Playing an Irish terrorist on a quest to save his cat, Chris told “Extra” that this play is like “being a rock star. It’s two hours, it’s quick, it’s fast.”

Pine is best known for his role as Kirk in “Star Trek,” but the eligible bachelor doesn’t plan on jumping into another sci-fi superhero role anytime soon.

“I don’t think I’d look good in a spandex outfit, to be quite honest with you, so, um, I think Superman is definitely out,” he told “Extra’s” Lauren Sanchez.

Chris didn’t always have the desire to be an actor, and was more drawn to sports while growing up. “I played basketball and baseball. I was no good by any stretch.”

It wasn’t until college that Pine used theater as a way to make friends. “It satisfied everything I enjoyed about using your mind and being in front of people and the charge of that… it was just a good fit for me. Ironically enough, I had been around it all my life.”

source

In fact, “Star Trek’s” gung-ho starship commander would probably admire Pine’s “I’ll do it my way” approach to his career.

Pine, 29, is a serious theater actor, and unlike most stage-trained performers who find sudden Hollywood fame, he hasn’t abandoned live performance.

Playing Kirk in last year’s blockbuster movie “Star Trek” has put the handsome Los Angeles native on a career fast track, but he’s still a regular on L.A. stages, too. In 2007 he appeared in Neil LaBute’s “Fat Pig” at the Geffen Playhouse; last year he starred opposite Chris Noth in the tense political drama “Farragut North,” also at the Geffen.

Now Pine will tackle one of British theater’s hottest and most challenging playwrights, Martin McDonagh, in the blood-soaked, pitch-dark 2001 comedy, “The Lieutenant of Inishmore.” It opens July 11 at the Mark Taper Forum.

We talked to Pine recently about “Inishmore,” his love of theater, and his career.

The Orange County Register: Did you see this play before landing the role of Padraic, its dark-hearted leading man?

Christopher Pine: I did not. I was more familiar with McDonagh from his film work, the short he won the Oscar for and “In Bruges,” which I was a huge fan of. From there I discovered his theater work. In college I had done a scene from “The Cripple of Inishmaan.” And I had heard from a lot of my friends in New York about how much they’d enjoyed (“Inishmore”).

Register: How is the violence handled? Is it supposed to be funny and queasy at the same time?

Pine: This show won’t appeal to people who are sensitive to seeing graphic violence. But I would say that there is a reason for all of it. If there’s a theme, it is the inanity of violence. The violence in this case is grossly overdone for a reason. It begets nothing but chaos, death, destruction and depravity. The fact of the matter is that all of the violence in this household is the product of Padraic’s love for his cat. If that doesn’t make you giggle, then I suppose you shouldn’t see this show.

Register: Padraic reminds me of the characters in McDonagh’s film, “In Bruges.” They’re violent thugs, but they have their strict rules of engagement.

Pine: (Padraic) has a definite moral code, but I don’t think there is much logic to it. He believes in the purity of the cause, which is the unification of Ireland as an independent republic. In the beginning he’s torturing a guy because he’s been dealing drugs to kids. If they were Protestants, he’d have no problem with it. But Catholic children should have nothing on their minds except waging violence on the Unionists and Protestants. It’s ridiculous, but he does have a certain moral code, and his adherence to it gives him this crazy extremism

Register: Does Padraic have any saving graces as a character?

Pine: I think in Padraic’s mind there is nothing wrong with what he does. The great thing about this piece is there’s a clear objective from the actor’s point of view. He wants to see Ireland free of the jackbooted villains of England’s monarchy by any means necessary. There’s a certain amount of that enjoyment to the torture in that first scene, but the fact is Padraic believes it has to be done. Once you buy into that, it’s easy to judge him objectively.

Register: Does McDonagh give us any hints about why Padraic became so violent?

Pine: There’s no mention of a mother. He clearly was humiliated and powerless from a young age. His father is as sadistic as him. He’s a real hard, harsh, judgmental, mean old man, and highly super-manipulative. Early on there’s a mention of (Padraic) wearing girly scarves and being made fun of by his cousin. He then lashes out as his cousin, beats him and steals his wheelchair. The scarf could have been from his mom.

Register: How do you compare McDonagh to other playwrights? What are his strengths?

Pine: He’s very cynical, like (Joe) Orton. There’s spectacle and violence, for sure. It’s almost balletic at times, ridiculous in its extremity. I guess if you see it without thinking about it you can watch it and leave and have a really good time. Once you start looking at it, it reveals itself to be really deep; it says a lot about how we view violence. There’s a comment there, too, about the ballet of violence, how beautiful it is and how fun to watch. We’re all waiting for the next gunshot. Violence is a computer game.

Register: How did your life change after “Star Trek”?

Pine: I’ve been really blessed from “Star Trek” to get more opportunities than I had previously in my career. And I just wait for the good material. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve gotten to play on the really big stage with Denzel (Washington) and Tony Scott (Pine will star in the upcoming Scott film “Unstoppable” with Washington). Counter that with these theater productions, which are a whole different thing. I just try to follow what’s good and what interests me and challenges me and makes me think and engages a part of me. It’s so rare to get all of your muscles firing at once. That’s what I look for in any role.

source

Just before this confirmation dropped—courtesy of producer Mace Neufeld—MTV News spoke with Pine about the prospect of becoming Ryan on-screen. After blowing people away with his reworking of William Shatner’s iconic take on James T. Kirk, how hard could it be to make Ryan his own? No easy feat, Pine said, but undoubtedly less daunting than his “Star Trek” challenge.

“I think it’s because Mr. Shatner’s portrayal of the character was so specific, [Jack Ryan] is a different beast,” Pine explained. “If you were to poll people, I think eight out of 10 people could tell you what role Shatner made famous. I think a lot fewer people could make that specific association between those actors and Jack Ryan. As great a job as those actors did, it’s just a different deal.”

