J.J. Abrams' rebooted STAR TREK franchise definitely has its share of fans, including both new and old trekkies, but some of the new franchise's detractors have complained at how different it is compared to Gene Roddenberry's original vision. While speaking with Famous Monsters of Filmland, STAR TREK BEYOND star John Cho said that the upcoming film feels much more like The Original Series than either STAR TREK or STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS did.
When I read the script, my emotional impression was that it felt very much like the best of the original series. It felt like the series felt to me. And the first [film] that we made didn’t entirely feel like that to me.
As we haven't seen all that much from STAR TREK BEYOND yet, it's hard to tell if Cho's emotional impression is correct, but hopefully we'll see a little of that in the new STAR TREK BEYOND trailer which will be released on May 20th during a Star Trek event at the Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood. The event will also include an exclusive first-look of never-before-seen footage from the upcoming film and aQ&A with director Justin Lin and the cast and crew. Speaking of Justin Lin, Cho was asked whether he had any apprehensions about a new director taking over for J.J. Abrams.
[Justin Lin] cared about the mythology, he cared about the world, he cared about getting it right, he cared about moving the characters forward. … I think we all had question marks; it’s tough to be told that the guy you made two successful movies with isn’t going to be helming the third one. But we were all just really pleasantly surprised as we eased into working with him.
Justin Lin also recently discussed STAR TREK BEYOND in a new interview released via 1905 in which he revealed that despite his reputation as an "action director," he's putting the importance on character rather than action in STAR TREK BEYOND.
Well, it’s funny – I don’t know if I see myself as an ‘action director,’ you know. I think it’s my job as a filmmaker to make sure I bring something unique and different, you know, and “Star Trek” was a big part of my life growing up. I wanted to make sure that with all the choices that I have, I wanted to make sure that with this film, I can contribute something, hopefully, new to the franchise. You might think of “Star Trek” as a big film, but to me, it’s very much character-based. So that’s kind of the indie [director] in me – and also, not just my passion, but Simon [Pegg] and Doug [Jung] and everybody that’s been involved.
With a large cast which includes Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoë Saldana, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, Idris Elba and Sofia Boutella, Lin found that the most challenging part of making STAR TREK BEYOND was making sure that everyone got a chance to shine.
The most challenging part, for me, was making sure that we don’t waste any frame of the film, because there’s a huge ensemble. I wanted to make sure that everybody – regardless of screen time – when you see them, that they exist for a reason and they have valid feelings and emotional connections to the audience… so after you see the movie, you feel like you actually have a great relationship with all these characters.
STAR TREK BEYOND will warp into theaters on July 22, 2016.