Sylar to play Spock in JJ Abrams' Star Trek re-make!

[F5]

Zach Quinto (AKA Sylar from Heroes) is signed on to play Spock's younger self in the new JJ Abrams-directed Star Trek movie. Nimoy will have a "meaty cameo", but Quinto will be playing him in the flashback/new origin story that the movie will focus on.

I think...cool?

http://www.eonline.com/news/article...m_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i3d0f320aaf6dea3150739497b0bcd75b

No word yet on who plays Kirk or Bones.

 

[Umbran]

My first thought is... eh? The problem being that the character was defined by an actor, rather than by written fiction. We are quite thoroughly conditioned to specific nuances, and I don't know if Quinto can do them.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I'm not sure wether the casting was before Heroes or not but my problem is that Sylar is such a defining role as well that I am going to be thinking why is Sylar in Star Trek whenever he is on screen. That is if I even watch this abomination.

 

[Morrus]

My first thought is... eh? The problem being that the character was defined by an actor, rather than by written fiction. We are quite thoroughly conditioned to specific nuances, and I don't know if Quinto can do them.

James Bond, BSG, Doctor Who ... it can work. It's risky, but if they can pull it off, and have a little luck, it could work very well. The mistake would be making it a "remake" rather than a "reinterpretation". They shouldn't try to copy old Star Trek, they should, like with BSG, make a new one.

 

[F5]

I thought Quinto was really good as Sylar, that he is able to give a pretty nuanced performance.

He said in one of the interviews that he was looking forward to working with Nimoy, and that when asked how much of Nimoy's style he would put into his Spock, Quinto said something to the effect of "He'll be involved in the production, so, as much as he lets me". He also said he wanted to show his own take on Spock. Frankly, I think that's a good thing...he's got respect for the original, but recognizes that he's not it.

I suspect that lots of people will hate this.

I suspect that lots of other people will love this.

I also suspect that, whatever else happens, Sylar's got geek cred for life.

 

[jaerdaph]

Zach Quinto (AKA Sylar from Heroes) is signed on to play Spock's younger self in the new JJ Abrams-directed Star Trek movie. Nimoy will have a "meaty cameo", but Quinto will be playing him in the flashback/new origin story that the movie will focus on.

Heh - RangerREG suggested Quinto for Spock several months back.

I think he's a great choice. And glad to hear Nimoy will appear as well.

Is Gary Sinise still playing Bones? That was another good casting choice.

 

[Umbran]

James Bond, BSG, Doctor Who ... it can work.

Thinking about it, I cannot really address Bond - by the time I started watching Bond flicks, the part had already been played by more than one actor. The idea that Bond wasn't one man was already in my head.

Doctor Who - has changing actors as an explicit potential written into the character, including the understanding that his whole personality changes each time, so this one hardly counts.

They shouldn't try to copy old Star Trek, they should, like with BSG, make a new one.

Unfortunately, given that Nimoy is also in the movie, unless they do some really cheesy alternate universe work, this looks to be a vision into the past of the Spock we now know.

I, personally, think that full reimagings are fine - it is done with Shakespeare, Arthurian legend, and so on all the time, to wonderful effect. But, I think they're a really, really hard sell while a particular version has a strong and living fanbase. If you want to re-image, you have to wait for the corpse of the old version to cool - like it did with BSG. I don't think Trek is ready for this treatment.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

They better do it really really well. As a major Trek fan (having seen all of the TV episodes including enterprise and the cartoon as well as Nemesis) they are seriously risking losing their base. Unless I hear this is stellar I won't bother (and I have seen some mind numbingly bad episodes and movies to keep my streak going).

As for the Spock casting. I wasn't complaining that they cast someone else in the role. It was who they cast. If someone else is in the role I don't want to be thinking "watch out, he'll eat your brains."

 

[Vigilance]

My first thought is... eh? The problem being that the character was defined by an actor, rather than by written fiction. We are quite thoroughly conditioned to specific nuances, and I don't know if Quinto can do them.

If more than one person can play Hamlet or Henry V, I have a feeling there is a second person capable of pulling off the oh-so-challenging parts of Kirk and Spock.

For that matter, how many times has Bond been cast? Superman?

And yeah, they were books first, but not to me, and I would wager not to MOST people. Christopher Reeve is Superman to me. Connery is Bond.

Parts are recast. It's the nature of film franchises.

Also, the notion that "Shatner is Kirk" is disproven in part by Shatner's ability to play other roles.

If the character and actor were really that joined at the hip, wouldn't folks be wondering why Kirk was working at a law firm and suffering from a disease McCoy could easily cure?

Audiences are actually pretty smart. They realize the actor is not the character and vice versa.

If the casting is done well, if the movie is compelling, in other words, if it's GOOD, folks will see it and accept it.

 

[Vigilance]

They better do it really really well. As a major Trek fan (having seen all of the TV episodes including enterprise and the cartoon as well as Nemesis) they are seriously risking losing their base.

Losing? Don't you mean lost? It's not like Nemesis and Enterprise were doing such bang-up jobs that they should feel encouraged to play it safe.