Can the Trek XI Concept Get Any Worse? Answer in Four Words: BenAffleckAsKirk

'Fascinating! To answer your question, Captain: No, they are not shitting you.'

More News On Star Trek XI

from Cinescape

A few days ago Cinescape was sent an interesting tidbit regarding the possible casting for Star Trek XI:

...some others had heard that Ben [Affleck] has also been talking to Paramount about possibly playing a lead role in a new Star Trek film from J.J Abrams. Apparently Abrams is coming down to visit the set in a few weeks, to visit Michelle Monaghan, whom he directed in Mission: Impossible 3, so that might add some more fuel to the fire. If it comes off, he's apparently playing the hero. Don't know if that's Captain Kirk or some other nameless male protagonist...but that's the gist of it. So possible that Affleck's going to go onto doing a new Jack Ryan, and possibly a Trek, after he finishes with this film.

Today it seems a little more information has come out, this time a bit more concrete and much less sketchy.

The folks over at IESB recently caught up with Greg Gunberg. Gunberg has shown up in various projects helmed by Star Trek's possible director J.J. Abrams and he had a few interesting comments regarding the upcoming film (Abrams is writing the script and has an option to direct).

He was first asked if he was interested in playing a role in Star Trek XI, to which he responded, "I have to see...check my schedule. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?! I'd love to be in that movie."

Later on IESB asked Gunberg about the possibility of re-casting Kirk and Spock. Gunberg's reply, "Well, they have to - we're going back in time. I think it's like the beginnings, it's when they were young, so they're going to have to. I just think it's interesting: J.J., you know, here he is, he took the Mission Impossible franchise and humanized it - and I think he's going to do the same thing, you know, for Star Trek, certainly. And he's writing with Alex [Kurtzman] and Bob [Orci], I mean, they all wrote Mission together. It's going to be incredible. You know it's going to be great. I think that's what's going to reinvigorate - you know, the Star Trek fans are gonna go see it; half of them are going to hate the fact that they're bringing them back, and half are going to love it. But, J.J.'s just going to bring in a whole new audience, you know, to it."

Back in time eh?

The interview is in video format, and you can watch it here.