Anton Yelchin

Seems to me if you’re looking for a young actor to play an iconic character in a remake, Anton Yelchin is your huckleberry. In the summer of 2009 alone Anton was in two blockbuster franchise reboots. But as accustomed as Anton seemingly is in these types of movies, he says he’s more at home in the edgy, independent projects that make up the majority of his already impressive resume. You won’t be able to hide your light under a bushel much longer, Anton. Some Hollywood heavy hitters have seen your work and there are more interesting roles in your bright future.

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1989 to World Class pair figure skaters Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin. In 1972 Irina and Viktor were ranked third in the nation, which did qualify them to participate in the Winter Olympics that year. But the government prevented their competing for what can only be supposed as prejudicial reasons. (The Yelchins are Jewish.) Even in 1989 the Soviet Union was still an intolerant place, so after being stars of the Leningrad Ice Ballet for 15 years, the family immigrated to the US for the safety and well-being of their newest member, six-month old Anton. When labeled a “Russian” actor, Anton bristles. Sure he was born there but the rest of his life, minus those first 6 months, was spent in the US. Honestly, how much national identity can you acquire at that age?

You’d think with all that athletic talent in his genes Anton would be a skater as well. But that was not to be the case. Anton’s quick imagination and intelligence made him a natural actor. He acted in his first film at the tender age of nine and hasn’t stopped. He attended regular school intermittently, between jobs, and even enrolled at USC to study film. But the concept of organized education is lost on Yelchin. He prefers self-study and concentrated observation, as in the case of some of his co-stars like Robert Downey Jr. Instead, his classroom was on the set of many popular TV shows like “ER”, “The Practice”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”.

When he wasn’t making guest appearances on TV he was establishing a solid reputation for his work in smaller films. His first big break came when he played the younger version of the character Bobby Garfield opposite heavy-hitter Anthony Hopkins in 2001’s Hearts in Atlantis. Anton won a Young Artist Award for that performance. In 2004 actor David Duchovny wrote and directed a film called House of D, casting Anton in the lead as young Tommy alongside Robin Williams and Téa Leone. Then in 2005 a different actor cum director Griffin Dunne chose Anton for another coming of age story, this time co-starring Kristen Stewart and O2W4 Chris Evans called Fierce People. But it was 2006’s Alpha Dog – the fictionalized story of Jesse James Hollywood, a southern California drug dealer who kidnaps the brother of a rival that owes him money, which put Anton front and center for a lot of people.

With a firm foothold in the acting community Anton scored the lead in yet another coming of age story with slight overtones of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off called Charlie Bartlett. Charlie is a likable misfit – a rich kid who is too smart for his own good, been kicked out of every private school he’s ever attended and ends up in the local public school doling out psychiatric advice and medication to the troubled student body. Robert Downey Jr. played the school principal and father of the girl Charlie is in love with. Now here is when it starts to get weird for Yelchin. No sooner does he finish Charlie Bartlett when he gets hired to play Chekov in J.J. Abrams’s reimagining of the classic Star Trek series. Then add into the mix being cast as young Kyle Reese in Mc G’s prequel for the Terminator series, starring Christian Bale as John Connor. To put it into perspective, you could probably take the combined budgets of most of the films Anton had done up until this point, add them together and they probably wouldn’t have paid the catering bill on Star Trek. So these were big changes for our guy.

Gigantic productions aside, the idea of stepping into the shoes of established characters must have been a daunting prospect. Anton was a huge fan the first two Terminator movies but completely ignorant of Star Trek. That problem was solved with a crash course in all things Trek including watching the entire TV and movie series. What made things a little easier was that the way both stories were constructed, we were meeting Chekov and Kyle before we knew who they were in their respective universes. That gave the actor freedom to create the roles the way it felt right to him. Though he had to keep the whole turning “v’s” to “w’s” the way Walter Koenig Chekov’s did. Anton wasn’t too sure why he spoke like that but maybe the fact that Walter was from Chicago had something to do with it.