Is there one Ryan –- Baldwin in “The Hunt for Red October,” Ford in “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger” — that stands out for Pine as the finest take on this CIA superstar? “No hyperbole, I like ‘em both so much,” Pine said of the first two Ryan actors. “They’re both huge heroes of mine. But I might prefer Baldwin doing the Canteen Boy sketch on ‘SNL’ the most!”

Prior to Neufeld’s confirmation, Pine wasn’t privy to many details about the still-untitled Ryan project. He did confirm that filmmakers are waiting on a new draft and said his involvement came about out of nowhere, after a call he received one night saying producers were interested. And Pine was excited.

“I certainly love the character and I’ve always been a fan of stories about international intrigue,” he said.

“The past few years have been such a whirlwind and now to maybe be offered Jack Ryan, it’s such a huge step in my career and something that would not have happened if ['Star Trek' director] J.J. Abrams hadn’t taken a chance on me.”

Is the world ready for Chris Pine as Jack Ryan? What do you think the “Star Trek” star might bring to the role that we haven’t seen before?

source: mtv movies blog

A couple weeks ago, MTV News honored Chris as one of the people we’re most thankful for in 2009, and during a wide-ranging conversation about the “Trek” franchise and the future of his career, talk inevitably turned to one thing Chris ain’t so happy about in 2009: those pesky photogs that targeted him earlier in the year.

“I certainly despise them with all my soul,” he said.

As prepared for the intrusion as he was before the blockbuster success of “Trek,” Chris admitted there’s truly no way to prepare for the reality of paps staking out your home and waiting to snap snap snap as soon as you emerge into daylight.

“In terms of the private life stuff, I understood what would or could happen because of my involvement in something so big, but you don’t really understand it until it starts happening and people are waiting outside your house,” he said. “And I live in an apartment on a busy street. It was pretty brutal when the movie first came out, and then it dies down and the paparazzi lose their interest and go after the next flavor of the day.”

For all the hassle of increased media attention on his personal life, Chris characterized the tabloid spotlight as a fair trade-off, or as he put it, “the deal with the devil you make.”

“I would say that artistically it’s been everything I wanted,” he continued.” ‘Star Trek’ has afforded me the luxury of choice in terms of what I want to do and where I want to take my career,” he said. “I don’t know how long that will last for, but certainly right now I’m enjoying that immensely.”

source: mtv.com

You’ve been great in ungreat things. Your career has had few opportunities. And then you’re offered two big jobs. Two different jobs. One is suited to your talents and ambitions; it is your vision of yourself. The other will make you gobs of money.

How can a man choose between self-satisfaction and well-being? Between two different versions of success? Two jobs, two women, two investments: It’s always like this. The two elements you most desire, split down different paths.

Chris Pine had a week to decide between the two jobs. And the 28-year-old actor agonized, because, well, the pinnacle of his career to that point had been The Princess Diaries 2. Not even the original! But now two movie studios wanted him: He could take a role as a disgusting, chemically imbalanced detective in the kind of gritty, actor-driven gig he’d dreamed of. Or he could play James T. Kirk in a Star Trek prequel. The character is uncomplicated. William Shatner already claimed it. Pine would be wearing spandex. But man, it’s a big movie. Big and career changing.

And he was afraid of choosing. He often is. We all are, with decisions like this. You look at each choice and weigh the regret of not going for it. Catch yourself the next time you do this: You aren’t looking forward because you’re too busy imagining what it’ll feel like to look backward, wondering what you should have done instead.

“I think the most dangerous word in the English language is should,” Pine says. “I should have done this. Or I should do that. Should implies responsibility. It connotes demand. Which is just not the case. Life ebbs and flows.” But he has still spent his life fighting the word. He can’t always forget it. So when the two jobs were offered, he talked it over with everyone he could, and spent a lot of time by himself, wondering what he should do.

Chris Pine’s girlfriend wakes up every morning at 7 a. m. and is, as he tells it, the very definition of sunshine. She is ready. Yesterday’s gone; today is better. This attitude is something he’s trying to emulate, although it hasn’t happened yet. He needs 2 1/2 more hours and some strong coffee. “I’m so envious of that genetic wiring that immediately puts a smile on your face,” he says. “My genetic wiring just puts creases in my eyebrows.”

If he doesn’t stop himself, the rest of the day will feel the same. He obsesses over past mistakes. He’s low on patience. He’s a natural cynic, a grump, a perfectionist. And that’s held him back. He knows it. Imagine what a guy like Pine, classically good-looking with a rich, deep voice, could have done in college. The girls! He could have killed at parties. He could have owned the place. His for the taking.

Here’s what happened instead: “I spent a lot of my time obsessing over schoolwork,” he says. “That’s what I was programmed to do.” So, those parties? Other guys owned them. Guys who looked forward.

Since then, Pine has been focused on changing. It starts by taking cues from others, he says. He follows his girlfriend’s lead, and studies how George Clooney makes fun of himself, and reads dreary but ultimately insightful books like Man’s Search for Meaning by Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. And through this, Pine has learned to refocus. “The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective,” he says. “You don’t have control over your situation. But you have a choice about how you view it.”

Every day, it’s a little easier. He stops running through the shoulds — regretting something he said, something he did — because the simple truth is he can’t change what happened. And it wasn’t that bad now that he really thinks about it. Our failures are often biggest in our minds. To everyone else, they are unremarkable.

Go on to the next page for Chris’s tips on calling your own shots…

Pine is a work in progress. We all are. And that’s fine, so long as we learn from our mistakes and missteps instead of obsessing over them. That’s progress right there.

