TREKCORE > MOVIES > STAR TREK > Behind the Scenes Info

• One deleted scene explains that Gaila the Orion helped Kirk reprogram the Kobayashi Maru.
  
  
• One deleted scene explains that the corvettew as originally owned by George Kirk. Young Jim Kirk steals it because his abusive step dad was going to sell it. This is explained in the novelization.
  
  
• Star Trek was the most financially successful movie of the Star Trek franchise.
  
  
• George Takei, Walter Koenig, Jonathon Frakes, and Marina Sirtis attended the Hollywood premiere of the movie.
  
  
• Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who died of cancer in 2008, appears in the movie as a Starfleet officer on a bridge. The credits reveal that Pausch specifically played a crew member aboard the USS Kelvin.

• Sean Gerace, who was the researcher on the film, appears as a tactical officer.
  
  
• Zachary Quinto’s brother, Joe Quinto, is credited as a stuntman
  
  
• Neville Page, who designed many of the creatures and aliens in the film, is also credited as a Romulan crew member.
  
  
• Producer Jeffrey Chernov’s children, Max and Zoe Chernov, appear in the film as Vulcan schoolchildren.
  
  
• There are two ‘barflies’ credited: one is J.J. Abrams’ father, Gerald W. Abrams and the other is James McGrath, Jr., JJ’s father-in-law.
  
  
• William Morgan Sheppard (Klingon commandant in Star Trek VI) plays the head of the Vulcan Science Academy.
  
  
• A Vulcan council member is played by Anna Katarina, who previously played Valeda Innis on Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Haven.”
  
  
• Mark Bramhall is one of the many actors credited as a Vulcan elder. He previously appeared as Gul Nador in the TNG episode “Parallels.”
  
  
• Alex Nevil is credited as a shuttle officer. He previously played a Menk in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Dear Doctor.”
  
  
• Robert Clendenin is credited as a shipyard worker in the film. He previously played a Vidiian surgeon in the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Deadlock.”
  
  
• Douglas Tait is credited as the long-faced alien seated between Kirk and Uhura in the Iowa bar. Tait was previously seen as a colonist on Gaia in the DS9 episode “Children of Time.”
  
  
• Greg Ellis appears in the movie as Chief Engineer Olsen. Ellis previously played Ekoor in DS9’s finale, “What You Leave Behind.”
  
  
• A few hours before the World Premiere in Sydney, Australia there was a surprise screening of Star Trek for fans at a convention in Austin, Texas. The attendees thought they were going to see a screening of Wrath of Khan, with a bonus 10 minute scene from the new Star Trek film. Ten minutes into Wrath of Khan, Paramount intentionally made it seem that the movie film had melted. Leonard Nimoy then came out and surprised everyone by telling them they will see the whole new film.
  
  
• There was a promotion for the movie where players of the video game Rock Band would compete to win an advance screening of the Star Trek movie.
  
  
• Kellogs had Star Trek movie tie ins for many of their cereals and other products. Prizes included communicator pins, plates, and t-shirts.
  
  
• Chris Pine's first audition did not go well.
  
  
• Zachary Quinto recorded the audio book of the movie.
  
  
• The small town of Vulcan, Alberta, Canada requested to have the new Star Trek movie premiere in their town (which didn't even have a movie theatre). Paramount rejected the idea, but after negative media reactions and statements from Leonard Nimoy supporting the residents of Vulcan, Paramount agreed to give a special early screening to 300 of people in the town.
  
  
• Majel Barret-Roddenberry recorded her lines for the movie in her home. Her health would not allow her to travel to a studio.
  
  
• Burger King, Nokia, and Verizon filmed some of its commercials on the bridge set.
  
  
• In the original script, there was going to be a hand-to-hand fight between Spock and six or so foes. A couple days before shooting JJ Abrams decided to change it to a gunfight.
  
  
• In between production and release of Star Trek XI, several movies were released that starred actors from Star Trek XI. Some of these included Anton Yelchin in "Charlie Bartlett", John Cho in "Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guatanamo Bay", Karl Urban in "Commanche Moon", Faran Tahir in "Iron Man", Eric Bana in "The Other Boleyn Girl", and Simon Pegg in "Run Fat Boy Run".
  
  
• JJ was convinced to direct Star Trek by his wife Katie (who felt the film had strong female characters) and by director Steven Spielberg who was impressed with the script.
  
  
• Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed from Enterprise) auditioned to be Kirk's uncle or stepfather in the movie (it is unclear which role, as Keating said both in two different interviews).
  
  
• While the second unit was filming in Iowa, the site manager got into a car accident while turning onto the set. No major injuries, but it was reported on the local news.
  
  
• Jeff Quinn (Spock in New Voyages / Phase II) had a non-speaking part in the movie, and was present on the last day of shooting. He got the role from a casting call, not from being recognized for his work in New Voyager / Phase II.
  
  
• The first non-teaser trailer for Star Trek was originally going to be put before Indiana Jones 4. However, it was pushed back when the release date was changed to Summer 2009.
  
  
• William Shatner met Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine for the first time at an Alzheimer's benefit.
  
  
• Andy Clement (who did make up for the film) is Elizabeth Shatner's husband.
  
  
• Simon Pegg received an email from JJ Abrams asking if he would be interested in playing Scotty.
  
