J.J Abrams
J.J. Abrams has admitted that finding the right actor to play Captain James T Kirk in the new STar Trek was a tough job.
The filmmaker, the man behind Lost, has taken the franchise back to the beginning bringing in a new cast as the Enterprise sets out on it's maiden voyage.
But it was the virtually unknown Chris Pine who eventually landed the role of Kirk, a part made famous by William Shatner, and the role is set to make him a star.
In an interview with Star Trek Magazine Abrams said: "It became really hard to cast Kirk because you really need someone who had that cockiness that Shatner brought to it when he was hired.
"He was a theatre actor who had come from Canada. He gave a little smirk, and you knew
exactly where James T. Kirk was coming from.
"We saw a lot of really good actors, but what Chris brought to it was that sense of 'I know how good I am!' Not that that's how he is personally, because he's not an arrogant guy at all he's really down to Earth.
"He's so smart and such a good actor. I recently saw Smokin' Aces again, and was blown away by the character he created there, so willing to go wherever he needs to go.
"I've known Chris a long time. I used to know his father Robert when I was first starting out his father is a wonderful actor himself, and you can see Chris, with his parents, had a good upbringing.
He wasn't a typical Hollywood kid, acting out all the time. He's got a healthy narcissism, as
opposed to a destructive narcissism: there is such a thing as someone who has a sense of himself and I think when you have an actor who has that, it shows up on the screen.
Pine joins Zachary Qunito and Zoe Saldana, who take on the role of Spock and Uhura, and Simon Pegg and Anton Yelchin as Scotty and Pavel Chekov.
Star Trek is released 8th May.
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