Web view10/11/2015 · months figuring out how everything works and what it’s going to look like and the aesthetic and the story, that’s not our job, that’s Justin’s job

EPK Interview with Chris PineRecorded on October 11, 2015

Question: Can you talk about how it’s been getting back

together with everyone from the last movie?

Chris (11:24:05:03): Yeah, I mean that’s the best way to

describe it. You know, we’ve been doing this now for

nearly ten years, and I think from the beginning we’ve,

all of us, said that the best thing that JJ ever did was

cast it so well, cause we all do get along beautifully

and we enjoy each other’s company immensely, and

especially when you’re away from home, as we have been in

Vancouver and now Dubai, to have friends that are more

like family just makes it all that easier, and we laugh a

lot and that I think is my greatest joy in this, and I

would come back again and again just to have that

experience.

Question: Can you talk about Justin as a director?

Chris (11:25:30:13): This has been a really hard project

for all of us and for Justin especially. It all happened

so late, so if you can imagine putting together a $175

million corporation and then in a matter of two or three


months figuring out how everything works and what it’s

going to look like and the aesthetic and the story,

that’s not our job, that’s Justin’s job, so he is a real

soldier of - a general in the creation of this film. And

he’s done an incredible job just from again commanding

such a big enterprise, to having such a clear idea of how

it should work. When everything gets together at that

last moment and a lot of us are trying to figure things

out, it’s nice to be able to go to your director and take

serious direction about what the story’s about, what the

themes are, tonally what he wants it to feel like, you

need to have someone who’s adept at describing what these

huge action sequences are going to look like that you

can’t really see, even when they give you a pre-vis,

which is the kind of animated version of the action

sequences before they come together in the final cut. And

Justin does all of those and he comes from the Fast and

Furious world where the movies are even bigger and louder

and crazier. In 2015, when you make these big tent pole

films, they have to be action-heavy and you want someone

who’s adept at that. But also just like JJ, he comes from

a much smaller filmmaking world, and he started in the


independents and got kind of birthed through Sundance.

Again, the kind of wonderful combination that JJ brought

to it of someone who is very character and story-oriented

but someone who could also handle the big stuff.

Question: Simon is playing Montgomery Scott, but also

he’s now writing with Doug. He knows you guys and is a

great writer so he knows how to speak in your voice - has

that been your experience?

Chris (11:25:30:13): Yeah for me the biggest thing always

is the comedy. If this were just a comedy film, I think

I’d have more fun. I have more fun doing the comedy than

the action, and Simon is a comedian and so we have a ball

trying to come up with as funny stuff as we can. This

experience has been ironically almost like dad left the

building and all the kids are running the asylum, and the

collaboration has been on a whole different level on this

film, which has been a true blessing and something I

think we’ve all really enjoyed. And we all know each

other so well and there’s such a lack of ego and

pretention within this group that, in a given scene, if a


line doesn’t work, I’ll cut my line or give someone else

my line. We just try to figure out what works best and

it’s very expedient and very much without drama and that

has a lot to do a) with Justin, and also with the writing

team between Doug and Simon.

Question: The film opens with comedy and your narration

of the five-year mission. What’s your take on the opening

of the film?

Chris (11:29:14:18): I think it’s great. There’s this

joke in the Trek world about the night crew – it’s like,

what happens when our team leaves and then the other team

comes in to shepherd the Enterprise through the galaxies,

and we have that scene where I come in and take over for

the night captain, and it’s kind of distilling down -

really logically following the pattern of what it would

be like to be on a ship for five years that has to

operate 24 hours a day, so even little things like

bringing coffee onto the deck of the ship as one would do

to wake up after, you know - or what would it be like to

see these people over and over and over again - you know


they’re great people and we’re all friends, but clearly

that’s a long time. It’s like being on a submarine, I

guess. So I liked following the logic of that. There’s a

lot of comedy in that and it’s not over the top - which I

think the beginning is definitely over the top, but I

love doing that kind of stuff because it reminds me of

Indiana Jones. I think it’s a great melding of - I think

our niche. Marvel goes real self-aware, winky, and then

there’s the Batmans that are super dark and depressing,

and we are in this I think really neat -- Guardians is

really big, and ours is like a nice 80’s pop sensibility

of like tonally, comedically a little broad and then

serious but not too serious. And I think we’ve now come

back. We’re out of Into Darkness and back to what we do

really well. That opening sequence shows it. There’s big

comedy and then there’s also the kind of existential

reality of loneliness, and figuring things out, and why

are we here in this world, and I think Doug and Simon did

a great job with it.