Damn, he really wanted that gig as the strung-out detective. It was so right for him. It was everything he’d prepared for. He was freaking out. But then Pine’s sister said to him, “Instead of looking at Star Trek as a sacrifice of your artistic principles, is there any way to look at it as a larger challenge?” And he thought about that and realized she was right. The strung-out detective role was easy. He wanted to play it because he felt prepared for it. Star Trek was hard. How do you play a James T. Kirk that William Shatner already dominated? Pine didn’t know.

So he took the job. He might not have taken it if it had been offered years ago. He’d have been too nervous. He’d have been paralyzed by shoulds.

That’s the change in perspective we’re talking about. Look at things differently, and downsides become opportunities. Those choices from the beginning of this story — self-satisfaction versus well-being? That’s garbage. The best parts of life aren’t polar opposites. A choice is just two different ways to make the most of opportunities. It’s a good problem to have, once you’re not afraid of looking back. Which, in this case, Pine no longer is.

“When I started Trek,” he says, “I looked at it, and then I was climbing it, and I didn’t have time for anything else but climbing the thing and getting to the top. And that’s an incredible space to exist in, because there’s tremendous responsibility. There’s tremendous pressure. But all those just clarify your vision.”

Be Your Own Captain
Chris Pine took on a big job this year. Here’s how he faced it head-on

Respect the past, but don’t mimic it
To prepare for the role of James T. Kirk, Pine spent hours studying footage of William Shatner. But he found that instead of learning the role, he was hurting his ability to innovate it. So he stopped watching Shatner and began to focus on himself.

No matter what your job, there are always ways to do something better than your predecessor. That’s why you were hired.

Be ready and willing to fail
It’s easy to become intimidated in a big job, so Pine thinks back to the last time he thought he’d failed at something.

“You realize your failures weren’t even failures. You just weren’t as good as you thought you’d be,” he says. That gives him the strength to try again — knowing that even if he thinks he’s failing, he’s probably not.

Perspective is everything
All eyes are on Pine this summer, so here’s what he thinks to calm himself: “I play a make-believe captain of a make-believe spaceship.

Responsibility is only what you place on yourself.” It’s true. Care about your work, but remember that it’s only one part of you.

source: menshealth.com

We at MTV News couldn’t be more grateful that the U.S.S. Enterprise is once again patrolling outer space, which is why Abrams and Pine are two of the entertainers we’re most thankful for in 2009. In a recent chat with MTV News, both these guys reflected on the experience of making “Trek,” revealed some secrets about the project that we never knew and talked about the future of the franchise.

MTV: Congratulations, you represent two of the people we are most thankful for this year! This is the first twosome we’ve ever honored. Do you have any speeches prepared?

J.J. Abrams: Chris does.

Chris Pine: What? I will say I feel pretty honored because I know you’ve done Harrison Ford and Robert Downey Jr. and a bunch of people I really love, so thank you — this is pretty big for me.

MTV: Be honest, Chris, did you think your career had peaked after starring with Lindsay Lohan in “Just My Luck”?

Pine: Well, when I started out, I never thought I’d do romantic comedies or action films, so to have done both and to be part of a franchise that’s been around for so long, it surprised me more than anyone else.

MTV: So I am a born and bred Trekkie. I want to thank you on behalf of every “Trek” fan. You made “Star Trek” for the first time cooler than “Star Wars.” Would you agree with that?

Abrams: You’re asking a dangerous question, my friend. I don’t know how you respond to that without sounding like a douche bag. Why don’t you just put a bull’s-eye on my head? You know, making a film knowing there were so many fans out there was nerve-racking. I was behind the camera. Chris, Zach [Quinto], Zoe [Saldana], John [Cho], Simon [Pegg], Karl [Urban] — everyone in front of the camera — they were the ones literally putting themselves out there and asking for it. The fact that we were accepted and helped by [original Spock] Mr. [Leonard] Nimoy building that bridge between what was and what is now, it was incredibly gratifying to see it was well-received.

MTV: Chris, it’s an amazing year for you. Is there one moment that you can pinpoint that is the most gratifying or surreal?

Pine: Working with Leonard. I remember doing the whole ice-cave sequence. It really wasn’t anything that happened in the scene so much as sitting down next to Leonard and passing the time and talking with him about his experiences. It was a real honor to work with him.

MTV: It obviously all turned out well for you guys — we’re celebrating what you have accomplished — but if it didn’t turn out well, you would have been eviscerated. Did you both share equally in angst and worry, or were you both relatively calm over the last several years?

Abrams: Because we had an ambitious shoot, the good news was that often drowned out the din of naysayers and the suspicious fanbase and even the enthusiastic supporters. We were so busy, we were just trying to focus on that and not let the nerves of “What are they going to think?” get to us.

MTV: Chris, when if at any point did the nerves kick in for you?

Pine: After I got [the part] and then talking to J.J., the nerves kind of slowly built, because as an actor, and as someone who wants to make a living doing what he loves doing, I was happy to get the part, and that lasts for about 15 minutes, and you call everyone you know and make plans to move out of your parents’ house. And then the reality of the situation sets in. Not only is it a tremendous amount of responsibility because of all the money involved, but it’s also a franchise that’s beloved and it’s [original Kirk] William Shatner to boot. After being scared sh–less, I let it go. The fact that we could be eviscerated or succeed was actually liberating.

MTV: There was all this talk in terms of when you guys were starting to nail down casting. Everyone from Matt Damon to people we haven’t heard of were in the running. How much of that was true? Did you ever consider going with a big name like Mr. Damon?

Abrams: I did, but not for the role of James Kirk. I went to Damon for the role of Kirk’s father, and he declined in the most gracious and understandable and logical of reasons. We lucked out with Chris Hemsworth, and he did a great job. Maybe it would have been distracting to have someone as massively famous as Matt Damon in that role. … The decision was made very early on to have actors who were not necessarily the most famous but the most right for the role.