  
• Tyler Perry was not a Star Trek fan. In fact, when JJ Abrams called Tyler Perry on the phone, Tyler didn't know who he was. Perry later said that if he had seen Star Trek Nemesis, he would not have agreed to appear in the movie.
  
  
• Eric Bana never had to read for his role.
  
  
• StarTrek.com announced the production of Star Trek in April 2006, and gave a description about it being a prequel set in Starfleet Academy. JJ Abrams later said it was reported entirely without his cooperation, and was inaccurate.
  
  
• The movie was originally set to be released in Christmas 2008. Posters and the first teaser trailer had this date printed on them. The date was later changed to May 2009, after the studio felt the dailies coming back during filming were strong enough to make it a summer release.
  
  
• The writers tried to incorporate William Shatner's Kirk into the movie in a meaningful way, but were never able to find a valid way to work around Kirk's death in Star Trek Generations.
  
  
• William Shatner commented that it was a poor business decision to not include him in the movie.
  
  
• During the filming of Star Trek, there was a writer's strike. JJ Abrams noted frustration as during filming scenes could not be rewritten or dialogue changed using writers.
  
  
• The writers referred to this movie as Star Trek Zero while writing it.
  
  
• The first casting was Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy. It was announced at Comic Con in July 2007.
  
  
• Rick Berman and Eric Jendressen worked on a "Star Trek The Beginning" script that was ulimately rejected by Paramount.
  
  
• Security was extremely tight for the movie as JJ Abrams did not want details leaked. People who auditioned were given material to read that wasn't from the script. Some actors, after being cast, were only given pages which their characters appeared on. Actors who were able to see the script had to read it in a secure room, and were not permitted to take the copy out. On set, anytime cast members went outside, they had to wear cloaks to hide their costumes.
  
  
• Filming began November 5, 2007.
  
  
• When Zachary Quinto did a work session for Spock with the "Trek" casting director in June 2007, the response he received was that, after seeing his tape, Abrams "wasn't convinced" he was right for the role and had to move on and see other actors. That changed a couple of weeks later when Quinto met with Abrams. Soon after that, he became the first actor cast in the movie.
  
  
• Paul McGillion auditioned for the role of Scotty. While he was not successful in getting the role, JJ Abrams gave him another role in the movie.
  
  
• Mike Vogel was almost cast as Kirk.
  
  
• Eric Bana's scenes were all filmed near the end of the shoot.
  
  
• James Cawley was visiting Paramount Studios to have a meeting about Star Trek New Voyages (Phase II) when he was spotted by JJ Abrams. JJ gave him a small role for the next day.
  
  
• Zoe Saldana and Nichelle Nichols met in person.
  
  
• Nichelle Nichols visited the set and had dinner with JJ Abrams, where he bounced ideas off Nichelle and got her opinion of how they were treating the character.
  
  
• Eric Bana said he was "a bit of a Trek fan", but that's not why he took the role. He took the role because of the script.
  
  
• During filming, a news helicopter flew over an outdoor shoot of the movie, broadcasting it live on television. No details could be seen, but once the location was revealed, JFX Online sent a spy photographer to the location, and they captured images of John Cho.
  
  
• Anton Yelchin and Walter Koenig met on the set.
  
  
• John Cho sent George Takei a letter, and George replied with "Relax. Pretty soon people are going to refer to me as the guy who played the old version of John Cho."
  
  
• Simon Pegg met Chris Doohan, and Chris give him some dilithium crystal from Star Trek.
  
  
• Chris Doohan auditioned to play Scotty. He wasn't cast that part, but JJ Abrams gave him a different role.
  
  
• Jonathon Frakes, Ben Stiller, Stephen Spielberg, TJ Miller, Harrison Ford, Bjo Trimble, David Trimble, David Gerrold, Tom Cruise, and Ron Moore all visited the set during filming. Tom Cruise did on two different occasions - the second time to meet Leonard Nimoy. Spielberg visited the set during shooting scenes on the Enterprise and helped JJ Abrams work out a scene to help ‘with the action’.
  
  
• John Cho sprained his right wrist during filming Star Trek.
  
  
• Simon Pegg's wife was on set often, and Simon would often ask her how his accent sounded.
  
  
• Nick Frost and Edgar Wright visted Simon Pegg on the set when he was filming scenes on the Bridge of the Enterprise.
  
  
• Principal photography ended on March 27, 2008. JJ Abrams gave out gifts. James Cawley (Kirk from New Voyages/Phase II) was on set.
  
  
• The wrap party was on April 19, 2008.
  
  
• The movie's first cut was screened in July 2008 to Paramount executives.
  
  
• Joshua Jackson auditioned for Star Trek. While he wasn't cast in the movie, he was cast in another JJ Abrams project called Fringe.
  
  
• Ricky Gervais turned down a role in Star Trek. He said ”I was never a big fan, so I would’ve felt guilty taking the part just to be in a blockbuster. To what? Boost my profile?"
  
  
• The USS Kelvin was named after JJ Abram's grandfather.
  
  
• Some of the writers and producers were superstitious about sitting in the Captain's Chair and didn't end up sitting in it until the end of filming.
  
  
• A Klingon subplot was filmed, but cut from the film because it was deemed unecessary.
  
  
• Majel Barrett Roddenberry died a few weeks after she finished recording her lines for the movie. This movie featured her final screen credit.
  
  
• Ryan Gosling was considered for the role of Kirk.
  
  
• This was the first Star Trek movie to be released in IMAX and get a Superbowl commercial.