JJ Abrams' Star Trek sequel update
Two pieces of casting news for the upcoming Star Trek sequel, with one actor in, one actor out...
A couple of new stories to do with JJ Abrams' sequel to his Star Trek reboot have broken over the weekend, courtesy of the fine folks over at TrekMovie.
The first has come courtesy of a chat with Michael Dorn at the recent Phoenix Comic-Con. In it, Dorn confirmed that he had received a call from the casting team on the new film about a part in the new movie. "I don’t know what the role was", he said. "They called in November or December of last year and said 'hey, we would like to know if Michael is interested in playing a part of an officer – a soldier.' And we said 'yes'. Then time went by and we finally talked to them at maybe the end of January or February and they said they had changed their mind and that’s as far as it went".
Conceding that it was probably to do with them ultimately not wanting to mix the old cast with the new, Dorn does add that "it is nothing nefarious. Nothing mean. They changed their mind, so I don't worry about it". He did suggest that "it could have been the casting people going 'hey, this would be a good idea, and they shot it up the road to JJ and he said 'no'", but that's speculation on his part.
Either way, Michael Dorn's not appearing in the new film.
But someone who is? That'd be Jason Matthew Smith, who is reprising the role of Cupcake in the new movie. Cupcake is the character who ended up fighting Kirk in the bar early in the 2009 movie, and is a security office on board the Enterprise. It's unclear whether the role will be much bigger in the new movie, but we do know that Cupcake will still be on security detail.
More on the new Star Trek film as we get it.
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Personally if he wasn't offered a bigger role he should have told them to shove it. I recognised him from the various CSI series (I think he's been in all of them) and from Lockout last year. I really hope he is promoted from 'Burly cadet' to playing Finnegan, even in the few seconds we saw him he outacted some of the main cast that had lots of screen time. Still, they got Kirk, Spock, McCoy triangle just perfect and that the main thing.
Since Cupcake is in the current story line in the Star Trek comic, and the producers keep a guiding hand on its production, he probably won't be playing a different character. Although the set up in the book is pretty funny. The character is still on the Enterprise and his prior run ins with Kirk haven't seemed to have affected his career; but Kirk only calls him Cupcake. Much to the character's chagrin.
If he was Cupcake back then, shouldn't his upgrade mean he's now called Ice Cream Sandwich by now?
Dorn could have been playing one of his ancestors, like he did in VI.
Still waiting for a reason to get excited about this film. I'm hoping there will be fewer concrete pillars and masonry tiles in these starships.
Erg...
Awesome news! I always thought Cupcake should continue his role. He should even die, sacrificing himself to save Kirk in the third and final movie. Either way, Kirk should probably make him Security Chief. Because, on a ship with James T. Kirk at the helm, the most useless job would be security chief.... ;)
doughnut came after cupcake....lrn2AOSP
Shame about Micheal Dorn not appearing in the film. He was one of my favourite characters and I feel, he got better in Deep Space 9.
As Jason said, in his post, Michael Dorn also played Colonel Worf in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered country. He represents Captain James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard McCoy at their trial on Qo'noS, so the writers may have thought about giving Dorn a similar sort of role in this film. I hope the reconsider for the third film at least, as I realise they don't want the old cast stepping on the toes of the new cast, but Dorn can do something similar to Spock and play in the background. I don't think he'd be like William Shatner and try and steal the limelight all to himself.
Dat was funny!
To bad about Dorn , but will the Genesis device be back ????/
I think the inclusion of Dorn would have been too much of a distraction, unless he was important to the story. If it was something for trekkies to spot in the finished movie as purely a surprise cameo, I'd have smiled upon seeing it. But to try and shoehorn him in as a gratuity would have been a little cringe-worthy.
I prefer him as a Klingon but yeah, I do agree with you. I think giving him a role in the film would not just have been a nod to the fans but because I consider him a good actor, I believe he could have given something to the film. I think Richard Hatch, who appeared in both Battlestar Galactica shows, is a good example of this, where his Tom Zarek, was not just a nod to the old fans of the previous show, but also a complex and fully-formed character in his own right.
I'd like to see Kelso or Gary from Where no Man....