MTV: It’s worked out pretty well for you, Chris.

Pine: At least for the time being, “Star Trek” has given me the luxury of choice in terms of what I want to do and where I want to take my career. I don’t know how long it’s going to last, but certainly I’m enjoying that immensely.

MTV: Have the two of you had any talk about the next “Trek” film?

Pine: None. As it always is with J.J. and his crew, it’s secrecy all the time until you get the script. So I have no idea.

MTV: J.J., if the planets align, will that be the next thing you direct?

Abrams: I don’t know. We have no script yet. We have no specific story. We’re at the starting gate of the process. All I can tell you is that working with Chris and the whole cast was literally the most fun thing I’ve ever been able to professionally be part of, so the chance to work with them again, I can’t tell you how devastating it would be to pass that up. I couldn’t be more excited about the next adventure.

MTV: Chris, have you practiced your “Khan!!!” scream?

Pine: Yes, as I do every night before I go to bed. I practice my Shatner. I pray to Shatner.

source

The magazine hits newsstands Monday, November 16th from what I hear, so be sure to grab you a copy quick because I’m sure they will sell fast! I know I will!

Gallery Link: Magazines / Publications > GQ Magazine ( December 2009 )

Be sure to stay tuned, I’ll have ultra high quality scans soon as well as the actual photoshoot for this issue.

“The big thing I’ve been surprised by is is how many people who weren’t fans who we were able to grab into the fold,” Pine said. “To make ‘Star Trek’ accessible to a wider audience and to a new generation of fans is a wonderful thing, and I’m looking forward to getting back into the second one.”

What’s the scoop on the new “Star Trek 2″?

“I know as much as anybody else,” Pine admitted. “They want to get stuff going for 2011 so I don’t know if that means we’ll shoot next year or what, but I haven’t heard anything one way or the other.”

Is the whole cast coming back? “As far as I know, yeah.”

All we’ve heard is that the immortal phrase “He’s dead, Jim” will probably be uttered and that “Heroes” star Greg Grunberg is pushing to play the classic ST villain Harry Mudd.

You remember Mudd, don’t you? He’s the character who let all those trilling Tribbles loose on the Enterprise.

Does this mean there will be Tribbles? We can’t wait!!

Next up for Chris is “Unstoppable,” which he starts shooting in the fall. “To be doing a movie with Denzel Washington and Tony Scott is like a kid’s dream,” he says. “I’ve watched and been a fan of both of theirs for as long as I can remember.”

Then there’s “Carriers,” which Chris  describes as “a post-apocalyptic, psychological thriller … it’s been a busy, fulfilling year.”

At the luncheon, he was accepting a check for the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. “The HFPA is making a generous grant and my sister and my mom both went to UCLA, so I’m happy to be a part of it.”

How much do we love this guy?

source

Thanks to Leeanne for bringing this to my attention!

“I’m going to struggle and try my best to search out the roles that are a little more interesting and not based on how good your tan looks and how coiffed your hair is,” Pine said on the eve of the Geffen Playhouse’s production of “Farragut North,” a tense political drama costarring Pine and “Sex and the City’s” Chris Noth, opening Wednesday.

“There’s a battle between commerce and art that I’m learning that doesn’t necessarily have to prevent you from pursuing more artistic ventures, as long as you utilize your commerce, knowing you’re using it to get more opportunities to do the smaller pet projects,” he said. “I’m so new at it, I’m just learning to navigate the waters.”

So Pine, 28, has been studying the log of such other captains of his industry as Paul Newman. He says the late actor is his role model “in terms of longevity and the good he was able to do in the world.”

Pine’s other American idols?

“George Clooney, for the conversation about commerce and art. Daniel Day-Lewis for his almost monkish pursuit of protecting artistic integrity, which I’m in sheer awe of. I would certainly love to be held in the kind of esteem he is. Sean Penn and Gary Oldman, I’ve had an acting crush on for years. I’m all over the spectrum.”

Not really, if you consider the fact that all those performers are acclaimed for their acting chops. That’s clearly a goal of Pine’s and one he thinks he can balance with blockbuster films like “Trek.” That’s why his first role after the mega popcorn movie is the dark and complicated spinmeister Stephen of Beau Willimon’s “Farragut North,” named for the Washington, D.C., subway stop near the vortex of lobbyists’ offices.

source: latimes.com

Pine, 28, costars with ” Sex and the City’s” Chris Noth as media massagers in the psychological drama inspired by Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign, which briefly claimed the energies of the playwright and recovering politico Beau Willimon. Pine plays Stephen, a wunderkind press secretary who prides himself on his ability to manipulate any situation.

At the moment, Stephen is trying to work his magic on an attractive young intern played by ” Juno’s” Olivia Thirlby, who was in the New York production’s original cast last fall. In a Geffen rehearsal room, under the watchful eye of director Doug Hughes (who also helmed the current Mark Taper Forum production of David Mamet’s “Oleanna”), Molly/Olivia has just entered to drop off an envelope for Stephen/Chris at a dingy restaurant in East Des Moines, Iowa, where he’s making calls. And now he’s trying to beguile her into sticking around for a drink.

The characters play a flirtatious game of verbal ping-pong, and then Pine suddenly mimes reeling in Thirlby as if she’s on the end of an invisible hook. Hughes is delighted. “Your silver-tongued eloquence claims another helpless victim,” he says.


Pine’s smile grows even broader. “It’s just another day, Doug,” he replies.

Pine may be self-mocking when he says that, but then that’s part of the charm that got him into this enviable position in the first place. Directors and writers who’ve worked with him quickly volunteer that he’s a great guy to have around, not an overgrown enfant terrible like so many other young lions of Hollywood who will go unnamed.