Question: Kirk is immediately suspicious of Kalara, but

also willing to do the mission. Can you talk about the


duality of his character, the fact that he knew they were

going into trouble but his duty was to go?

Chris (11:31:44:02): I don’t really know… if I’m being

totally honest, and you may cut this out, everything

happens so fast and so late, to track all of the

developments of character is impossible. I kind of gave

it to Justin, I said “I can give you all colors in terms

of suspicion of Kalara or not suspicion,” and the answer

I always got back was that what was important for Justin

was this idea between ideology and actuality, I guess.

This idea that you’re working within a system but yet you

have your own internal moral compass, and that was the

thing, it’s that I work within a system, a bureaucracy

and I am a captain of a ship and I’ve been ordered to do

something, and no matter where I’m leaning in terms of

thought and process, there’s a whole bigger thing working

-- which, you know, is an allegory for living within any

system, political system, so it’s a very difficult,

dramatic beat, and I hope it works out. She’s a

suspicious character, but also she plays on people’s

human biological empathy. She’s clearly hurt when we


first see her, and she’s been through something

traumatic, or so it seems or so she says, so do you take

people at face value? And this is something that Kirk

then faces throughout the thing, even with Jaylah whom he

meets. Is he willing to trust anyone outside his circle?

He is willing to let his empathy lead he and his crew

into mortal danger?

Question: Speaking of danger, one of the first big action

scenes is the destruction of the Enterprise. What was

your take when you saw that in the script?

Chris (11:33:55:14): I think if it’s a submarine film or

if it’s on an aircraft carrier or if you’re on a plane,

you have to have a story and it seems very obvious that

you would put the one craft that’s keeping you alive

maybe in danger so that people can have their hearts skip

a beat. I thought it was a great idea. Obviously clearly

amongst the Trekkies there will be, I’m sure, very long

conversations about whether or not it was a good idea,

but it gave us a great avenue to explore emotions,

especially for Kirk. Being the captain of the Enterprise


is probably the most defining feature of his life. That

is what defines who he is, and it’s a big part of his

journey in this film too. Being a captain is associated

with the Enterprise is associated with his father who was

the captain of a ship that was also destroyed, so when he

sees the ship destroyed it brings up a real complex set

of emotions that are tied to really how he was born and

who he is.

Question: It’s been the entire crew in the other films,

but in this one they’re all separated. How did that work

as a dramatic device for the characters?

Chris (11:35:28:06): Yeah I think it’s great. You know,

the first two films were very Spock and Kirk-centric, and

I think there’s a reason for that because I think by

definition these characters are kind of two polarities on

a spectrum, and it works great to investigate that

dichotomy. But there are also some fantastic other

characters in this series, and Simon and Doug were very

smart to break everybody up so we could see how they work

together and who they are, and to see what their


personalities are like and how they play off each other

and how well or not they work together. It’s called Star

Trek, it’s not called Captain Kirk or Spock. It’s Star

Trek, it’s about a family. This is the family. So I as a

viewer would want to see everything about this family

that I could, and hopefully now in our third film and

hopefully we’ve been creating a new audience and bringing

an audience from old, we’re further deepening those

ligamental ties between the characters and between the

fans, to hopefully make more stories in the future.

Question: Did you feel some new discoveries were made

between you and Anton?

Chris (11:36:48:05): Oh I love - you know, for me, always

what is most resonant is fun. This movie is fun more than

anything. That’s why I hate talking about it this much

because ultimately we make fun films. It’s not The Dark

Knight. Fundamentally, me and Anton laughed a lot. We

just had a great, great time. One of my favorite beats

was right before we ignite the thrusters to send, in this

dramatic beat in the vestiges of the broken down


Enterprise, we’re snapping at each other and it’s high

intensity and we’re being shot at and we have to blow

this thing up and I’m harping on him and he’s harping on

me, and it’s again I think what we do best. It’s fun,

it’s anxious and tense, but there’s great heart in it and

Anton’s character. And Anton in real life is this giant

heart. He’s a lovely, lovely, just loving guy, who I mean

my god, I mean we’ve basically seen - he was 17 when he

started the first one. Anyway, I mean as you can see, we

all really love each other, so it was fun to see Anton

have his moments and to be there for it.

Question: The Kirk motorcycle scene was very audacious

and could’ve been either really cool or a big risk to

bring such an analog element back into the film.

