CHRIS PINE
This summer Chris Pine is going where only one man has gone before. As Capt. James T. Kirk in the J.J. Abrams “Star Trek” revival, the 28-year-old faces one of the year’s biggest acting challenges — how can you portray Kirk without sliding into a William Shatner imitation?

The early footage suggests that the L.A. native and third-generation Hollywood actor has pulled it off with swagger and a twinkle in his eye, which is, well, very Kirk-like. “He’s delivered a real performance,” Abrams said, “and it was amazing to watch.”

Pine jumped off the screen in the 2006 hit-man extravaganza “Smokin’ Aces” and then starred with Alan Rickman in the wine-country tale “Bottle Shock.” He was set to star opposite George Clooney in the cinematic adaptation of author James Ellroy’s noir tale “White Jazz” before he beamed up to the “Trek” franchise. Abrams says he hopes his “Trek” flies as a franchise, suggesting Pine may be on more than a five-year mission as Kirk.

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Kevin Smith is just about the luckiest guy on the planet and I’m pretty sure he’s aware of it. His filmmaker buddies have always seemed more than willing to share their upcoming works well in advance of their release dates. He saw “MI:III” early as well as “The Dark Knight,” and here in mid-September of ‘08 he’s already seen two must-sees for ‘09! That would be “Watchmen” AND “Star Trek.”

When I met up with Kevin in Toronto this week to chat about “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” (a mature flick that’s actually most reminiscent of “Chasing Amy” despite what you may assume) I just had to pick his brain about “Star Trek” and he told me quite a bit.

“It’s really strong,” said Smith. “[J.J. Abrams] was rejiggering the opening few scenes. It’s one of those things where you first heard about it and were like no they’re not going to redo ‘Star Trek’! And then you see the movie and you think, wow he did pull it off! He turned it into a viable renewed franchise.”

Who stood out among this new cast, I asked him. “Chris Pine is fantastic,” he gushed. “It is a star-making performance. From his first scene forward, this dude is not doing an impression of Shatner. He is doing young Kirk. He doesn’t have the slow delivery mannerisms of Shatner but it’s totally James T. Kirk, the bravado, the self-assuredness. It’s such a great performance. You can’t take your eyes off the guy. Anytime he’s not on the screen you’re waiting for him to get back. And the chick [Zoe Saldana] who plays Uhura is really great. They made Uhura really interesting.”

Head to Head on the bridge of the Enterprise with the newest Captain Kirk! We had a chance to catch up with Chris Pine at a recent junket in LA and talk to him briefly about his work on the upcoming Star Trek Movie. He was able to give us insights on the look of the movie, his portrayal of Captain Kirk and most importantly.. if he managed to score any green or purple babes. Here is what he told us;

What did you bring to Star Trek because J.J. Abrams has been marveling about the character relationship in that movie?

Chris Pine: I think what’s new about this particular version of Star Trek and what J.J. and Bob (Roberto Orci) and Alex (Kurtzman) were able to bring to it that’s new and really exciting is an incredible amount of humanity to the roles for a project that could be so…you know there’s a lot of spectacle to it, there’s explosions and graphics and computer graphics and yet it’s really character driven and you really get to see why Kirk is Kirk, why Spock is Spock, how this crew got together.

Chris Pine says he’s ready to ride the tsunami of attention — and loss of privacy — sure to come his way next year when he’s seen as James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams’ re-imagined “Star Trek” movie. “It’s definitely something I thought about upon taking something like ‘Star Trek,'” says the 27-year-old actor. “There’s a certain price one pays for being able to act, which is what I’ve chosen to do, and a certain price to get to that position where one is able to get more opportunities, to be picky, to say yes and no, and be particular.”

In the crowd-pleasing “Bottle Shock,” opening Wednesday (8/6), the dark-haired “Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement” and “Just My Luck” star is nearly unrecognizable — with hippie boy long blond locks and ’70s scruffy denims. “The wig was at times hot and annoying. The pants could be tight and chafing,” says Chris, “but that was my actor wardrobe challenge, and it was fun to disappear into the character.”

Quantum Quest, a new animated 3D film that blends science and science and science fiction, sports an voice cast including a number of Trek stars such as Bob Picardo, Brent Spiner and both Kirks, Chris Pine and William Shatner. At a panel at Comic Con on Thursday, Pine ‘appeared’ in a taped video to talk about the film, and he also talked about the new Star Trek movie…and Shatner!

Quantum Quest, written and co-directed by Harry Kloor (who also wrote some VOY episodes), is part educational tool and part entertainment and was initiated by JPL and NASA. It tells the story of Dave (voiced by Chris Pine), a photon who leaves the Sun on a quest to save his fellow photons from being annihilated by The Voice (voiced by Mark Hamill) and his anti-matter forces lead by Admiral Fear (Samuel L. Jackson). The Core (voiced by Shatner), and his team including characters voiced by Bob Picardo, Brent Spiner and others, lives in the Sun and leads the fight against The Void.

Pine stated that making the film “was a blast” and that he has always wanted to do voice work. He also noted how in making the film he has learned a lot about science, and photons and neutrinos, something that the film tries to impart to the audience.

NEW YORK — “Bottle Shock,” the true story of a California winery family, will be distributed in North America by Freestyle Releasing.

Randall Miller’s feature starring Chris Pine, Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman and Freddy Rodriguez premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival. It revolves around a vineyard owner (Pullman) and his slacker son (Pine) who join forces with a British winemaker (Rickman) to launch the 1976 Paris Tastings, which put the California wine industry on the map.

The film will be released this year in more than 250 theaters nationwide. Odd Lot International will handle foreign sales on the project at next month’s Festival de Cannes, part of a two-picture rep deal with Freestyle.

Miller co-wrote the film with Jody Savin and Ross Schwartz. He also produced the film with Savin, J. Todd Harris, Brenda Lhormer, Marc Lhormer and Marc Toberoff.

Freestyle also is distributing Miller’s darkly comic thriller “Nobel Son,” which also stars Rickman and Pullman.

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