Another bit of interesting Star Trek casting to discuss.Actor Ben Cross, probably best known for his role in Chariots of Fire and as vampire Barnabas Collins in the short-lived, 1991 revival of Dark Shadows, has been cast as Sarek, Vulcan father of Spock (Zachary Quinto) in J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek feature film.
Cross has been in an awful lot of bad movies, but I think he's a decent choice to play Sarek. I only hope he can bring to the part the same kind of multi-layered performance that Mark Lenard did on the original series and films.
I'm not sure why I'm so fascinated by the casting news on this project. Probably because the original Trek was a huge part of my life when I was a kid, and I've been feeling particularly Trek-nostalgic of late. Not long ago, I managed to pick up the first season of the original series on DVD – used – really cheap, and WallyMart has the 2-disc Special Editions of the feature films marked down to about $7.50 right now, so I've been picking up the ones I didn't already have. Yeah, even Star Trek V.
After watching one of the fan-produced New Voyages shows, I'm particularly looking forward to Abrams' project. I've discovered that I can handle other actors playing the roles, as long as the Trek spirit is intact and the story's good. I thought Abrams' Mission: Impossible movie was probably the best of the bunch, so I've got confidence that he'll handle Trek well.
4 comments:
Boss,
I'm also looking forward to the ST movie... loved the original series as a kid and still do!
I can see him as Sarek. I don't think he's a bad actor particularly, although he's had some bad roles. I didn't mind the remake of Dark Shadows all that much.
My only complaint about the Dark Shadows remake was all the palm trees in Collinsport, Maine....
Some people just do malice better than others. Cross was great as the Jewish runner in Chariots of Fire, but he's always at his best when he's a threat of some kind. In such roles he is utterly believable.
Jim H.
Chubbuck, Idaho
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