When “Star Trek” director J.J. Abrams cast him in the pivotal role of Capt. Kirk, the filmmaker was looking for “a relative unknown who had to behave as if he were an experienced movie star without any of the negatives of being a big movie star,” he said. “He had to treat the cast and crew in a way that would make the other actors feel safe and the crew feel appreciated. And he was impeccable.”

Add a wicked sense of humor and piercing blue eyes, and it’s easy to see how Pine has burst onto the scene as one of the action heroes of summer. What may be less obvious is why he took the dark and relatively low-profile stage role of Stephen, who personifies “Farragut North’s” catchphrase that it’s a play “about the lust for power and the costs one will endure to achieve it.” (Warner Bros. is developing the film version, with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to star and George Clooney to direct.)

“I was in a hotel room with my girlfriend at the time, and I had a bunch of scripts to read — film and theater — and I saved it for last because I’d heard it was really good, and I wanted to end my night on a good note, being excited,” Pine says of his early-spring decision to take the part during a lull in the “Star Trek” publicity grind. “I couldn’t put it down. The twist at the end completely threw me. I thought Beau’s sense of dialogue was so right on and so — I don’t want to say real, because that’s dumb — but real without being affected, and intelligent, but not so intelligent to make you feel like a dumbass. And I’m very interested in the world of politics, so it appealed to me on that end.”

As Pine discusses the play during a break in rehearsal at the Geffen, his mind and body seem to be in constant motion. He alternately scratches his side and reaches for the coffee table as he mulls over certain questions, waiting for the right answer to finish percolating. He’s casually dressed in a blue button-down shirt, black jeans and high-top sneakers and a new beard. The facial fuzz was inspired by Willimon’s hirsute college buddy and political mentor, Jay Carson, who worked for Hillary and Bill and, at only 26, served as Dean’s national spokesman in 2004.

Pine is trying on the beard to see if it helps him penetrate Stephen’s miserable je ne sais quoi. He acknowledges that he’s not quite there yet.

“I’m having a hard time not judging him,” he says. “But there’s a primal drive in him to win at all costs that I’m coming to understand. That need comes from all the damage that all of us carry in one form or another. It’s just his ability to screw other people over, it’s that Machiavellian politician in him. . . . Once I can pinpoint that, I’ll be able to take it, hopefully, to a different level. But it sure is a lot of fun.”

Not just guy candy

In fact, the dark Stephen is just as much a typical Chris Pine role as the stellar Kirk is. His brief career has already swept the spectrum of characters, from heroes to antiheroes.

And for the most part, the dividing line is the one that separates film and theater.

Pine’s first big-screen role was as an arm charm for Anne Hathaway in 2004′s “Princess Diaries 2,” a service he also provided Lindsay Lohan’s character in 2006 in “Just My Luck.” He quickly moved on to the young hero role in the 2008 film ” Bottle Shock,” in which, as with “Star Trek,” he played a hapless young man who tries to live up to his father’s legacy (a scion of the family business much like Pine himself, the son of “CHiPs” veteran Robert Pine and TV actress Gwynne Gilford, and a third-generation thespian from what he calls “a working-class Hollywood” family, presumably because they literally worked).

Yet one of Pine’s favorite film roles was not a lead but rather the “redneck neo-Nazi hit man” of 2006′s “Smokin’ Aces.” And while he was becoming better known for his good-guy film parts, he was earning critics’ notice in much darker roles onstage, such as the vicious Carter in Neil LaBute’s “Fat Pig” at the Geffen in 2007 and the amoral journalist of Ronan Noone’s 2006 one-man drama “The Atheist” in New York.

Of Pine’s work in “Fat Pig,” LaBute says: “He had what I felt would have worked for either of the male characters in that piece — the good guy or the bad guy. He had a watchability. I think he isn’t looking at [his career situation] as, ‘I have this chance of being a star.’ He knows a good role is a good role, and if it’s a bad guy, they often get the best lines. It’s great to see him going off to do a piece of theater. He’s approaching it as, ‘What is the best material I have at the moment?’ “

Willimon thinks the pattern of Pine’s acting credits reflects the opportunities available to a young guy with leading-man looks, and “it doesn’t have as much to do with Chris Pine as it does with the chasm between theater and film,” he says. “In general, film — particularly Hollywood films — tend to lean more toward the good hero who overcomes obstacles and comes out on top. Theater, largely because it doesn’t bear the same commercial burden that film does, has the luxury and the bravery to take on risks and support the other sort of heroes — call it the antihero. Sometimes obstacles do not result in a happy ending — or a more complex ending than triumph.”

In August, Pine moves on to his own happy ending when he starts filming 20th Century Fox’s “Unstoppable” with Denzel Washington. In the thriller directed by Tony Scott, he and Washington will play conductors trying to stop a runaway train carrying toxic chemicals. It’s probably reasonable to assume that there are a couple of hero roles in there somewhere.

Pine seems gobsmacked about the opportunity to work with the two-time Oscar winner, an experience he anticipates will be tantamount to earning an acting PhD. “I don’t ever want to be so precious to eschew those kinds of roles because I’m on some mission to be the artiste in Hollywood,” says Pine, who credits his family with keeping his feet on the ground. “But I think there’s a closeted Peter Lorre inside me that loves to play the fun, darker, weirder roles that hopefully I’ll get the chance to play as I move ahead in my career.”

source: latimes.com

And people were indeed watching. He caught the attention of a Paramount Pictures exec who attended the Geffen Playhouse production. And Paramount was soon to be in need of a young Captain James T. Kirk.

