Joe Carnahan says Pine is the new Kirk

Late last week we heard thatSmokin' Aces and Just My Luck actor Chris Pine had been offered the big role of the ship's Captain in the new Star Trek reboot, and also the role of Junior Stemmons in Carnahan's movie White Jazz. Both flicks were set to shoot over the New Year period, meaning it was very unlikely that Pine would be able to appear in both flicks so over the weekend Pine has mulled over the biggest decision of his life. I think we all knew which role he would plum for. According to Joe Carnahan, Chris Pine is the new Captain Kirk...

The young man playing Junior Stemmons has opted to 'boldly go where no man has gone before' and thus, had to bow out of WHITE JAZZ. I've been talking to him this past week and knew how tough the decision had to be for him. I don't envy ever being in that spot but I gave him my full support, even if it meant he didn't do JAZZ. I get it. You don't get opportunities like that often and I told him as long as he could control as much of that process as possible and not get sucked into doing lesser sequels as a result of taking this gig, then good luck and God bless.

After a 2007 filled with rumor and many months where we thought it was Matt Damon's for the taking, I expect this casting is probably something of a downer for many. Which is probably a little unfair to Chris Pine, because we haven't seen what he can do yet... and at least unlike the Simon Pegg casting, we won't associate the guy with any previous roles. Shatner was an unknown at the time as was Christopher Reeve as Superman... etc. We all expected Pine to take the big money offer of Trek and the iconic role that sets you up for life, but it would have been easy for him to go for White Jazz. That's a big production, there's less pressure, he ouldn't have to commit the rest of your career to it and the fear of getting pigeon-holed and type cast would be less evident. I bet this wasn't an easy decision for him but when the chance to step into William Shatner's shoes comes along, you can't turn it down.

Look guys let's keep the faith. I know many are dissing this movie down to the ground and I'll agree with ya, the whole Star Trek reboot is a terrible idea and the plot rumors we have heard so far have been pretty horrible but at least a new Star Trek is in production and once we see those character designs and uniforms, and the new look Enterprise which hopefully blends the old and the new... then I just know we will start getting excited. Pine has my full 100% support and I really wish him well on this. I wanna see a kick ass Star Trek, just like Batman Begins a few years back. Abrams hasn't done the movie the way I would have done it (look at Batman... next year's Hulk and Iron Man... casting ESTABLISHED and even Oscar winning actors) and his long term vision for a long running series may be his downfall but let's keep the faith for as long as we can.