That Was Then--This Is Now

Remember my suggestion turned rumor that actor Matt Damon would be the perfect choice to play the younger Captain Kirk in Star Trek XI directed and produced by J.J. Abrams?

While no official casting for the next Star Trek flick has been announced as of yet...

According to a story that appeared on the IESB website back on September 15th 2006, Kara Warner wrote:

...Well, today during The Departed press junket in New York, the IESB had the chance to ask Matt exactly that, “Is there any truth to the rumor that J.J. Abrams has approached you to play James T. Kirk in the upcoming Star Trek movie?

”Damon was quick to say he hadn't heard anything about it. His publicist added that Abrams was joking when he said he would choose Matt to play Kirk and it's nothing serious.

As we followed his publicist into the elevator we got a little more, "I think that it [the rumor] came out of a junket he [Abrams] was doing in Asia for Mission Impossible [III] and from my understanding it was one of those hypothetical questions actors always get about who they'd like to work with and JJ threw Matt's name out there. But we've never heard anything on our end. I even called Endeavor, Matt's agency, to see if they had heard anything - they hadn't.

There has been nothing from Paramount and I haven't heard anything from JJ's camp. I'm sorry there's nothing more interesting to report."



Now some 3 months later Ian Spelling of Sci-fi Wire posted this story today:

Damon: I'd Play Kirk In Trek XI

Matt Damon told SCI FI Wire that he's open to assuming the role of Capt. James T. Kirk in the proposed 11th Star Trek movie, but denied previous rumors that he is already in line for the iconic role, which was originated by William Shatner.

"If the script was good, I'd do it," Damon said in an interview while promoting his latest film, The Good Shepherd.

"But, yeah, I heard that [rumor]. I think J.J. Abrams or somebody said that at press junket or something, and it got picked up [by the media and Star Trek fans]."

If Damon were to win the role of Kirk, he would become the first actor to play the character since Shatner played him in the original 1960s Trek and its subsequent spinoff movies.

Abrams, who co-created ABC's hit SF series Lost, is set to co-write and produce Trek XI and may direct [Directing confirmed] it as well...

Pretty much everything surrounding Star Trek XI remains a rumor at this point. Abrams is overseeing the project, and he's confirmed that he had courtesy conversations with Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, but other than that, nothing official has been released yet about the film's plot, casting or other key details...

I really think Damon would work out very well if he were to do the film...And now that he is open to reading a script what have they got to lose...Then Again, This Is Star Trek--And There's Quite A Lot To Lose--If The New Film Does Not Work...Still Damom's got my vote...