Movies - TV
Karl Urban Added A DeForest Kelley Homage To The Script Of Star Trek: Beyond
By JEREMY MATHAI
To say that the cast of recent “Star Trek” films have a lot to live up to would be quite an understatement. While all the actors in the films put effort into embodying their characters and paying homage to previous legendary performances, Karl Urban played a special part in adding a callback to DeForest Kelley’s original performance as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy.
Of all the recent “Star Trek” films, Karl Urban’s performance as Bones was enjoyable but didn’t really come into its own until “Beyond.” One reason for this is that when the film’s co-writer sent out an early draft of the script, asking the cast what they’d like to see included, Urban jumped at the chance to pay homage to DeForest Kelley.
Urban singled out a brief but key moment when Bones has to fly a spaceship and he’s not happy about it, and added the line “’The next time you need a doctor…’” which was a callback to Kelley’s performance as Bones in “The Original Series.” On the topic of throwbacks, Urban said, “I was always looking for the opportunity to sprinkle a little bit of that in there.”