Captain Luck: Inside deep space Pine

Chris Pine talks about being Captain Kirk and why he's thrilled to boldly go where no man has gone before

So what was it like to film Star Trek?

For me, it was just a great opportunity to meet people who I now call my friends. The director, JJ Abrams, has such an unbelievable ability to create absolute equality on his sets. No one felt like there was a dictator shouting orders. It was a family on the sets. I'm so lucky I was involved with people I had fun with every day. So hopefully that kind of family that we built on sets will translate on film and that all the fans will accept this new version because I feel we have all created a good blend of action sequences and wonderful relationships bet-ween the characters. It was a great experience for me and I am privileged and blessed to have been a part of it.

Do you think fans will like this new version?

I think people will be really surprised. The script is brilliant and is infused with as much humanity as possible. Not only are you getting the big effects that you would expect from a blockbuster, but also something of a character movie, which I think is difficult to do and I think we have done extremely well. People will be blown away. Between Zach and Karl Urban, everyone, they have really captured who these characters are. It's brilliant.

Were you wary of taking on such an iconic role?

I was definitely wary of taking on the role in the beginning because I knew it was a world where the fans are probably the best fans. There is a huge fan base. So I did not want to disappoint anyone. While respecting what had been done in the past, our job was to really bring to life the characters that this story told. But instead of feeling encumbered by the responsibility of doing justice to what had been done in the past, I kind of felt a certain amount of freedom to bring my own take on the character.

Did you try in any way to emulate William Shatner?

I think what Abrams set forth in the beginning of the whole thing was to pay tribute to what was done before and to respect what these men had already given us in terms of creating their characters and then to bring our own unique take on it and I think that opened up myriad possibilities. I never felt encumbered. I only felt, ‘Thank God we were given such a great foundation for these characters.' What Mr Shatner did was very specific and very unique to him and all I did was try to do justice to what he did and what was done before. But to try to emulate Shatner would not have been smart.

Do you feel lucky to get a role like this? Do you believe in luck?

Yes, I believe in luck and fate and I believe in karma – that the energy you put out in the world comes back to meet you. So if you have positive good energy, hopefully good things will come to you from the universe.

Do you have examples of how luck has changed your life?

Yeah, my career is a great example.