When news broke that Chris Pine was back in talks to play Captain Kirk in the fourth Star Trek film for the Kelvin verse, I was beyond excited. Mainly because his take on the character is what helped me (a lifelong fan of the franchise) finally understand the appeal of James T. Kirk. I loved these movies, that began in 2009 with J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, and I was upset that they seemed to finally come into their own with Star Trek Beyond only for it to seemingly end there.
Now, there’s word we may be getting more of the Pine/Zachary Quinto as Spock-led series and Pine talked in depth about what he knew about the next journey for his Kirk.
In an interview with Deadline, Pine was pretty candid about what is going on with the fourth Star Trek movie in the Kelvin universe. “I’ve not read a script. I met the director, Matt [Shakman], who I really like,” Pine said. “I met a producer on it that I really like. I know JJ [Abrams] is involved in it in some respects. I met the new people over at Paramount, which is many different kind of relations. I really liked them. Everybody seems excited about the prospect of it. There’s just simply no — I don’t have a tangible script to look at.”
He went on to talk about his own love for the idea of the franchise and why he loved coming back to the series. “Conceptually, I love it,” he said. “I love Star Trek. Again, I love the messaging of it. I love the character. I love my friends with whom I get to play. It’s a great gig. I mean, it’s a gig I’ve had, working and not working, for 15-plus years. It cemented the career that I have now. I’m honored to be a part of it. It’s given me so much. I think there are plenty of stories to tell in it. You know, I think Star Trek for me, it’s an interesting one.”
The struggle of the Kelvin verse
Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond were big movies but they weren’t exactly box office legends. Star Trek fans are devoted but apparently, the studio wanted more.
“We always tried to get the huge international market. It was always about making the billion dollars,” he admitted. “It was always this billion-dollar mark because Marvel was making a billion. Billion, billion, billion. We struggled with it because Star Trek, for whatever reason, its core audience is rabid. Like rabid, as you know. To get these people that are interested that maybe are Star Wars fans or think Star Trek is not cool or whatever, proven to be … we’ve definitely done a good job of it but not the billion-dollar kind of job that they want.”
Pine wanted a smaller Trek
For a franchise that began with a canceled television series and has since spawned into worldwide acclaim and love, it is fascinating how big they wanted these movies to be. But Pine is right in questioning the need to think about this franchise in terms of having to break world box office records.
“I’ve always thought that Star Trek should operate in the zone that is smaller,” he said. “You know, it’s not a Marvel appeal. It’s like, let’s make the movie for the people that love this group of people, that love this story, that love Star Trek. Let’s make it for them and then, if people want to come to the party, great. But make it for a price and make it, so that if it makes a half-billion dollars, that’s really good.”
“But we operate in a system now which I don’t know how much longer we have of you have to spend 500 million dollars on a film to reach … even you have to pay all sorts of people back,” Pine explained. “So to make a billion, it’s like you haven’t even — a billion is the gross. You haven’t brought your net in. So I mean, if I had my business suit on, that’s what I would do, but I don’t know where that is. That’s all above my pay grade.”
Chris Pine coming back as Captain Kirk is a delight for us all because he clearly understands the importance of Star Trek.
(image: Paramount)
