The late actor Jeffrey Hunter
From Startrek.com:
10.18.2007
Presenting the "Star Trek" Cast
Well, presenting most of them at least. We are ready for you, Captain Pike!
In the past few weeks, STARTREK.COM has been breaking the news of the final casting choices of J.J. Abrams and his production team for the new "Star Trek" movie, scheduled for release Christmas Day 2008. Since the movie's announcement over a year ago, we have seen wild speculation (Matt Damon as Kirk, Adrien Brody as Spock, Gary Sinise as McCoy, etc.) and some informed sleuthing on the part of the more "independent" sites (the tip off of Zoe Saldana playing Uhura, for example). As we've said in the past, though, until you see it on STARTREK.COM, it's only a rumor. This is the difference between being an official site versus an entertainment, gossip or independent fan site. We can only report the facts, not the rumor. That isn't to say the rumors are always untrue. In many cases they are absolutely accurate. But the way Hollywood works can be complicated — the vagaries of dealmaking, etc. — and for various reasons the potential news cannot bubble up to the surface of publication by reliable industry outlets (e.g., Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter) until it is hard, established fact.
Over the months, we've had a lot of fun trying to guess which way the producers are going to turn in their casting of new actors to fill established, iconic roles that are more than 40 years old. So far, we have nothing but praise for the producers and their choices. These are fine young actors who we have no doubt can deliver the goods. All movies are made up of many components to make them work, but the two areas you mainly build on to make a good film are script and cast. After that, the many other creative areas of expertise can fall into place. The movie business has no shortage of wildly talented people — it's a matter of getting the right people, the right look and feel, and then the right audience to appreciate the fruits of your labor. There is no guaranteed formula on how to make a great movie, but often Hollywood finds success based on an established audience (i.e. James Bond, Transformers, Spider-Man, etc.). With Star Trek, the studio and the creative people involved have always tried to make what they thought was the best possible film they could. This doesn't always go according to plan.
As a "for instance," one of the main criticisms of "Star Trek Nemesis" was not the script or the cast, but the choice of Stuart Baird to direct. We know that Baird is an immensely talented editor and director with a proven track record in Hollywood. He was, however, the wrong person to be directing a Star Trek movie. And it showed. Baird was not familiar with Star Trek and its characters, and his dealings with the cast and crew were at times tense. When we saw the final cut of the movie it lacked the emotional coda we were all expecting. (Some of the deleted scenes as seen on the DVD would have fit nicely within the movie, but they were cut for pacing reasons. So we are told in the audio commentary.) It's easy to Monday-morning quarterback in Hollywood, but the mood for "Nemesis" was evident even before cameras rolled.
With this new team, the mood and the buzz is excellent. The casting, the buzz surrounding the script, the involvement of Leonard Nimoy (still no final word on Shatner!), and J.J.'s production team have been all about respecting the Star Trek universe, the fans and the artistry required to make a movie that will last. We wish the director, writers, producers, actors and production crew the best shoot possible, and we are confident that come Christmas Day 2008, we will all be standing in line to see the next Star Trek film, with hopefully more sequels in the works.
Now if they would just cast Christopher Pike and let us know if Shatner will or won't be in the film!