Last year, up-and-coming actor Chris Pine was transported to a new frontier, professionally, when he played the leading role of a young Captain Kirk in the blockbuster feature film, “Star Trek.”

Now in his first movie since becoming a much sought-after Hollywood commodity, Pine has chosen to star opposite a high speed train in filmmaker Tony Scott’s adrenaline-fueled flick, “Unstoppable.”

But it was less the movie and more his chance to work with two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington and director Scott that Pine said was the real catalyst to climb aboard the thriller about a runaway train.

“No matter what I was doing, I was constantly overwhelmed by the fact that I was working with two people who for so long seemed out of my reach,” Pine told Reuters. “That, for me, trumped everything else.”

Due in theaters on Friday, “Unstoppable” sees Washington play a veteran engineer and Pine a rookie conductor who are paired together on the latter’s first day on the job.

When an unmanned, out-of-control train carrying hazardous material heads toward a populated area at 150 miles per hour, the duo must race against the clock to stop it.

Pine holds his own opposite the powerful Washington, but he knows he is still considered a newcomer when cast against a veteran. He also is aware that the opportunity to star in “Unstoppable” came his way because of “Star Trek.”

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Chris gives us a more in-depth look at his character Will Colson. Definitely worth a watch. 🙂

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I’ve added 202 HD captures of Chris from his appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno which aired last night. And in case you missed it I’ve added high quality video below.

Also, don’t forget Chris will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live! later tonight. 🙂

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– Screen Captures > Guest Appearances > 11/09/2010 – The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Chris Pine catapulted from rising star to bona fide leading man with his performance as James T. Kirk in Star Trek (2009) and, following the blockbuster success of that first film in the rebooted franchise, the young actor faced a major decision: what to do for an encore. He chose Unstoppable, a heart-stopping thriller directed by Tony Scott and co-starring Denzel Washington. Pine and Washington play a newbie conductor and an experienced engineer, respectively, who race the clock to prevent a runaway train loaded with toxic chemicals from wiping out a Pennsylvania town. StarTrek.com recently caught up with Pine for an exclusive conversation in which he chatted up Unstoppable, which will open nationwide on November 12, discussed his Star Trek experience and contemplated Kirk’s future.

Audiences met your Kirk in the first Star Trek movie. As you move forward now and make the character your own, in what ways do you hope to see the character evolve?

Pine: I don’t know. I look forward to his development and bringing to light all his idiosyncrasies and thinking up new ways to surprise people with this character. I just trust Damon (Lindelof) and Bob (Orci) and Alex (Kurtzman) and J.J. (Abrams) and everybody behind it to create (another) good story, because they’ve already done it. I appreciate Kirk’s humor and I think that’s a legacy from Shatner’s Kirk, from the original and only Kirk, which I would love to bring into the future incarnation.

Zachary Quinto got his shot at working with Leonard Nimoy in the first film. What are your thoughts on having Shatner on board for the next film? Is it a great idea or too much of a stretch since they’d just done something similar with Nimoy?

Pine: It just isn’t, quite honestly, my decision to make. I think Mr. Shatner will forever be Captain Kirk. I think it would be, certainly, an interesting thing to bring him back. I don’t know if he necessarily wants to at this point or not. But it’s not my decision.

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Tony Scott’s latest action flick Unstoppable was inspired by the actual events that placed two railway workers – a veteran engineer and a young conductor – in extraordinary and heroic circumstances. When Will Colson (Chris Pine), who was hired as a result of nepotism, gets paired with Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington), who has 28 years on the job, both realize that the less than ideal situation could make for one very long day. Little do they know, when they leave the rail yard, that an unmanned runaway train will lead to a terrorizing ordeal that will test everyone involved.

A combination of Scott’s filmmaking style and the lack of CGI, in favor of practical sets and real action, contributes to the urgency of the situation from start to finish, taking the audience on an intense, gripping ride. During the film’s press day, co-stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson, along with Tony Scott, talked about the challenges of making a film like Unstoppable, doing many of their own stunts while on a train going 50 or 60 mph, and getting to meet their real-life heroic counterparts. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

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So Captain Kirk was a lit nerd at Cal.

Chris Pine, all dreamy intensity and blue, blue eyes, certainly sounds the part while discussing the links between “Star Trek,” in which he starred last year, and “Unstoppable,” his new film with Denzel Washington and Rosario Dawson. ”

“The stories couldn’t be any more different and any more alike,” he says at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles. “The reluctant hero is a story that’s been told for ages and ages, and the reason why we always come back to it is we see reflected in the reluctant hero the worst and best parts of us. They’re faced with that great challenge and the question is: Are they going to take it on or not? Are they going to become the best versions of themselves or not?”

The heroism in question in director Tony Scott’s fifth collaboration with Washington involves a runaway train loaded with tons of hazardous chemicals. Pine’s Will Colson is a rookie conductor on his first day, bristling under the tutelage of three-decade veteran Frank Barnes (Washington) when the pending disaster becomes clear. Frank immediately decides to pursue the runaway with their engine. Will, carrying a freight train’s worth of his own issues, is not sold on the plan.

“Kirk is a selfish little (jerk) in the beginning of ‘Star Trek,’ and he ends up leading men into battle,” Pine says. “It’s a humongous arc from one version to the next, and he’s still growing because we have more films. Will is a selfish, angry, rageful (jerk) and he has to shed that and his foil is Frank, who lets him swing his arms like a tantrum to get it out and become the best version of himself. Those are very similar journeys.”

The Los Angeles native is increasingly becoming known for action roles – he’s signed to play Jack Ryan in that series’ reboot. His next project is the action-comedy “This Means War” with Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy.

“Unstoppable” co-star Dawson says people called Pine “Kirk” on the set of their movie. But he asserts with conviction that he was a serious student while pursuing his English degree at UC Berkeley. Perhaps too serious.

“I studied a lot. If I could do college over again, I would probably try to have more fun,” he says, quick to dispel the myth that he walked on to the Cal baseball team. “I played sports all my life, and in a pipe dream, I thought, ‘Yeah, it would be cool to play sports at Berkeley.’ I was a rail-thin, gangly kid; there was no way I was going to be playing sports there.”

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