Feb 13, 2008 - At the press junket for the independent film Charlie Bartlett, Anton Yelchin was, of course, asked about another movie project he’s working on. You may have heard of his next film...a little movie called Star Trek. Yelchin is part of the new young cast of the 2008 Star Trek movie directed by JJ Abrams (Lost), and the actor’s been busy working on getting his accent down for the role. Russian-born Yelchin is taking over as Pavel Chekov (for at least three Star Trek movies), the role played by Walter Koenig in the TV series and feature films.
Yelchin was knee-deep in Star Trek at the same time as having to promote Charlie Bartlett, but he managed to sound equally enthusiastic about both films. “It is pretty great,” admitted Yelchin about being a part of one of the most popular entertainment franchises in the world. “We were shooting this scene yesterday and you really just realize how epic it is. That word is so overused but it really is kind of epic. It’s pretty epic! You just sit there and you’re like, ‘God damn, I’m on the Enterprise. Would I ever have thought that I would be on the Enterprise?’ No, it is just pretty great. It’s a pretty different experience though.”
Yelchin didn’t consider himself a Trekkie before getting cast in Star Trek but did appreciate the old show. “I really think the old show for what it was was really a great, great show. I watch it and really enjoy it. It’s so perfectly cheesy and ‘B’ and absolutely unapologetic for it, and I think that’s what works. They shot this thing where they walk up to a cave that looks like it was made out of Styrofoam and Spock says like, ‘Oh, this is definitely advanced technology’ and you’re like, ‘Yes. Yes. That is advance technology.’ [Laughing] But it’s fun. It’s really a fun show to watch.”
A big part of getting into the character, Chekov, was figuring out what to do with the accent Koenig adopted for the role. Because the events in this Star Trek take place before the TV series or the films, Yelchin has to remain true to bits of Koenig’s Chekov. Asked about his version of the accent, Yelchin replied, “How is my accent? I think it is pretty good. It is great! My accent is incredible. No… The thing is about Walter Koenig is that his accent was interesting. I will leave it at ‘interesting’. It was sort of like all of us had to make the choice of what we wanted to take from the original and what we wanted to bring into it. There are certain things that I took from, like the fact that he would replace every ‘v’ with a ‘w’ which is weird. I don’t really know where that decision came from. But, regardless, that’s a decision that he made and I thought it was important to bring that to the character.”
Director Abrams is no stranger to taking on an established film franchise after having directed the third Mission Impossible movie. And Abrams fully realizes just how passionate Star Trek fans are and what they expect from a Star Trek movie. The filmmaker and cast know every decision they make will be scrutinized and analyzed. “I talked to J.J. a lot about what he wanted,” revealed Yelchin. “His thing was we’re not making something that is supposed to be the old Star Trek. He’s making his own movie, but I think people want to see what they love so we’re all trying to find things that will remind people of the old characters. So it’s been interesting just picking up on little things. Chekov is like the weirdest guy. Watching the old show makes you realize just how strange…like how incredible was it that they brought a Russian character on right smack in the middle of the Cold War? But there’s one scene where they’re talking to Apollo or the God that used to be Apollo, in the old show, and he’s like, ‘I am Apollo!’ And Chekov is like, ‘And I am the Czar of all the Russias!’ That’s not how I’d choose to do the accent, but they gave him these lines. It really is the weirdest, weirdest character. It’s a lot of fun.”
So far Yelchin’s scenes have been on the Enterprise set. “Chekov is just on the Enterprise. A lot of it is green screen so I gather… I mean, the Enterprise itself, J.J.'s trying to shoot as much of it as he can without green screen. But I think a lot of space is, obviously, green screen - what I'm looking at while seeing the Klingon warships.”
“It's pretty cool,” said Yelchin of the Star Trek set and the new Enterprise. “All I can say is the way J.J. shoots it is really incredible. He really has the most incredible eye for entertainment. I think it looks really great. I'm going to actually come and just, I think, maybe work as a grip on set, seriously. I think it's a great opportunity to learn about filmmaking.”
