Star Trek Premieres in Sydney

[Jen]

Star Trek Premieres in Sydney

Apr 07 10:50pm

Not all Trekkies gave the Vulcan salute to it, but the world premiere of the anticipated Star Trek movie took place in Sydney on April 7 and it was a night most fans would have been proud of.

Held in one of the world's most alien-looking structures, the Sydney Opera House, the director of the franchise latest film, JJ Abrams, strutted the red carpet with his stars Zachary Quinto (Spock), Chris Pine (Jim Kirk) and Eric Bana (baddie Nero). "I've been here before when I was promoting Mission Impossible (III), and I just fell in love with Australia, Sydney especially," said Abrams, 42, who faced criticism from some angry Trekkies who believed the movie should be premiered in Canadian farming town Vulcan. "So when I heard it was an option I was like, ‘Yeah!' And here we are. And it's the most surreal thing."

Melbourne star Eric Bana, 40, told WHO magazine - who hosted the premiere's cocktail party in the Opera House's northern foyer - that his nationality was nothing to do with the decision to unveil the film in his home country. "I'd love to be able to claim it - I'm always spruiking Australia - but I had no pull whatsover," he laughed. "I think they just got a list of all the cities around the world and Sydney was the one that most interested JJ."

Quinto, 31, agreed: "A lot of it had to do with the iconic nature of the Opera House. It's an incredibly honorable distinction that we're the first film to be premiering in the Concert Hall. We're happy to be here and hopefully the fans back at home will be able to bide their time for just a few more weeks before we get back and share it with them."

Producer Bryan Burke said of the Opera House: "Notice from far away it looks like the shield from Star Trek, at least the top half."

Bana, who started his career as a stand-up comic, joked that he'd won his role after satirizing Star Trek on the comedy show Full Frontal. "I'd actually forgotten that I was involved in a Star Trek spoof and I had a plastic crab glued to the front of my forehead. Knowing our budget at the time, it probably was a plastic crab that was glued to my forehead. So that's actually how I was cast: I sent that reel to JJ."

Pine, 28, who plays ladies man Kirk who romances all types of aliens, joked, "[Growing up] I really wanted to be Maverick in Top Gun and that didn't work out. But I got to get in bed with an Orion girl, so karma balances itself out I guess."

The movie, which also features Winona Ryder, Star Trek's original Spock, 78-year-old Leonard Nimoy, John Cho (Hikaru Sulu) and former Home and Away actor Chris Hemsworth, explains the iconic characters' origins while Spock and Kirk battle Bana's vengeful Nero.

The cast and celebrity guests, including Rove McManus and Tasma Walton, Underbelly's Damian Walshe-Howling and Les Hill, sipped champagne and technicoloured Star Trek-themed cocktails.

Link

[bttb-rox!]

Thanks, Jen .

I don't know about anyone else but I think there's a striking similarity between Chris Pine and Chris H!

[Ida_girl]

I don't know about anyone else but I think there's a striking similarity between Chris Pine and Chris H!

I totally agree!

[Formerly Known as FKAJ]

I cannot wait to see this. They could not have made a better choice for Spock.

[Julez]

I don't know about anyone else but I think there's a striking similarity between Chris Pine and Chris H!

I totally agree!

Of course there is - that's why Chris H was cast as Chris P's father!