Also in the Geffen audience were the director and CD in need of actors for 2008′s Bottle Shock. They nabbed Pine for the little film about an upstart Napa Valley winery in the sleepy 1970s, in which he was unrecognizable as a sunny hippie, the antithesis of his LaBute character. Playing opposite Alan Rickman in Bottle Shock, Pine apparently did what he is doing to this day: He spent his off time discussing theater. As Rickman last year recalled from their time on the set, “Chris and I talked and still do talk about theater and things he wants to do in the theater, which is reassuring in terms of somebody who just finished doing Star Trek and is about to have all that’s going to land on him through that—that he’s still got his eye fixed on a different horizon, or a parallel horizon. He’s a serious, and really talented, actor.”

Yes, the publicity and fan adoration from Star Trek has landed squarely on Pine. Nice, but seemingly not his goal in life. When Back Stage spoke with him, he was into the second day of rehearsals, back at the Geffen Playhouse, working on a lead role in Beau Willimon’s Farragut North. As Pine says, “At the end of the day, I want a long career, and I want a career made up of many and diverse roles.” The 28-year-old is well on his way.

Roots Wide and Deep

Pine comes from a family of actors. His father is Robert Pine; his mother is Gwynne Gilford, a child of actors. The young Pine had wanted to play sports, but as a self-described late bloomer, that was not to be. During Pine’s student days at U.C. Berkeley, a friend suggested he audition for a production of an obscure Irish play. Pine won the role and played about 20 different characters—using different dialects, playing women and old men. His parents, he says, were proud and supportive. They were also wondering how he’d like the fallow periods of an acting career.

Pine says that growing up in Los Angeles in a family of actors, he had no “romantic visions” about the financial aspects and the artistic aspects of acting. As he noted then, and now, “There is unfortunately no correlation between hard work and success, and the word deserve has no place in the acting business, unfortunately.”

He watched his parents continue to study acting and his mother to teach. Pine would tag along and help coach her students. A stickler for technique, as he terms her, she gave him birthday and Christmas gifts of books by Boleslavsky, Stanislavsky, Michael Chekhov, Uta Hagen, Stella Adler. He recalls, “I was passionate about it, insofar as I’m a perfectionist and very hard on myself. So I read them more out of thinking I should read all of these before I get into it—and then talking it out with my mother and working on scenes.”

One of Pine’s online biographies states he studied at American Conservatory Theater. “No, my biography is all the lies that I made up when I began and had to make up a résumé,” he says. In truth, his Berkeley professor was an adjunct at ACT. Pine took one acting class in college; “the rest of the time it was just experiential,” performing in plays throughout the year. Later he studied with Ivana Chubbuck, Howard Fine, and recently with Nancy Banks and Sandra Seacat.

But after college, he returned to Los Angeles and, he says, “was very lucky.” His father, on an audition for Gilmore Girls, asked casting directors Jami Rudofsky and Mara Casey if they would help out his son. They did. “These ladies are the best, and I owe them a tremendous amount,” says Pine. They brought him in for a guest spot, and he went to producers. He didn’t get the part. But he got his first taste of being in the room—with CDs, with producers, even with other actors. “I think many times there’s stuff that no acting school will ever teach you, and you just have to be a self-aware artist,” says Pine. “Sitting in an audition room can be the most destructive experience ever, so you have to know how you operate. If it does you a service to talk to another actor in the room, to get comfortable and loosen up, then great. But if that dissipates your energy, if that makes you feel competitive, you have to be very vigilant—the combative egos that happen in an audition room that can come across as quite nice and quite approachable. You just have to be conscious of that. All great learning stuff.”

Making Luck Happen

So the unemployed Pine began working at a restaurant, which he says he “just abhorred with every ounce of my being and soul.” It galvanized him. Apparently the brutality of pilot season was far preferable. It was time to find an agent. And that came easily. He openly recognizes the part luck—”call it nepotism,” he says—played in that process. Craft played a huge part, too. Even today he articulately discusses technique, still happy to have an ever-growing bag of tools but not leaning too heavily on anything striking him as extraneous or forced or too intellectual.

The “luck” that brought him agents had begun percolating when Pine did a season at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. As he recollects, the associate producer at the time, Jenny Gersten, took a liking to him and secured him a general with a network head of casting. The exec referred him to talent agents at SDB Partners, as did Casey and Rudofsky. Ah, but his father was with a similarly named commercial agency, so young Pine thought there was a mixup and never called.

Meanwhile, he recalls, “I had had a series of really awful, debilitating meetings with agencies. I’m sure many of the actors reading this magazine will attest to the fact that when you’re in a position of powerlessness and someone has power, depending on the person you’re meeting with, either there’s empathy there or there’s use of power that is completely heinous. I have a couple names in my pocket and a couple memories that serve me very well.”

The head of casting came into the restaurant where Pine was working and asked if he had contacted SDB. Pine revealed his confusion over names. The persistent exec emailed SDB on the spot, Pine had an audition about a week later, “did a scene for them, and then they called me up and took me on; again, very lucky.” Pine is still represented by SDB. He says, “This is what I’ll say about that: I’m a firm believer in loyalty. At the end of the day, this is a business, and you are a business, and I have felt in my career it has served me to stay with the people who started with me because I believe they’re as passionate and as dedicated as they’ve ever been. But to each his own.”

The Young Voyager

Pine got his pilot season in, winding up with a few lines on ER to add to his résumé. And then he returned to Williamstown for a second season. “Pilot season had not gone well,” he says. “So I decided to move to New York after reading this article in Vanity Fair about Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall living together and doing this starving-artist thing, and I was just determined to be a starving artist at any cost.” Pine gave up his apartment and stayed in New York for a few weeks, “just taking in the New York scene, which I felt to be more exciting artistically than I felt L.A. was, and that was just because I hadn’t really found the theater scene in L.A., which doesn’t take hunting but it’s just more—you have to be more determined.”

