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JJ Abrams Approached Matt Damon for Star Trek… But NOT for the Role of James T Kirk

Posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

Matt Damon

You might remember, that before the cast of Star Trek was officially announced, it was widely rumored that JJ Abrams wanted Matt Damon to play Captain James T Kirk. It has been one of those internet rumors that has become sort of a mystery, with different sides giving different “stories.”  IGN asked Damon about the reports during the Bourne Ultimatum junket, and Matt brushed it off as a simple “internet rumor”. When asked if he was offered the role of James T Kirk in the Star Trek reboot, Damon responded with the following:

“I know JJ, and I talked to him and said ‘what is the deal?’ and he said ‘no. the Kirk in my movie is much younger. These are the early years… I think he’s hiring a twenty year old actor…”

Nearly two years later, JJ Abrams finally admitted that he had approached Damon for a part in Trek, but Damon turned down the offer:

“I actually approached Matt and we had some discussions, but everything happens for a reason. On the one hand, it would have been great to work with Matt - but at the end of the day, it was such a better move to cast the movie with unknowns.”

We’ve always wondered who was telling the truth. What was the truth? And now, we have a clarification from Abrams, which we believe to be — the truth. What is the truth? Was Matt Damon offered the role of James T Kirk in Star Trek? No… But he was offered a role in Star Trek. Details after the jump.

In a recent interview with MTV, Abrams offered clarification on the Damon casting story. He did offer Damon a chance to be in Trek, but not as Captain Kirk. Or… I should say… not as THAT Captain Kirk.

“I did [approach Damon], but not for the role of James Kirk. I went to Damon for the role of Kirk’s father, and he declined in the most gracious and understandable and logical of reasons. We lucked out with Chris Hemsworth, and he did a great job. Maybe it would have been distracting to have someone as massively famous as Matt Damon in that role. … The decision was made very early on to have actors who were not necessarily the most famous but the most right for the role.”

So there you have it.

And for those interested, here is that original 2007 IGN interview where Damon calls the casting report “just internet rumors”:

Thanks to /Film reader miguel7378 for the tip.

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Tags

Action/Adventure, Casting, Paramount Pictures, Rumors, Sci-Fi, Sequels, Trivia, , , ,

  • freemachine
    Damon would have been too distracting. Winona Ryder was kind of like a "WTF?" role IMO for the same reason. Abrams and Damon made the right choice.
  • I honestly didn't realize it was even her until the scene where she falls. I even knew she was in it and didn't realize it was her. I don't think she was distracting at all. I just got a "What the heck! That was Winona Ryder!" moment.

    Damon likely would have, though. The entire movie was a bunch of up and comers (some of which have somewhat made a name of themselves such as Cho and Urban) along with a few relatively established stars (Pegg, Greenwood, and, to a point, Tyler Perry), and Leonard Nimoy. Damon, one of the biggest stars in the world, really would have been out of place in there.
  • you're mom
    Shit, Damon could'a been Thor! LMAO!
  • I love Star Trek, prob my fav film this year so far, but Winona was too young to play his mother imo Her make-up really didn't help much and kinda reminded me of Lea Thompsons aging make-up in Back to the Future.
  • Well, phew! Glad we finally cleared that up. I was losing sleep.
  • mbellerbrock
    I was going to point out how obvious that should have been, but then I realized it shouldn't have been obvious at all. No one considered it because it was just stupid. That would have been horrible casting, Damon is way too big for such a small role. Like freemachine said, that would have been way too distracting, much more than Ryder tho.
  • Andrew Franksmint
    "Was Matt Damon offered the role of James T Kirk in Star Trek?"

    That was said in various ways at least 5-6 times in the shitty article. Seriously, if you have an article that is only 10 sentences long, there's no need to print it, and there's no need to fluff it up to make it seem longer than it really is.
  • STG
    I vote Damon for Captain America
  • Man, I never even thought before about how perfect Damon would have been for the role. I mean, just kick-ass dead on perfect... EXCEPT JJ probably would have had to "age up" much of the rest of the cast a few years to jibe with Damon. Granted, Pegg, Urban, Ryder and Cho are all pretty close to Damon's age, but there's about a decade on average between them and Quinto, Saldana, Jennifer Morrison, etc. (Yelchin, at 20, is a full decade younger than those "kids.")
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