ROTTEN TOMATOES: Eric Bana Set as Star Trek Villain!

Eric Bana Set as Star Trek Villain!

But who is your new Captain Kirk??

by Jen Yamato | October 10, 2007

Hulk beam up! Eric Bana is the first confirmed baddie in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek XI...but that's not all. We've got one reported up-and-comer in talks to fill the role of Captain James T. Kirk!

Star Trek XI casting rumors have flown fast and furious of late, but these announcements come trade-approved. According to Variety, Bana will assume the role of Nero, a villain who will come up against already-confirmed crewmembers Spock (Zachary Quinto), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), and Uhura (Zoe Saldana). Not much else is known about the baddie, and since Abrams' powers of secrecy are proven (see: 1-18-08/Cloverfield), it's certain to stay that way for now.

Eric Bana in Hulk

Meanwhile, over at The Hollywood Reporter, it's been slipped that rising actor Chris Pine is "in discussions" to play the pivotal role of Captain Kirk. Pine, perhaps best known of late for starring opposite Lindsay Lohan in last year's rom-com Just My Luck, also turned in a surprisingly killer role as one of three sociopath hitman brothers in Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces.

Chris Pine in Blind Dating

But the Reporter points out that Pine may have to choose between playing Kirk in Star Trek and nabbing a key part in Carnahan's next film White Jazz, an adaptation of the James Ellroy novel. The notoriously long-gestating project has had many false starts over the years (at one point Nick Nolte was set to star as LAPD cop Dave Klein, a role to be filled now by George Clooney) and is has a shooting schedule that will overlap with that of Star Trek this winter. Pine would play Clooney's partner Junior Stemmons in the noir pic, but he'd better decide fast, as production on Star Trek is slated to begin this November.

Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter

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(1-20 of 21 posts) | Reply

DaHypr1 writes:
on Oct 10 2007 12:50 AM

chris pine better not get the role of kirk. kirk looked like a man who could take a punch, and this guy looks like he would start crying if he got hit. eric bana seems like a good enough choice though.

(Reply to this)

mbrocchi writes:
on Oct 10 2007 04:09 AM

Great choice in Eric Bana... Again Abrams makes a good choice.

(Reply to this)

MrNice writes:
on Oct 10 2007 05:03 AM

As long....as chris...works on...delivery...of his lines-he should......be fine......

also his two-armed jumping back-smash to knock out the villain.

(Reply to this)

crystalwhiteeyes writes:
on Oct 10 2007 06:07 AM

there still doing Star Trek??

(Reply to this)

webdango writes:
on Oct 10 2007 06:07 AM

Point of fact is that Star Fleet is a military organization. You're commissioned as a lieutenant after you graduate Star Fleet Academy. Assuming SFA is like the military schools of today, that means you get commissioned around age 22 or so.

The Captain of a vessel is an O-6 (Navy Captain, Army Colonel, Air Force Colonel, etc). I happen to be in military, and the fastest ANYONE can make O-6 and actually pin on the rank is about 18 years. That means 40 years old is about the minimum for being a Captain.

Whomever is doing the casting for this movie would immediately destroy any suspension of reality they might hope to create by casting anyone younger than 35 in the role of Kirk. Kirk was 36 when he got promoted to captain, and he was the fastest to captain in the history of Star Fleet.

Chris Pine was born in 1980. There is NO WAY Trekkies will buy a 28 year old as the Captain of the Enterprise, the freaking FLAGSHIP of the Federation. And it is the Trekkies who will make or break this movie.

If the average Trekkie doesn't see the movie a dozen times, it will be a flop. And if they cast Chris Pine, or any other 20 year old pretty boy as Kirk, I can guarantee that will be the result.

(Reply to this)

Jugger writes:
on Oct 10 2007 06:37 AM

but this kid is Captain Kirk or just Kirk in the Star Fleet years as a cadet???

(Reply to this)

Rogue Vulcan writes:
on Oct 10 2007 06:42 AM

@ webdango

Actually, Kirk was 31 when he took command of the Enterprise, not 36.

However, I agree with the first poster, Pine doesn't look tough enough to play the character. But I'll reserve judgement until I see the film.