Chris (11:38:43:20): Well, I mean, I think that

motorcycles are cool. We’re not reinventing the wheel. We

chose a motorcycle because motorcycles elicit feelings of

the maverick and McQueen, you know, it’s like Tron – a

kid without a father on a motorcycle, it’s just these

symbols that we, as men especially, glom onto. It’s like


men on horses. So that’s what I think was very cool. I

called it my McQueen moment just cause I always thought

about The Great Escape. I mean, I was not nearly - thank

god we had three incredible stunt drivers for that - one

of whom was this Canadian motor cross champion who was

great. But essentially it’s just cool. And again, the

things we were struggling with this was calling back to

the other films and nods to the other films, which I

think we all appreciate but I think there was a feeling

from other people involved in the process that it was

maybe alienating because some people may have not seen

the other films. But I especially like that in the third

film and the trilogy and the triad, in the last act for

my character, I’m first seen coming up on a bike to the

Enterprise and then finally in this film, use that bike

or a similar bike to save the crew, and I like that

bookend balance.

Question: Why are Kirk and Krall nice antagonists?

Chris (11:40:36:21): Because in these films, in big

temple films, they’re hero journeys. We could probably


have a huge long three-hour discussion about all of these

films and the reason why we tell these films to each

other and they’re presented to the public is because it

reminds people what it means to live in a community. And

what it means to live in a community is that you can’t be

selfish, so the hero then is by definition selfless, he

gives of himself completely. Krall’s definition of living

is he defines his existence by this need for - he’s the

nihilist, he is the soloist, he is not needing of anyone

else. He is revengeful, and vengeful, and selfish. The

beautiful thing that Doug and Simon did, and especially

with the symbolism of being “alien”, and of his humanity

and seeing his reflection in the mirror, his growing

humanity throughout the film up until the last beat, is

that as he’s becoming more human, he’s feeling more

vulnerable. By feeling more vulnerable, he’s feeling

feeling and empathy and sympathy and the need to connect

with other human beings. I think that last beat is my

appealing to his humanity and his own internal struggle

battling this kind of sense of alien otherness, which I

think Simon and Doug have defined as being selfish

ultimately, and seeing a man who’s tipped over the edge


and can’t figure out another way to be. The line that I

have at the end of the film is “Better to die saving

others than to live with taking them. That’s what I was

born into”, and I think that that ultimately is the

lesson that more often than not this film and other films

of its ilk give the world community.

Question: Can you talk about your relationship with Idris

and working together?

Chris (11:42:57:21): Yeah we ultimately didn’t work all

that much together, but when we did it was pretty

pivotal, like the end of the film moments where the bad

guy has to die. I love Idris, he’s a sweet - for such a

strong masculine looking guy, a very sweet gentle heart.

He’s got a very soft quality to him that I love. He’s

very gentle. So it was great to be able to talk to him

about his thoughts about the character, and why these two

characters found each other and what they were battling

and what they were exposing in one another. The most

gratifying was these last couple of weeks in Dubai when

it’s the end of the film and we have these three mini-


scenes within this third act, which I think basically

references what I just talked about, which is who these

guys are. It could’ve been, I think, very black and

white, but Idris is obviously a capable enough actor to

bring an incredible amount of nuance to someone who is

seemingly so evil.

Question: One of things stood out on the film is the

acknowledgement of Spock. Can you talk a little as an

observer about Leonard?

Chris (11:44:57:22): Far be it for me to describe someone

who’s had such an incredible cultural impact for over 50

years. I mean that is just a credit to Leonard, to the

world that Gene Roddenberry created, to the context of

the time in the 60’s in which it emerged. For me, I take

everybody at face value and Leonard was a quiet, patient,

careful listener. He was highly artistic, highly

sensitive. And I love Zach, and Zach had an incredible

relationship with Leonard, and for that I love Leonard

even more because I saw the impact he had on my friend’s

life, which was very, very deep and really incalculable.


So, I didn’t know Leonard all that well, but I know

Leonard through Zach and how he speaks about him. And

look, we are the, kind of the blessed inheritors of the

legacy that they created. We wouldn’t be here without

them, and I’m experiencing a success that I wouldn’t have

if it weren’t for Leonard. I am grateful for the

opportunities that he, in a way, gave me. And I remember

on the first film, he - to your point that you don’t have

to know who Spock is to know who Leonard is - is that he

walked on set and people were crying. I mean like grown

men and women were openly crying cause it’s a major

cultural figure of people’s lives, kind of walking on the

set as Spock. It was pretty moving and that was really

before I knew anything much of the world and the series.

