Busy day for Star Trek casting news. Not only has Eric Bana signed on as the movie’s villain, Nero, but it seems that, at long last, director JJ Abrams might have finally found an actor with the charisma and raw acting talent to step into the shoes of The Shat and play a young Captain James T. Kirk.
That is, if he can work out a doozy of a scheduling conflict.
For, at the moment, Chris Pine – a fine young actor with a talent for comedy who was the best thing in Lindsay Lohan comedy, Just My Luck, before contributing a truly bizarre and near-unrecognisable turn as a psycho Nazi in Smokin’ Aces – will only be Kirk if he can juggle the Star Trek filming schedule with another high-profile role in Joe Carnahan’s White Jazz.
Star Trek starts shooting in November, and goes through to March, while White Jazz – the adaptation of the James Ellroy novel, in which Pine would play Junior Stemmons, the partner of George Clooney’s corrupt cop, Dave Klein – goes before the cameras in January.
The Hollywood Reporter says that both camps are trying to work things out so that Pine can star in both films, but that Abrams and Paramount are also lining up back-up actors to play Kirk, should Pine be unable to Trek.
For Empire’s part, we hope that Pine can work it out, partially because we’re intrigued to see whether he’ll attempt to Reproduce. The Shat’s! Famous. Staccato. Speech. Patterns!
Yet, as stated above, he’s also a fine actor – good enough to star alongside Lindsay Lohan and come out unscathed – and is the best option so far mooted for the role, streets ahead of Poseidon’s Mike Vogel, who was previously thought the front-runner.
It also helps that Pine looks sufficiently like a young The Shat to convince as Kirk, the size of whose role in Star Trek is as-yet unknown. But, if rumours are to be believed, the plot may hinge on an assassination attempt on the good captain’s life.
As soon as Pine confirms one way or the other, we’ll let you know.