The best part for the actor though was having Simon Pegg as a writer on set:
“I feel the real breakthrough was that we had Simon Pegg in a writing capacity, to work directly with him every single day. There was a lot in this film that came through those discussions and suggestions. I could write out the dialogue I wanted and forwarded it to him. If he liked it, it would be in the film. Often it would come back and it would have an alteration or thematically build upon it and make it something better. It was a rewarding experience.”
Urban added that Pegg didn’t necessarily want to take on the responsibility as writer at first, but he was glad the actor stuck with it. “He was a wonderful conduit, and he worked very hard. His passion and understanding of the material, coupled with [director] Justin Lin’s vision is why we have a version of Star Trek that feels the most like the original series,” he said.
What about Bones getting a love interest, though?
“I think it’s a great idea! I actually suggested something like that to Simon. If you noticed at the beginning of the film [in a montage], Chekov is getting thrown out of a room by a girl, while another Starfleet officer is getting pulled in by girl, and I suggested that be Bones. I think it would have shown a wonderful transition from the sort of jaded, burnt divorcée we meet in the first film to someone who has moved on. Made perfect sense to me but Simon didn’t want to do it. That’s fine, we’ll get there. There’s been a precedent in the original series that McCoy was a ladies man.”
As for Anton Yelchin, who died in June in a freak accident when his Jeep pinned him against a brick column, the whole cast spoke about how bittersweet it was to be promoting the movie without Yelchin there. They all talked about Yelchin’s talent and tremendous intellect, and what a huge hole he has left in their hearts.
“I think he was immensely more talented than he was able to display in Star Trek as Chekov. If you go through his films and look at that beautiful and extraordinarily talented young man, it’s such a tragic loss. We are all reeling and devastated by it. Grief is one of those beasts that comes up and gets you when you least expect it. Being in the middle of your day and something sets you off. It’s a process,” said Urban.
On how he sees the Star Trek franchise evolving, the actor admitted:
“I haven’t really paid much thought to it. I’m just at the point where we are releasing this film, and we hope that it will be received well and audiences have fun with it because we had fun making it. But beyond that, I don’t know. I’d like to do more of these, but I mean the character has to have a function. If they write material for Bones which is like what I’ve just done in Star Trek Beyond, yes, I would be a part of it. If it’s going to be more like the previous iterations, in which I was under-utilized, then I’d be okay to leave it with Star Trek Beyond.”
Finally, we talked to Urban about his upcoming role in Thor: Ragnarok, the third installment in the Thor series. He hadn’t started filming the movie yet but was heading to Australia in a week and he explained that in the Thor comic-book mythology, his character, Skurge, is an Asgardian warrior who, through his history, oscillates between working with nefarious forces or aligning himself with forces of good.
When asked if he could elaborate, Urban gave a very familiar refrain when it comes to being in a Marvel movie:
“I’d love to be able to discuss the character with you but am reluctant to do so because Marvel will come and hunt me down,” smiled the actor. “I’m looking forward to working with [director] Taika Waititi, though, who I think is an extraordinary talent. His Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a fun representation of aspects of New Zealand culture. And furthermore, I’m looking forward to working with Cate Blanchett [who was cast as villain Hela] again. Of course, we were together in Lord of the Rings but we didn’t share any scenes. I just have a huge amount of respect for her and her talent, so to be able to be on screen with her and play a tennis round with her will be fun.”
That concluded our interview with Urban, but we’d like to thank him very much for his time. Be sure to check him out in Star Trek Beyond, which is now in theatres everywhere.
