J.J. Abrams Compares His Two Star Trek Villains, John Harrison And Nero
This article is more than 2 years old
With only two months until the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek fans are still puzzling over the mystery of Benedict Cumberbatch’s character, John Harrison. He’ll almost certainly be a more interesting villain than the previous film’s Nero (Eric Bana), but that still doesn’t make Harrison’s identity or motives clear.
In an interview with Total Film, director J.J. Abrams says John Harrison is completely different from Nero in almost every way. He says:
[Nero] was just a raging, vengeful lunatic. All he wanted to do was destroy Vulcan, Earth and the Federation…He had backstory but was kind of irrational. The beauty of Benedict’s [John Harrison] is that he’s completely rational. He’s someone that you can have conversations with. You couldn’t sit down and talk to Nero — he’d bite your head off!
As for the actor who played John Harrison, Benedict Cumberbatch also elaborates on his on-screen persona. Below, Cumberbatch describes the type of training he went through to prepare for the role:
I did a lot of close combat training. He’s a kick-ass warrior, as masterful with his hands and body as he is with weapons…You will have a great discovery during this film, which I think is great…[My costumes] look great. Some of them were (no pun intended) cumbersome and heavy, but some were very snug; you can almost see what religion I am…
It seems as if the hype around Star Trek Into Darkness has died down some since J.J. Abrams took the Star Wars: Episode VII directing job. We can expect Paramount to make another big marketing push for the Star Trek sequel in coming weeks. The movie is still one of the most anticipated films of the summer and will be surely a great thrill ride.
Star Trek Into Darkness will hit theaters everywhere on May 17th, in 3D and IMAX.
