A day after the trailer premiere, in an interview with Slashfilm, "Star Trek Beyond" director Justin Lin shares details on Idris Elba’s role in the upcoming movie (we knew very little about the part before this).
Specifically, Lin says that Elba is playing a new villain named Krall, adding that the character does feature in the trailer that debuted yesterday. And it is the character that I assumed, as I mentioned in my post with the trailer.
"He’s a character that has a distinct philosophy that’s very different," Lin says, adding, "When [Idris] came in, he had a lot of [prospective] projects and when I talked to him about this character, it wasn’t about this or that – it was about building or having a philosophy or point of view… I like his character, because his character is really challenging the way of the Federation’s philosophy, and there are a lot of things that when I was growing up I wanted to see."
"It was just really embracing the idea that the Federation, what would happen if you were going on a five-year journey and you’re trying to also not only explore, but also maybe introduce other people to this way of thinking," he concludes.
So, not a lot revealed, but certainly more than what we’ve known until now. Since we learned that Elba had joined the cast of the next "Star Trek" movie, in the spring, playing a villain, details on the character have been kept tightly underwraps. "Star Trek" universe experts speculated, based on the history of the franchise, that he may be a Klingon, meaning he’ll be underneath lots of makeup and prosthetics. Although co-writer and co-star of the movie, Simon Pegg, confirmed himself that Elba would not be playing a Klingon.
Also in a September interview with MTV, Elba, while doing press for “Beasts of No Nation”, shared the following about his role in "Star Trek Beyond" (as the new film is titled): “Simon [Pegg] and the team have written a very interesting, complex journey for my character… You’ve never seen me play a character like this.”
The actor added: “I think ’Star Trek’ has prided themselves as being quite classic when it comes to villains, like ’he’s a guy who wants to end the world,’ there’s no doubt about that. But in this version of the film, there’s a slightly different twist to that… It’s quite an interesting journey, which I think is groundbreaking for the franchise. But, it still keeps with the ’classic bad guy is a classic bad guy’ tone.”
Previously, when asked about Elba’s involvement, Pegg said he was writing what will be an original character, not from the existing "Star Trek" universe that we’re all already familiar with – so it’s no one even "Star Trek" experts will know: "Idris is an extraordinary actor and we’re trying to write him a kick-ass role,” Pegg added.
Get a glimpse of this "kick-ass role" in the below trailer for the film, and catch Elba as Krall, if you missed him the first time.
Of course Zoe Saldana is back, along with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, and Anton Yelchin, all reprising their respective roles.
Justin Lin is directing this 3rd film, with J.J. Abrams producing.
2016 is shaping up to be one of the heaviest blockbuster-heavy movie years in recent history, I think. All the superhero franchise: "Batman vs Superman," "Captain America: Civil War," X-Men: Apocalypse," "Suicide Squad," "Star Trek Beyond," "Independence Day: Resurgence," "Ghostbusters," the next Jason Bourne movie which Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass are back for, and more. The first half of the year will be fanboy/fangirl utopia.
Trailer:
