine is in talks to play the young Kirk.


The movie is expected to shoot from November-March.

Plot details are begin kept under wraps, but it is understood that the movie chronicles the early days of the Enterprise crew. The lead roles remaining to be cast are Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Enterprise, and Kirk's parents.

Montgomery "Scotty" Scott was the ship's third-in-command and was known for his problem-solving abilities in plot-critical situations. The role was originated by the late James Doohan.

Lt. Hikaru Sulu, known for his love of fencing, always was seen on deck piloting the ship next to Chekov. George Takei played the character in the 1960s TV series and the 1980s movies.

Cho starred as Harold in the cult hit "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle." He is reprising the role for the sequel. Cho is repped by Gersh, Principato/Young and attorney Alex Kohner.

Pegg, repped by CAA, starred in "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz." He next toplines David Schwimmer's comedy "Run, Fat Boy, Run."

 

No offense to Cho, but couldn't they find a Japanese American to play Sulu?

 

I don't know anything about Cho, but Pegg seems an interesting choice.

 

Boy, this is a casting mistake almost on the level of when they hired Englishman Patrick Stewart to play the French Jean-Luc Picard!

-Paul

 

Except that was the character as established for the first time. Sulu has already been established as Japanese.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about Cho, but with that said, I don't know who I'd choose instead.

 

I like the addition of Bana however. He'll fit in nicely.

 

I forgot to comment on Bana. I was kinda hoping that Urban would get the part but I'm not opposed to Bana. He was excellent in Munich and Troy.

 

Agreed. Bana's role in Munich is grossly underappreciated, IMO. He and Daniel Craig were stellar in that film. I never saw Troy. For some reason I had a hard time with Brad Pitt as Achilles. Bana as Hektor made sense in my mind...but Pitt? C'mon.

Anyway, Bana will be excellent and I love the name of his villain character: NERO. Indeed.

 

QFT. He'll make an excellent Romulan.

Does anyone have the feeling that Paramount may be setting JJ up to produce Star Trek on TV? They're letting him have his way with casting, he's getting a nice big budget and he's managed to get some decent star power. I could see where Paramount might ask him to develpoe new Trek series if this movie successful, and its looking like it will be.

 

*dies*

We need a good new trek series.

 

Interesting that the only 'starpower' at the moment is Bana and to a lesser extent Quinto from his fame from Heroes.

 

IIRC, Kirk hasn't been officially cast yet, and neither has Pike, so there's still hope.

 

That's true about Kirk...there's no done deal. I think that the absence of starpower, with the exceptions of Nimoy, Bana, and to a lesser extent Quinto, will work heavily in favor of the film. If someone like Brad Pitt were cast in the film or Tom Cruise, then I think the movie would suffer.

 

I like the casting of Pegg. I'm not so sure about Cho...

 

I was hoping for him. I really liked his character in Stargate Atlantis.

 

Don't they all look the same though?

[Runs...]

 

Sulu was meant to represent all asia. Like Chekov is russia, Uhura is africa, etc. The ship's crew was a representative of the plethora of earth's cultures and how we can all work together peacefully in the future! Rodenberry wouldn't care whether he was japanese, korean, taiwanese, etc. The important question is: Can this new casting rumor of ours act effectively in a dramatic role?