The Star Trek franchise has had a long history since its original series back in the 60s. Hit follow-up shows like The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine followed in the 80s and 90s. The franchise also started dabbling in the theatrical space with films that followed the narratives of the original series and The Next Generation.
By the late 2000s, J.J Abrams rebooted the franchise 2009’s Star Trek featuring a new cast and a story set in an alternate timeline. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto co-led the film with Eric Bana as the villain. The film had the infamous torture scene of Bruce Greenwood’s Pike by Bana’s Nero. Greenwood was a dedicated actor and fully committed to the excruciating process of filming it.
Bruce Greenwood Wanted to Go All in For The Painful Torture Scene in Star Trek
J.J Abrams‘s Star Trek reboot provided a new spin to the franchise with new actors portraying fan-favorite characters from the original series from the 60s. The director also went for a fresh take rather than continuing existing storylines or lore of the franchise by opting for an alternate reality. Chris Pratt, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Karl Urban, Bruce Greenwood etc played prominent characters in the film.
Greenwood played Christopher Pike, Captain Kirk‘s (Pine) mentor in the film. As Bana’s Captain Nero threatens the stability of the United Federation of Planets, hijinks ensue and Pike ends up being captured by Nero’s troops. This leads to a pretty uncomfortable scene where Nero uses a Centaurian slug to extract information about the Federation’s defenses.
In the scene, the slug enters Pike’s mouth which releases a truth serum. The crew shot the scene for two days and it was as excruciating for the actor as it was for the character. Greenwood told StarTrek.com that they created a prop for it which was dropped inside his mouth. Despite how painful and intense the shoot was, the actor was committed to it to make the scene authentic. He said (via Slashfilm),
It is a real thing and they dropped it down my throat…it was horrendous. They did it a bunch of times and would yell ‘cut’ and pull it away from my mouth and I felt that we were getting to the end of the coverage and I said to J.J. ‘You are not going to drop it down my mouth?’ and he was like ‘Really?’ and I was ‘F**k yeah’ –- let it drop, it’s not going to kill me…It f**king near killed me.
Greenwood’s insistence to play it real paid off big time as the scene turned out as horrifying as they intended it to be. Star Trek was a hit at the box office grossing $385 million against a $150 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). It kicked off a new series of films consisting of Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond, and an announced fourth film.
Chris Pine Was Surprised At New Writer Coming On Board For Star Trek 4
The upcoming fourth installment in the modern Star Trek films has seen several development setbacks over the years. It was recently announced that Steve Yockey was writing a new draft of the film (via Variety). The franchise’s lead star Chris Pine thought that there was already a script ready and was surprised at the new news.
The actor told Business Insider that he has no exciting new updates about the fourth film and came to know about the hiring of Yockey just like everyone else. The Wonder Woman star thinks that they must have pivoted from the previous script and for now, he is waiting for a new update on it. Pine said,
I honestly don’t know. There was something in the news of a new writer coming on board. I thought there was already a script, but I guess I was wrong, or they decided to pivot. As it’s always been with ‘Trek,’ I just wait and see.
The upcoming fourth film is set to be the final chapter in the modern reboot series. WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman was supposed to direct it but left in 2022. With a new writer now scripting the film, the studio is on the search for a new director who will end the series on a high note. Fans can watch all three modern Star Trek films on Paramount+.
