Maybe Bennedict Cumberbatch Isn’t Star Trek’s Next Villain, And Why You Shouldn’t See It In 3D
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Last week news broke in the trades that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch had been cast in the next Star Trek movie. All seemed to agree that he’s playing the film’s villain, a role which was once supposed to go to Benicio del Toro. None of this actually makes much sense, because Cumberbatch and del Toro are such completely different actors it’s hard to imagine the two of them being a fit for the same part. Maybe the explanation there is that they aren’t?
JJ Abrams recently spoke out on the subject of Trek: The Next and when asked by Collider if Cumberbatch is playing the movie’s bad guy, he played coy saying “Who said he’s our villain?”
Does that mean Cumberbatch isn’t the movie’s bad guy? Not necessarily. Abrams is notoriously secretive and has even been known to lie to the press about projects he’s working on to keep it all under wraps. He did confirm, at least, that they haven’t rewritten or changed the part in order to suit the casting. That means, assuming the trades are right, that whoever or whatever Benicio was playing really is the part they’ve given Cumberbatch.
While we don’t really know what Cumberbatch is doing in the movie then (though come on, he’s probably the bad guy), we do know that when Star Trek: The Next is released, you probably shouldn’t bother seeing it in 3D. The movie will be released in 3D, but it isn’t being shot in 3D. That means it’s going to be one of those cheap Hollywood post-conversions, and what’s more Abrams doesn’t seem interested in shooting his movie to suit the format at all. Says Abrams, “It was something that the studio wanted to do, and I didn’t want to do it. And then, when I saw the first movie converted in sections, I thought that it actually looked really cool. So, I was okay with their doing it, as long as I could shoot the movie the way I wanted to, in anamorphic film, and then let them convert it. So, those who want to see it in 3D, which looked pretty cool, can do it, and those that want to see it in 2D can do that too.”
Bottom line he’s making a 2D movie, a film which will look and feel like the first one. The studio is shoving it out in 3D to make more money by charging higher prices for tickets. The choice is clear. Make sure you see the next Star Trek movie in 2D.
