The Star Trek Cast's Tomfoolery Sent JJ Abrams Walking Off Set
It's important to remember that J.J. Abrams' 2009 film "Star Trek" is not based so much on the 1966 TV series "Star Trek," but a very particular popular perception of the show. The film's ethos seemed to be to cull a few well-known character details of each ensemble member and kick them into overdrive. Captain James T. Kirk, despite being a rather judicious and clear-thinking captain on the 1966 series, has gained a somewhat unfair reputation as a reckless cowboy and hopeless lothario. As such, when Chris Pine played the character in 2009, Kirk was depicted as a horny, skirt-chasing ragamuffin, willing to break rules at every available opportunity. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban) was given a strange new origin for his nickname, and Spock (Zachary Quinto) was bafflingly romantically entangled with Uhura (Zoe Saldaña).
One might say the new "Star Trek" cast behaved hotter and more wildly than their 1966 counterparts because they were the younger versions of the characters, but it was more likely that the filmmakers leaned on every available piece of the franchise's most popular mythology in order to reach as broad an audience as possible. Either way, the approach was successful, and "Star Trek" was a massive success, earning over $385 million worldwide. Many said they liked the new cast, who put their younger, sexier spin on well-worn pop characters. Overall, "Star Trek" is an exhilarating, high-energy sci-fi action picture, while also being a pretty rotten "Star Trek" picture.
"Star Trek" was only Abrams' second film as a director, but he proved capable with "Mission: Impossible III," leaving many excited for his version of Trek. In a 2009 interview with Female Magazine, however, Abrams admitted that his young, feisty cast was a little too upbeat for his taste, especially on one particularly stressful day.
In the mood to goof off
Anyone who has worked on, well, any production involving actors, has likely encountered a time when everyone in the room was struck with a fit of the giggles. That is, those blissful moments when nothing funny has necessarily happened, but a group of people is attacked by sudden overwhelming atavism. It seems that Pine, Quinto, Saldaña, and the rest of the cast were struck by such a moment ... right when the entire production was falling behind schedule. The cast may have been enjoying themselves, but Abrams was decidedly not. He recalls the stress of the day, and how peeved he still was at the time-eating jocularity. He said:
"It wasn't awesome on one particular day when we were shooting this one scene and they were all together. And it was one of those things where we just had no time. It was really late. It was just, we were way over schedule. We had all this work to do. The next day it was going to be a disaster. And it was one of those few scenes on the bridge where they were all together. Because a lot of times it's like, two actors here, three actors here. But it was one of those scenes. And they were just all in the mood to goof off."
Tommy Gormley was the first assistant director on the production, and J.J. Abrams recalled that he did his job well. Well, if the job was to make Abrams feel terrible about falling behind schedule.
Doing their thing
The director continued:
"[T]he first AD, whose job it is to make sure that we make our day and ride me so that we finish scenes, was looking at me like, 'We're screwed.' Like, 'This is a disaster.' And the actors were literally — they could not get through their lines without laughing. And by the way, on any other day I would have been like, 'Hey, this is fun.' No. [...] I remember, they were all goofing off, and I was trying to ... You know, I have three kids, so it's not a completely unusual situation to try and wrangle. But I was trying to wrangle, and they were doing their thing."
Eventually, Abrams lost his patience. He expressed his anger openly to his cast in a last-ditch effort to straighten them up and cease the laughter. He stormed off the set, not willing to wait around while everyone stopped snickering. He was even astonished by his own temerity. He said:
"[F]inally, I was like, 'When you guys are ready, come get me.' And I just walked off. And I'm walking, and I'm thinking, 'Wow, I just went and did it.' And I went back, and I got some water. And somebody was like, 'Are you okay?' I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm fine. We'll see what happens.'"
A mere three minutes later, Abrams was called back and the cast had snapped back into professional mode. Abrams was impressed by their quick recovery. "[I]t was the only time," he said, "Where their amazing sense of humor, camaraderie, and ... natural personalities was actually a pain in the ass." It seems that too much warmth on a movie set can sometimes cause delays.