“We came searching for the future and we found it in Dubai.”
Star Trek Beyond executive producer Jeffrey Chernov’s opening lines to announce the start of filming in Dubai for the hit sci-fi franchise summed up the theme of the press conference yesterday.
Almost exactly five years since Tom Cruise scaled the Burj Khalifa for Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, the cast and crew of Star Trek Beyond have brought another mammoth franchise to town to shoot some out-of-this-world footage.
Along with Chernov at the Burj Al Arab were star leads Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin and Idris Elba. Director Justin Lin and screenwriters Doug Jung and Simon Pegg were also in attendance.
The cast and crew’s UAE arrival comes just days after they wrapped up filming in Vancouver. Zoe Saldana, who plays Nyota Uhura and was with the cast in Vancouver, was nowhere to be seen at the Dubai press conference, while John Cho, who was scheduled to attend, did not appear; organisers would not confirm the reason for his absence. It’s understood the stars went on a tour of Dubai following the conference.
“This is not the third of three movies,” said Chernov. “We’re actually going into some new territory. We are taking a much different approach to this one. With Justin as our director, we wanted to do something different. For something that takes place in outer space, we want to keep it down to Earth.”
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Pegg, who also stars in the film, spoke about linking the classic Star Trek with a fresh one.
“This has to be a new kind of Star Trek. The challenge was to marry the two, the traditional Star Trek that everyone grew up watching and our Star Trek,” he said. Later, he added: “One of the reasons that Star Trek is so beloved by people is because it gives us this utopian idea that we can all just live together, and there is no prejudice. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s an aspirational universe. Imagine that. Imagine if we could all get along.”
Pegg, who also stars in the Mission: Impossible franchise, counted this visit as a return to Dubai after filming Ghost Protocol with Tom Cruise five years ago. He was brought on as a writer for Star Trek Beyond in January, after a screenplay by Robert Orci, who was formerly appointed the director, was scrapped.
“Doug and I have never been allowed to read the other script. We’ve tried to get it through our various leads, but still haven’t managed to look at it. So we don’t really know [its contents],” said Pegg.
“Having watched Justin direct this movie, every time I go behind the monitor and watch what he’s done, it made me realise I’m never going to direct a Star Trek film,” he said. “He has such an incredible innate visual style. When I see people do things I could never hope to do, I’m always incredibly impressed.”
He said taking on the role of writer was daunting, and that he worried it would put a strain on his bond with the cast.
“The friendship we all have as a cast is very close. I didn’t want to feel like I was leaving that in any way. But actually, it has worked out the opposite,” he said.
In August, the film held a casting in Dubai under the code name “Washington” and recruited a flock of extras. During the casting, which tabloid! attended, they left no body part unmeasured, including neck circumference, crown, glove (space between middle finger and wrist) and ring finger.
Chernov said there will be Emirati involvement in the film, and 600 background actors will get the chance to work in the film. A UAE-based internship programme has also been launched that aims to “build a new generation of filmmakers”.
The film is set to release in 2016 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original 1966 sci-fi series, created by Gene Roddenberry. It was initially to be released on July 8, but the date was recently pushed back to July 22. They were dealing with a time constraint, said Chernov, but kept reminding themselves they’re shooting a 50th anniversary film. “It can’t be a 51st anniversary film,” he quipped.
