Chris Pine talks about returning for ‘Star Trek Into Darkness,’ Karl Urban and gives ‘Jack Ryan’ update

Chris Pine has a busy year ahead with “Star Trek Into Darkness” and the reboot of the Tom Clancy hero “Jack Ryan,” both films set for 2013. Pine was promoting “Rise of the Guardians,” an animated Dreamworks film, and spoke about both films.

Chris Pine as Kirk in “Star Trek Into Darkness”

Pine tells the New Zealand Herald in an interview released Saturday that he’s excited about returning to the USS Enterprise, working with the cast again and putting on the Federation uniform again.

“Oh I loved it – it’s no hyperbole,” he insists. “We have a great group and it’s a really tight community of people I go back to work for. I just met Scarlett Johansson the other day and we talked about her experience on The Avengers and it sounds similar – that it’s such a huge film but at least if the people you get to work with every day have a sense of family, it makes the time pass that much easier and it does make you look forward to going back to work.”

New Zealand star Karl Urban joins Pine as Dr. McCoy and the “This Means War” actor offered up some praise and insight in Urban.

“I love Karl. I f***ing love Karl Urban. I really do. He has a tender place in my heart. Karl is the best looking geek on the planet. He is such a geek. And I mean that in the most loving way. All of us really get along because we are so different.”

Christmas time will mark the return of the Jack Ryan hero to the big screen and Pine explains the film.

“It’s about the birth of the character. They are revamping the whole thing. It’s the story of how Jack Ryan became the Jack Ryan we know from the former series. The interesting thing now is that it’s 2012, so it’s a different kind of American spy movie. In 1989 you could make a Cold War story easily, by discerning between good guys and bad guys, but in 2012 it’s more difficult. The wars are much greyer now. So it will be an interesting and, hopefully, intelligent film.”

The new Jack Ryan film, starring Chris Pine, will wrap production this month, says co-star Keira Knightley – Paramount Pictures

Pine returns to “Star Trek Into Darkness” with Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Bruce Greenwood.

Star Trek Into Darkness opens on May 17th.

Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner and Kenneth Branagh co-star with Pine in Jack Ryan. Branagh (Thor) also directs the film which opens in theaters on December 25, 2013.