Justin Lin talks Idris Elba, role of Krall in ‘Star Trek Beyond’
The Star Trek Beyond teaser trailer arrived leaked online as director Justin Lin spoke with Slash Film. In the film Idris Elba plays the new villain, a character that Lin says is named Krall, which almost sounds Klingon in origin, but the character is not a Klingon.
“When [Idris] came in, he had a lot of [prospective] projects and when I talked to him about this character, it wasn’t about this or that it was about building or having a philosophy or point of view. And I like his character because his character is really challenging the way of the Federation’s philosophy and there are a lot of things that when I was growing up I wanted to see.”
In the trailer, Elba’s character Krall is seen and heard saying the line: “This is where it begins, Captain. This is where the frontier pushes back!”
Idris Elba as Krall
Slash notes that Krall’s slight reptilian look and dialogue calls back to the premise of the original series Arena episode, which has led some longtime Trek fans to believe he is playing a Gorn. Even the name Krall is registered in the Star Trek databank as “a Gorn assassin who later befriended Nox the Romulan commander of the USS Admonitor, and later became one of the founders of the Klingon Alliance.”
Lin dismisses any previous canon, insisting that Krall is of a “new species that we discover in this chapter.”
“I think it’s great to be a fan and I watch utopian San Francisco and go, oh wow, when you’re building this movie you think, they don’t have money, how do they live? How do they compete? And those are things that his character, in a way, has a very distinct and valid point of view.”
The director talked more of the inspiration of the film’s plot, which gives us some clues about Krall.
“It was just really embracing the idea that the Federation, what would happen if you were going on a five-year journey and you’re trying to also not only explore, but also maybe introduce other people to this way of thinking. What would that mean? What are the consequences to that? I mean, spreading a philosophy that you believe in that you think is great, are there gonna be any other points of views that’s gonna counter you? And I think that those are the things that I thought of as a kid. And also then as an adult when I watch Star Trek. And I think we got to kind of explore that a little bit.”
As for Idris Elba himself, the filmmaker praised the actor.
“I’ve worked with some really great people and Idris immerses himself and I really enjoyed working with him because he’s all about the character and what’s best about the character’s journey in the film. The only thing that sucked is it took four hours every time we needed to get him on set.”
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Reprising their roles in the first two films is Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, and Karl Urban as Bones. Sofia Boutella joins Beyond as a new alien character.
Star Trek Beyond arrives in theaters on July 22, 2016
Sofia Boutella as alien villain in “Star Trek Beyond”