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Oct 10 2007 08:07 AM

a few points:

1) its a coup for jj abrams to get eric bana, but why would eric bana decide to take this role? i guess they are either paying him alot of money, the script is really good, or bana isnt getting alot of work these days (a crime i think, since he's a pretty good actor, im my opinion).

2) dork alert! there's a little too much thought going into the age of kirk. we dont know anything about the script yet. once we find out, then we can adjust our age projection on the actor playing kirk.

3) as for pine, sure he's made some crappy rom-com movies. but who knows? maybe he just hasnt had a chance yet. if he can go from doing a crappy movie with lindsay lohan to playing one of the sick hillbillies in smoking aces (crappy movie), maybe he can disappear into kirk. i'd rather have an unknown play kirk than someone like matt damon.

(Reply to this)

bigteddyt writes:
on Oct 10 2007 08:26 AM

A) why would you NOT want a good actor such as Damon to play Kirk, but...

B) i agree with blank blank saying there is wat too much thought going into the role of kirk. it's a movie. it's all fake. not one bit of it is REAL! it's fake! i love movies, but getting riled up over a stupid technicality is ridiculous. i'm not saying that i agree that this tool should play kirk, but it is a movie and i'm sure they could do some make-up and make him look older.

(Reply to this)

Now it's dark writes:
on Oct 10 2007 08:49 AM

Please tell me they aren't going for the teen demographic with this snot nosed Kirk they're talking about.

(Reply to this)

cabezone writes:
on Oct 10 2007 09:17 AM

The current trend of putting kids into the roles of mature adults is really irritating. Superman suffered greatly with their casting of superman and Lane. They were supposed to be 30 somethings and they looked like they just got out of high school. The rest of the cast was much more age appropriate.

It appears that this movie is going down a similar path. There's no way this is about starfleet academy, they're casting the entire crew. If they have them all going to classes at the same time it will be beyond stupid.

Maybe if Kirk isn't a captain yet and they're all serving on another ship.....

(Reply to this)

TheAnswerMVP2001 writes:
on Oct 10 2007 10:06 AM

In reply to this comment (#1179543)
No this isn't Star Trek, it's blasphemy!

(Reply to this)

dracus writes:
on Oct 10 2007 10:55 AM

Oh, God!

(Reply to this)

Bigbrother writes:
on Oct 10 2007 01:01 PM

In reply to this comment (#1179544)
Actually since Trek follows a Navy rank structure for the most part they'd be commissioned as Ensigns and field promotions during time of war could cut down on promotion time. During WWII and other high casualty conflicts it was uncommon for men to enter battle as enlisted men and exit as commissioned officers, however a 28 year old captain does stretch believability a bit, but then again so do warp drives and proton torpedo's.

(Reply to this)

Bigbrother writes:
on Oct 10 2007 01:02 PM

In reply to this comment (#1179544)
Photon torpedo's...don't want to lose geek cred.

(Reply to this)

damvbat writes:
on Oct 10 2007 03:10 PM

Hulk smash

(Reply to this)

eastern2western writes:
on Oct 10 2007 06:51 PM

hulk smash and hulk bash

(Reply to this)

Zontar writes:
on Oct 10 2007 07:24 PM

I wouldn't really describe Shatner as rugged. At any rate, Chris Pine is considerably more muscular and three inches taller; he may be too strapping to play Kirk.

(Reply to this)

TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Oct 12 2007 12:10 PM

I gotta admit, I'm a little concerned exactly *HOW* they're going to pull this one together-- Precisely what draws people to Star Trek is their memories of the series they already liked; the chemistry and charisma of the characters. For example, people gave ST:TNG a chance (after a while) because it paid respect to the original series and created NEW characters that people grew to like, in their own right. Simply re-doing EXACTLY what was done before, albeit with different technology/budget seems to be courting disaster. You're not going to recreate the chemistry between Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner simply because you call two new people 'Kirk' and 'Spock.'

I'm not saying this is guaranteed to suck, just that it's going to take ALL that J.J.Abrams' got and maybe then some.

(Reply to this)

TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Oct 12 2007 12:11 PM

...I wanted to add, getting Eric Bana is a clutch move. I like him. I think he could be a kick-*** villain.

(Reply to this)

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