So, Damon Lindelof has been in the news a lot these days, discussing Prometheus and signing on to fix Marc Forster‘s World War Z. But now, he’s talking about the movie that’s a little less controversial and higher up on the excitement level — Star Trek 2. And what he’s saying now over at TrekMovie.com will probably get us all even more psyched for this highly-anticipated sequel: it’s been shot in 3D and IMAX. Not just for the extra dollars at the box office, but because tests done on scenes from the first movie just looked so darn cool that it turned everyone at J.J. Abrams‘ Bad Robot on to the gimmick. So, that good, huh? We’ll see about that — and see if it’ll warrant a third movie.
In the second part of a two-part interview at the fan site, Lindelof talks about the storyline of the sequel and the new bells and whistles they’ll be adding to it to make it one wicked space flick. And while the second movie will be “bigger” in scale than the first movie, the writer makes certain that nothing will be overshadowing the real story of Star Trek 2 — the relationships of the Enterprise crew.
[A]t the end of the day I feel that Trek is at its best when it is intimate and human and relatable. And when I say human, that can include aliens too. But all the things that we view as emotional touchstones: love, loss, and courage and all those themes that are the core of Trek. You sometimes when you want to make a movie too big for its own good, it loses some of those essential values. So we didn’t want that to happen.
But then he goes on to say that the 3D and IMAX shoots were still totally awesome, and they’re sticking with it. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, especially when we don’t have so much to learn about the origins of the crew anymore. The second movie will allow for the cast to have a little fun, get into some trouble, etc. without sacrificing the things that made the first movie a success. Plus: 3D IMAX scenes in space, you guys. Directed by J.J. Abrams. I think we can be more than a little cautiously optimistic about this.
The 3D effects were far from a given, though. As Lindelof describes, the Bad Robot team had to be sold on them — but in the end, they realized this would make for some great scenes:
… [W]e have already talked about the idea that all of us were a little bit cynical about doing the movie in 3D and then they set up a test at Bad Robot where they took footage from the first movie – the sequence when the Enterprise drops out of warp and they come upon all the federation vessels destroyed by the Narada and they are doing evasive maneuvers -– and we just looked at each other after and said “that was kind of awesome.” We are now -– I wouldn’t say converts -– but I don’t think this is going to hurt the movie.
And as for a third movie? While Lindelof doesn’t really want to hear the word “trilogy,” he definitely foresees more Star Trek movies in the future. He says a third movie is far from a “foregone conclusion,” but it certainly came up a lot during the writing process. After a possible third one, however, is where Abrams, Lindelof, & Co. might call it quits and hand it off to someone else.
Star Trek 2 is set to hit theaters May 17, 2013.
(via TrekMovie.com)
- Damon Lindelof Doesn’t Want to Give Too Much Away About Star Trek 2 But Is That a Klingon?
- J.J. Abrams Built a Wall So We Can’t See Benedict Cumberbatch (or Star Trek 2)
- Will J.J. Abrams Be Replacing Uhura’s Skirt With Pants? Negative, Captain.
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