Mark Wahlberg Could Have Played Kirk’s Father In Abrams’ Star Trek
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As Mark Wahlberg gets ready to start shooting Transformers 4 with director Michael Bay later this year, it’s strange to think that the Academy Award-nominated actor will star in a summer sci-fi action blockbuster. It turns out, however, that Wahlberg could have landed one a few years back, when he was in consideration for the role of James Kirk’s father in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot. After reading the script, Wahlberg passed on the role.
In an interview with Total Film, Mark Wahlberg discussed the role of Captain George Kirk, and why he turned it down. Here’s Wahlberg:
I love J.J. Abrams… I remember him asking me to play Captain Kirk’s father in Star Trek and I tried to read the script and I couldn’t understand the words, or the dialogue or anything so I said, ‘I couldn’t do this, I think you’re really talented but I can’t do it.’
It’s arguable that Chris Hemsworth’s small but memorable role as George Kirk led him to star in Marvel’s Thor in 2011. Although Mark Wahlberg’s career is very successful, it seems like the actor has some regrets not taking the opportunity to work with J.J. Abrams. Wahlberg explains:
And then I saw the movie and I said holy [shit], he did a great job. So I think he’ll do something spectacular [with Star Wars] and I probably wouldn’t pass up another opportunity to work with J.J. again so if he wanted me to do something and I couldn’t fully understand, I would probably give it a shot.
Maybe Mark Wahlberg can land a role in Abrams’ upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII. As for Star Trek, it might have been too distracting for audiences to see an actor like Mark Wahlberg as Captain George Kirk, and the brief role gave a lesser-known actor a moment to shine, so it sounds like it all worked out for the best.