It was a great loss when he passed, but I know that he

went gently surrounded by his family and… had the

blessing of having the time to say goodbye. And all of us

were there for his memorial and got a chance to say

goodbye in our own way.

Question: A lot of people talk about Trek as a utopian

vision of our society. What are some other elements of


the Trek universe that allow it to persist and make

people come back to it again and again?

Chris (11:48:03:05): I think you’re absolutely right. For

me I would think, speaking in context of the 60’s, it

probably had much to do with at the height of the Cold

War and Civil Rights crisis of the late 60’s, that you

had an African American woman, you had a white man, you

had a Russian, etc etc. But I think ultimately too it’s

our fascination with things unknown. I just saw The

Martian last night and The Martian captures, as did

Gravity, as did any outer space film, the mystery of what

is out there. And that is something that persists, that

desire to find out.

Question: Can you talk about the sets that Tom has built,

interacting with them? Does the set matter and how?

Chris (11:49:09:01): It’s huge. I think I often take it

for granted now, having worked on these big films, but I

try to remind myself how much detail work and how much

craftsmanship goes into it. I was even remarking the


other day about the on set painters. I mean every nook

and cranny of, for instance the destroyed section of the

Franklin that Uhura and I find ourselves in at one point,

the detail work is extraordinary from the painting to the

electronics, it’s mind boggling. So it obviously plays a

huge part. Filmmaking is a collaborative art form and you

are really nowhere without your fellow actors or the

craft of your director, your director of cinematography,

your production designer, in our films the special

effects team. I mean Joel (Harlow – makeup designer)

works with Johnny Depp and I know was going to work with

him but asked specifically to get off to work on our film

because the opportunities are so exciting. And they’ve

done extraordinary things, extraordinary things. I mean

it’s a joy to see what they come up with, the costume

department… it’s really fun.

Question: What’s your take on the scale of it?

Chris (11:50:57:10): It’s a big scale. I mean there’s a

lot of fucking aliens. I have no concept of how to even

begin doing that, so I’m like a kid in awe, “Oh look, how


cool”. But it’s stuff that you’ll never see in the film.

I was up on the last part of the film, it’s like a sphere

and there are little, little barcodes on the bottom of

pieces of wood that someone came up with somewhere in

some department somewhere. And it’s a little tiny thing

that maybe no one will see, but in the moment of acting

in that space, it’s incalculable the effect that it has

on me. It just adds to this fake world that we’re

creating and it’s super fun. It’s just like playing in

the backyard when you were a kid, but you have all the

money in the world to make it as real as possible.

Question: How has it been working in Dubai and how it was

different than you might have imagined?

Chris (11:52:10:05): We flew from Vancouver and then

essentially went straight to studio, so Dubai is really

like nothing I’ve ever seen. What you sense here is an

incredible will to create. They’ve created this city.

They are creating this city fast and furiously. There’s

construction everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like

it. They’ve been extremely gracious and they are curious


about film and want to learn about film. And I love

seeing new parts of the world so this has been a great

adventure so far. Unfortunately we don’t have that much

time here to explore but the time that we do, we’ve gone

out and gotten at it.

Question: What memory will stay with you?

Chris (11:53:30:00): I don’t really have any anecdote for

you except that you’re exactly right – what always

strikes me, especially when you read a review or

something, people comment about a film as if we’ve gone

out for sometimes a year and a half of our lives to make

a bad film. I don’t think anyone ever goes out to make a

shitty film. People put their hearts, their lives - they

put their lives on hold; they go away from their

families, so unfortunately we have no control over how

it’s perceived, but the lasting things are precisely that

- the moments that you have with the people that you’re

spending sixteen hours a day with. And if it weren’t for

this crew and if it weren’t for my friends, my family

now, I don’t know if I’d want to be here. But they’re


that special to me and sharing those moments with them,

and being able to laugh with them, and see new parts of

the world, and collaborate and be creative with my

friends is the best. So it’s really a cumulative

experience of moments, and no one is blessed to have

sixteen hours a day of absolute euphoria and it would be

stupid of me to complain at all because I am so much more

blessed than I ever thought I would ever be and I get to

do something that very few people get to do. But it is

very hard. But you really have to find those kernels,

those diamonds, and they can be anything from sharing a

laugh with Simon to talking with Anton about Godard

films, which he is wont to do, on the side of a ship

somewhere in Vancouver, so I’m the luckiest man alive.

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Web view10/11/2015 · months figuring out how everything works and what it’s going to look like and the aesthetic and the story, that’s not our job, that’s Justin’s job