Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: Happy Sad Confused, sebastian stan, star trek

Star Trek: Sebastian Stan on How He "Desperately Wanted" to Play Kirk

Sebastian Stan reveals trying to get J. J. Abrams's attention for Star Trek (2009) by sending images of himself in Shatner/Kirk poses.

Before landing his signature role for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, Sebastian Stan starting with 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, he tried joining another iconic franchise back when director J. J. Abrams wanted to do a soft reboot in the 2009 film Star Trek with The Original Series characters in the Kelvin universe timeline. The Apprentice star appeared on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast to discuss how he tried to get Abrams' attention by channeling TOS star William Shatner

Star Trek: Sebastian Stan Reflects on His Attempt to Audition for Captain James T. Kirk

Shatner, who last played the role in live-action in the 1994 crossover film Star Trek: Generations, first played the character for the Gene Roddenberry NBC series in 1966 and continued to do so for the better part of 28 years. "There were a couple of things I didn't get that I really, desperately wanted," Stan told Horowitz. "Captain Kirk for J.J. Abrams was one of the first things that I got very close to. I was really close, and I had a screen test with him at Paramount Studios, and my manager had me do a separate photoshoot where I would try and replicate all of these William Shatner pictures just to send to [J.J.] to see how much I look like him and stuff. Didn't get it."

The role went to Chris Pine, who would also go on to play the role two more times in sequels Star Trek Into Darkness in 2012 and Star Trek Beyond in 2016, with the Kelvin universe franchise in limbo as Paramount tries to get the fourth film off the ground in development hell with cast members including Zachary Quinto, Zoë Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Simon Pegg open to reprising their roles. It's uncertain whether Paramount will recast the late Anton Yelchin following his passing in 2016.

By the time another opportunity to play Kirk in the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds emerged, the role already went to Paul Wesley, and Stan was already more established as an actor in other roles, including his commitments at Marvel with appearances in Disney+'s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the upcoming Thunderbolts*. For more including Stan's failed attempt at securing the lead role in 2011's Green Lantern for Warner Bros (which ended up going to Ryan Reynolds), you can check out the show below.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!