He returned to Los Angeles to explain to his agents his plan for poverty. “And as things always seem to work out once you let go, I let go completely, my auditions started to really click, and I went into the room feeling empowered,” he says. He booked two guest spots: on CSI: Miami and on The Guardian. “I played a serial rapist-killer on CSI, and I played this kind of latchkey homeless orphan kid a couple sandwiches short of a picnic on The Guardian, playing real characters—and I say characters in quotes. And then I got this role playing the love interest in The Princess Diaries 2, which was the last thing I expected to get, because I had just come from playing the serial rapist and the latchkey kid.”

Feet on the Ground

The rest of Pine’s career has thoroughly been reported by the world’s press. He takes his current media status sensibly and kindly: “If the worst thing that happens in your life is that you’re asked the same question repeatedly for a month, and people look very interested while they’re talking to you and wanting to know about you, think about every day you worked at that restaurant and every day you worked as a delivery man for Domino’s, every day you were a host, every day you were a bartender and worked until 4 a.m. And then just be very grateful.”

Pine is now happily immersed in Farragut North, preparing for a June 24 opening as the play’s central figure. Pine plays Stephen, a young overachieving press secretary working for a presidential candidate. Stephen may be gifted and decisive, but he’s human. Cleverly manipulated, he stumbles and falls under the massive wheels of politics as usual.

Apparently not often without a pile of scripts to consider, Pine says that when he read this one, he thought, “Goddamn, that’s a piece of writing.” Then he lovingly patted it and set it down. “It took me for such a great ride,” he recalls. “And I love the character, I love the hubris, I love the whole idea of this guy who’s like a lion in his den, just taking up space and owning it in the beginning and by the end is this caged animal desperate to get back to his position of power. And I was scared of it, which like anyone will tell you, once you feel that thing, you’d better jump into it headfirst.” He was even more scared when he realized he had only one week of rehearsal and one week of tech. But the years in Williamstown are serving him well.

Not scared was the playwright. Says Willimon, “I could tell from the first moment I met him that he was perfect for the role. And that’s only proven to be the case.” Willimon had not seen Pine on stage, so the scribe turned to others for their opinions and recollections of Pine—including Geffen artistic director Randall Arney, directors and others at Williamstown, and Farragut’s director, Doug Hughes. “It’s not very often that you get an unequivocal, 100 percent unanimous, ‘This guy is amazing, a pleasure to work with, has such a raw and deep talent, and you have to get him to do your play if you can,’ ” Willimon reports.

Pine, who in his younger days felt marking up a script in prescribed fashion couldn’t serve him, has now marked Farragut’s script until it’s unintelligible. As when he performed in Ronan Noone’s one-man The Atheist Off-Broadway in 2006, Pine calculated how long he had to memorize. “I knew I wanted to be off book by the time rehearsal started,” he says. “I usually don’t like to do it that way. I like to go into rehearsal and find it organically, and by the time week three comes around, you basically know the lines, and then you spend a week and a half solidifying, and then you’re good. But I knew I had to spend that week doing the actor stuff and not worrying about lines.” He is also working with two coaches on the role, “someone that I could jam with, that I was on the same page with, that was not a slave to technique but rather had a tool bag themselves.”

Currently, the actor is getting timelines down, creating backstories about particular moments, thinking about the quality and length of relationships, particularly with the character played by Pine’s co-star Chris Noth. “Certainly it’s like Acting 101,” Pine reflects. “Anytime there’s a dash after a sentence, or an ellipsis, you’d better know what you’re about to say, for your own sake, because if your fellow actor doesn’t cut you off at the right time, you’d better have something coming out of your mouth. For phone calls, you’d better know what’s happening on the other end, otherwise you’re not hearing and reacting.”

With Hughes, Pine is simultaneously considering the central question of who Stephen is and a little piece of backstory and a secret to justify the play’s crucial moment. “I couldn’t really justify it to myself,” says Pine. “It was something very nebulous, like it’s very gratifying that someone might want to meet with you. I can’t play ‘gratifying to my ego.’ It has to be something more specific to me that essentially gets at that same thing but comes at it from a different angle to be as vague about it as possible. That’s the crux of the play. So I’d better sell it and understand what the hell is going on there, for sure.”

Whether rehearsals are focusing on the first scene—with its clipped, overlapping dialogue and the technical challenges of also eating and drinking and making that spontaneous—or whether Pine is pondering Stephen’s attraction to a young intern, played by Olivia Thirlby, the actor is focused on making his work specific, real, fresh, nuanced—all in the shortened rehearsal schedule. And meanwhile, although actors must “feel in the moment and whatever grabs you,” he says, even that must be tempered so you don’t throw your fellow actors off during a performance. Pine says he also wants to feel ownership over Farragut North’s language, beyond its sheer volume of dialogue. As he says, “There’s always something to learn. You always want to be better. Always. You want perfection. That’s the quest. I’m positive I’ll never get there, but that’s the goal.”

Farragut North runs June 24–July 26 at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., L.A. Tickets: (310) 208-5454 or www.geffenplayhouse.com.

source: Backstage.com

Still in the same interview, Chris also mentions one minor personal secret of his, which is about what he wears under his pants. “Briefs!” answers the actor when he is asked of what he wears underneath his big screen costumes. “I’m a briefs man!”

Professionally, Chris Pine is famous for his role as Nicholas Devereaux in 2004 comedy-romance film “Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement”. In “Star Trek”, which was released in U.S. theaters on Thursday, May 7, he stars as James Tiberius Kirk.

In the meantime, Chris is on board to star in upcoming action-drama movie “Killing Pablo”, which will team him up with Christian Bale. Besides, he will also lend his voice for animation flick “Quantum Quest.”

source

You play Captain James T. Kirk. Any razzing from old friends of late?
It’s pretty fucking inescapable. I play basketball with a bunch of guys at 9:30 a.m. and
it’s like, “Yo, wussup,
Captain Kirk!” I don’t have a smart comeback yet.

