By The Justin Lin-directed “Star Trek: Beyond,” the most recent of the “Star Trek” films to hit the big screen, marked the third of the Kelvin timeline films and one that’s fairly distinct from the J.J. Abrams-directed other two.
Lin’s film certainly felt more like old-school “Star Trek” than the Abrams films, resulting in a movie that has its fair share of supporters amongst Trekkers and non-Trekkers alike.
In a new interview with Happy Sad Confused, “Fast Five” director Lin revealed that the road to ‘Beyond’ getting into cinemas was far rockier and more rushed than was previously let.
Speaking about how he came to join the project, he says:
“I’m shooting ‘True Detective’ in Ventura, and it’s a Thursday. I get a call from J.J. Abrams, and he’s like, ‘Hey man, just curious, do you like ‘Star Trek?’. I’m like, ‘I grew up watching ‘Star Trek’ with my dad, it has so much meaning.’
He said, ‘Would you happen to have an idea for a ‘Star Trek’ movie?’ And I said, ‘Aren’t you in pre-production?’ And he said, ‘’Nope, no, we’re shut down.’ He said, ‘If you have an idea, would you want to come by the office on Monday?’
So, on Monday, I sat down with J.J. and shared with him the idea of ‘Star Trek Beyond.’ He’s like, ‘Great!’ And this is the end of January. He said, ‘Let’s do it, but we have to start production in June.’ No script. Nothing…It was tough. The toughest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Lin got on a plane to London to sit with actor Simon Pegg who already had been brought onboard to help with the script alongside writer Doug Jung. Thus, the trio had to figure out how to bring it all together fast, something which led to a lot of frustration with the group:
“Simon [Pegg] and I joke about it now, but It was intense, I had quit three times, and Simon had quit four times… also we didn’t know each other. For me, Simon Pegg, it was a dream to have the opportunity to work with him, but he comes from a very traditional process…but I’m sitting there in Vancouver and I have to start building sets.
‘Star Trek’ is not like ‘Fast and Furious,’ every idea you come up with is a build. And we had no time. I love Simon and Doug [Jung, co-writer], but it was rough and I didn’t know if we were going to make it out of that first week.”
Somehow, they made it with filming beginning in June 2015 and running through to October, followed by brief reshoots the following March. It was released in 2016 to a $343 million worldwide gross and quite good reviews.
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