Have we found our Captain Kirk?
William Shatner once said that the role of Kirk in JJ Abrams Star Trek Prequel is “uncastable”. I happen to agree to some extent with that statement. Shatner didn’t mean that no one could do the job, just that the character became so synonymous with Shatner himself that anyone you got to play Kirk would actually be playing William Shatner playing Kirk.
So no matter who they choose, someone is going to have issues with it. I am undecided about the most predominate casting rumour for Kirk to date.
AICN says:
Well, allegedly Mike Vogel has been cast as James T. Kirk for JJ Abrams’s upcoming STAR TREK movie.
How true is it? I have no idea at the moment. It certainly seems like IESB is confident about their source, and Vogel is starring in CLOVERFIELD/1-18-08/etc. right now, so maybe JJ saw something he really liked as those dailies came rolling in.
Rumour or not, the fact that Vogel is currently working with JJ on the mysterious Cloverfield movie makes you wonder if his experience with Vogel would influence such a casting choice? It wouldnt be the first time a director would choose an actor he has worked with before.
I don’t know Vogel well enough to imagine him in the role. Do you think he would do the job well?
1. Terry Letourneau replies at 28th September 2007, 11:32 am :
Even though I am looking forward to a new Star Trek movie, and that it’s taking a new direction. I just don’t want it to end up being Starbase 90210. Is there anyone over 30 in this movie? If not, you might as well do Logan’s Run.
2. Stormy70 replies at 28th September 2007, 2:11 pm :
Kirk is supposed to be sexy, not pretty.
This shouldn’t be Star Trek: The Boy Band Years.
3. shane razey replies at 28th September 2007, 2:19 pm :
Ditto Stormy70
4. Phil Gee replies at 28th September 2007, 2:38 pm :
I don’t think it’s an uncastable part though it’s certainly unprecendented to recast a character that’s been played by one actor for long. But to me, it’s the same situation as Daniel Craig taking on Bond, Brandon Routh taking on Superman, or Heath Ledger taking on the Joker.
There are some people out there who just cannot distance themselves from their own perception of what they want the character to be, how it should be played, or who should play it. To this day, there are still people who think only Sean Connery can play James Bond (and some think he still should be), which is a perspective i have always found unfair and downright offensive to the other poor blokes who’ve stepped in. It just takes an actor with balls to face this sort of nonsense and do their job as an actor. If the script is good enough, hald the battle is already won.
5. alfie replies at 28th September 2007, 4:33 pm :
dumb move to recast kirk. they should have started fresh.all new….shatner made kirk. the character on the page was not the character shatner created you know what I mean? shatner is unique….
look this kid might be great but he has the weight of playing such a hugely well known and idiosyncratic character…
and not a battlestar type rethink…he is playing the same guy we know just younger. we know this because he has cast nimoy as older spock so these are nor new takes on the characters…these are meant to be them.
so is this guy going to do a kirk impersonation ala mcgregor in the prequels? because that really runs the risk of being painful.
we will see i guess…i just find all of this to be looking more and more like a missed oppourtunity and paramounts fear of just totally rebooting the star trek world getting in the way of delivering something great.
see i don’t love star trek. i like it.
but i fucking LLLLLOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE james t kirk and to see some CW looking pretty boy dare step into king shatners shoes is fucking sacrasanct if that is indeed how you spell it and if that word means what I think it does.
6. Kristina replies at 28th September 2007, 6:49 pm :
Well Christ, if they were looking for a pretty boy, they should have gotten Zac Efron. This guy is one tube of lipstick away from being a girl.
7. Henrik replies at 29th September 2007, 1:16 am :
It’s not like the character is a big deal, it’s just that nobody can abstract from Shatner in the role.
This is turning out to be the worst possible scenario for anybody who appreciates the intelligent parts of Star Trek. This is a horrible militaristic Battlestar Galactica-meets-Alias version of Star Trek, that is going to be embarrasing.
Why the fuck did Jesus come back to life and not Gene Roddenberry?
8. bond james bond replies at 29th September 2007, 2:58 pm :
it would be cool if everytime kirk is on the screen all the audience can see is the back of his head or his boots. like the way they showed christ in the movie the robe.
9. AjaxLou replies at 29th September 2007, 9:09 pm :
Chill Henrik - your hyperbole in in transwarp mode. Let’s see the finished product first before passing judgement OK? Don’t know the guy and he seems studly enough. The real question is whether the chemistry that the original triad here can be recaptured.