You weren’t much of a Trekkie, we hear.

I was a Star Wars kid. The kitsch factor in the original Star Trek series is high, but the show manages to take on these huge questions about race, sex, and war. I have a great appreciation for what Mr. Shatner did with the part. There’s a gravity
to it, but he’s having fun.

Surely tiptoeing around the rabid fan base—calling him “Mr. Shatner” and all that—must get old?
The amount of dissection of the minutiae of this movie…I was blown away by the protectiveness. I’m definitely guilty of looking at the blogs, and I’m not a fan of the anonymity [of the Internet], how it allows people to just spew poisonous vitriol like vomit.

You seem interested in playing a diverse range of roles. Are you worried you’ll forever be typecast because of your looks?
I did a movie called Smokin’ Aces, and the casting director didn’t want to
see me for the role of a neo-Nazi hit man. But it didn’t bum me out. I had to prove I could do it.

What was the state of the Lindsay Lohan circus when you starred opposite her in Just My Luck [in 2006]?
She was making a lot of money and attracting
a lot of attention from the paparazzi. It put in stark relief that I don’t want that kind of life.

Isn’t Star Trek bringing it anyway?
Maybe. But I’m not gonna hunt it out. I won’t tell my publicist I’m going to Starbucks in twenty minutes and to call the photographers.

source

Return to Chris Pine Network Video Archive

EDIT: I’ve deleted the previous 4 videos and re-uploaded the video with all 6 videos joined together into one 5 minute video. I realized I missed 2 segments so when I found them I decided to join them all.

Since the interviewer doesn’t ask the questions aloud I found and translated where someone listed the questions, so here is the list of questions asked in the following order:

Return to Chris Pine Network Video Archive

Gallery Link: Magazines / Publications > Australia TV Week – ( May 2nd – May 8th 2009 )

Although there have been 10 Star Trek movies in the past 30 years, the last to feature all the characters from the 1960s TV series was back in 1991. So when Lost and Alias creator JJ Abrams was approached to reboot the franchise, it was obvious a fresh approach was needed. Not only were the original actors either deceased or too old for an action blockbuster, but a new angle was required to attract an audience beyond the faithful army of Trekkies. Thus, the idea of a prequel was hatched – a film that would take the story and iconic characters back to their beginnings.

On their recent visit to Australia, Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine, who have stepped into the roles of Spock and Kirk respectively, sat down with TV WEEK to discuss their Star Trek voyage.

Trekkies are notorious for the lengths they go to. How extreme was the secrecy surrounding this film?

Zachary: Geez! [Laughs] My first day of shooting was at a cemetery about 30 miles (48km) outside of LA. We were shooting in this chapel which has a huge bay window and originally, we were given barber smock, just like shawls, to wear to walk from our trailer to the set. JJ came to me with his iPhone and showed me pictures of him and I talking in the very room in which we were shooting that had been taken from outside and posted online. The next day, we had floor – length vinyl fireman’s jackets with hoods and we had to get into golf carts that were completely shrouded with black tarp and zipped up. Once we were shooting on the lot, our base camp was completely surrounded by a chain link fence you couldn’t see through.

This film takes us back to the beginning – and Spock and Kirk can’t stand each other!

Chris: It makes sense that Spock and Kirk aren’t the best of friends. What we see are two incredibly obstinate people who are at loggerheads, but the same reasons that push them apart are what they come to love and respect about one another. I think the relationship between Spock, Kirk and Bones (Karl Urban) as well, is so important because it’s three guys who are pigheaded and you need three perspectives on the bridge.

Early into the film, Nero (Eric Bana) travel back from the future to seek revenge – and in doing so, changes the course of history. Was that a good way for JJ to wipe the slate clean and take the story in any direction he wanted?

Z: A little bit, yeah

C: JJ stresses that it a reimagining. It’s the character you know, the world you know, the aesthetic you’re familiar with… but I’m not William Shatner and Zach’s not Leonard Nimoy; it’s a new journey. It’s a new imagining of an old story, so there are liberties that are taken. But respect is definitely paid.

Most of the classic Star Trek phrases make a comeback in the film – how fun was it to say them?

Z: it was great, the first time I say, “Live long and prosper” it has a very different undertone than it usually does and it’s nice to play with that stuff. Anyone who’s been a fan for 40 years will be satisfied by these things that are clearly nods to them but, at the same time, we’re refashioning them and having a good time with them.

Leonard Nimoy makes a guest appearance, too. Was it daunting having the original Spock on set?

Z: Leonard was integrally involved, for me, from the beginning. I was the first one cast so I had months before we started shooting to prepare, and he was instrumental in that time. We’ve actually become very close and I consider Leonard a friend. So it wasn’t daunting so much as it was reassuring for me.

And Chris, apparently you stopped watching early episode of the series because it was interfering with your preparation. Is that true?

C: I did. I’m a perfectionist by nature, so on getting the role, I was doing my due diligence. I started watching the first season and really enjoying it – to my surprise, because I’ve never been a fan before. What Mr Shanter did was so unique that I found myself trying to create a perfect impersonation, which would have done neither myself nor anyone in the movie any justice. JJ prescription for this role was to pay tribute to what had come before, but to do my own interpretation.

There are some fantastic stunts in the film – how grueling were they to shoot?

C: Way more so than I thought they would be! In script, there were pages of action sequences that I’d just casually skim through, not knowing that those four or five pages would take a month and a half to shoot. I have so much more respect for the action heroes of this world now – it’s way harder that I ever thought

Z: For me, the stunt training was gruelling. I did more training for stunt sequences that ended up not being shot.

Will there be a sequel?

Z: A sequel? You wanna do one?

C: Sure.

Z: OK, we’re doing one.