Check out the entire interview over at SMH.COM.AU
When you’re the second person to portray one of science fiction’s iconic characters, Chris Pine notes, it’s easy to second-guess yourself about nearly everything. The American actor should know, having inherited the role of the USS Enterprise’s Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek universe from William Shatner. Millions of dedicated Trekkies have kept the internet afloat with their views on him as Shatner’s successor.
Pine went a long way to making the part his own with a swaggering, committed take on the 23rd-century hero in director J.J. Abrams’ highly successful 2009 Star Trek reboot, but four years, and one highly anticipated sequel in Star Trek: Into Darkness later, he says his response to donning Kirk’s trademark Starfleet uniform is still essentially the same.
Enterprising young man: Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk in the 2009 film. Photo: Supplied
“The first thought is always don’t screw it up,” says Pine, who was in Sydney last week along with his director and several of his co-stars for the world premiere of the new movie.“There’s plenty to look forward to, but you always start with don’t screw it up.”
That belated growing up for Kirk brings the character somewhat closer to Pine. The 32-year-old, who wasn’t a Star Trek devotee before securing the role, is more insular than his alter-ego. Kirk favours bar fights and girls who are literally off the planet, while Pine is more likely to be reading Viktor Frankl’s psychiatric memoir Man’s Search for Meaning or an examination of drone warfare.
A Los Angeles native with an English degree from Berkeley who periodically dips into edgier theatre work, Pine has experienced successes (2010’s Unstoppable, alongside Denzel Washington) and failures (2012’s interminable This Means War) in the wake of his ascendancy with Star Trek, but he remains the most low-profile leading man in Hollywood. Pine is the rare member of the young Hollywood set who doesn’t feel the need to exhibit himself in the VIP section at the Coachella music festival.
“I hope it stays that way,” Pine says. “More than anything, what we do as actors is to sit and watch and I would never want to get so lost in the celebrity bubble that I couldn’t do that because my feet no longer touch the ground.”
I have a lot of respect for Chris. He is a serious actor working on perfecting his craft. He’s wise to stay out of the gossip pages. He knows who he is and doesn’t need the constant attention so many young ‘stars’ crave. I think this is going to be a huge year for him and he has the maturity to handle it with grace (and unlike young Kirk) and humility. He will go far in his chosen profession.