Anton’s foray into big-budget movies seemed to be over, at least for the moment. He returned to the familiar world of independent films, making The Beaver, directed by and starring Jodie Foster and the beleaguered Mel Gibson. As in Terminator: Salvation, now more famous for star Christian Bale’s on-camera meltdown than anything else, experts theorize that The Beaver’s poor showing at the box office had to do with its star’s recent personal woes. A brighter star for Anton was the indie film Like Crazy, the story of a British student who falls in love with an American boy, only to be separated when her visa expires. Screened at Sundance in 2011, Like Crazy won The Grand Jury Prize and proved that Anton had romantic leading man chops.

The studios siren’s song called out to Anton again. This time it was director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, 2007) and he had in his hands the remake of the 80’s cult classic Fright Night. Anton won the role of hero Charlie Brewster who does battle with the neighbor from Hell, Jerry, this time played by Colin Farrell, with the help of O2W4 David Tennant (doing his very best Chris Angel) as Peter Vincent. In interviews for the film Anton laughed off concerns that Fright Night’s vampire may not be as well received as the emo, vegetarian vampires so popular with the kids today. Be afraid, be very afraid of Jerry folks. He’s a good, old-fashioned vampire out to with either “f*cking f*ck you or kill you or both.”

(I hesitate mentioning the other summer of 2011 blockbuster that Anton worked on, for fear it may tarnish his indie cred. That movie was The Smurfs. To be fair – Anton only provided a voice and that was for the smurfiest of Smurfs, Clumsy. Don’t judge too harshly.)

As of press time Anton had two projects in various stages of production. The first, Odd Thomas, is based on a novel by Dean Koontz and directed by The Mummy helmer Stephen Sommers. Yelchin is the title character – a fry-cook who is in touch with the spirit world and sees looming danger surrounding a mysterious stranger. The second is a film called Winter Queen co-starring Mila Jovovich. Taken from the international bestseller of the same name, Yelchin will play a young detective on the Moscow police force out to solve a crime in Czarist Russian, just prior to the Revolution. And of course there will eventually be the big sequel to Star Trek – should the elements all come together.

Clearly toggling between big blockbuster movies and passion indies is the way to create and maintain a long career. Our man Anton is a shining example of that. Having come through the child actor into awkward teen stages and out the other side, the world is open to him in terms of what future roles will come his way. And if the whole acting thing doesn’t pan out – there’s always the family business or that now defunct punk band, The Hammerheads to fall back on. Yeah, right. I don’t see that happening. Do you?

Official Sites:
Like Crazy
Star Trek
Fright Night

Fan Sites:
Anton Yelchin Online
Yelchin Fans on Live Journal

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(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)


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Chris Hemsworth

Thor, God of Thunder, God of Hunks for all that matters. At 6” 3” he walks onto the screen with commanding presence, his size and physique overwhelming the senses. In the trailer recently shown at Comic Con in San Diego, the second his shirt comes off in one scene a collective gasp and then ecstatic yelling from the audience says it all. We love thumbslots.

Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, 27-year-old Chris Hemsworth comes with a family of actors, his brothers Luke and Liam (The Last Song). He was notably in the longstanding Australian soap opera “Home and Away” (which also featured Heath Ledger and Julian McMahon at different times) as Kim Hyde, attaining him the Australian TV Silver Logie award for Best New Talent. In 2004 he was nominated as Best Actor by UK magazine Inside Soap, crowned “Best Hottie” by U.S. Nickelodeon network, and “King of Teen” by Aussie teen magazine Dolly.

In 2009 his U.S. film debut cast him as Captain James T. Kirk’s father, George, in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, the film based on the 1960s television series. Albeit a brief role, he stood out as a believable father figure for Chris Pine’s lead character. In the same year, A Perfect Getaway came out with Timothy Olyphant (another Ones2Watch4 hottie) and Milla Jovovich, showcasing Chris as an ambiguous roughneck hitchhiker. It is also in A Perfect Getaway where Chris begins to show his natural talent (sans shirt) for looking like a mythical god.

This year the quirky psychological thriller film Cash was released and is available on DVD. Chris stars as Sam Phelan who stumbles into a lot of cash, drawing sinister Pyke Kubic (Sean Bean) to his reality. With his casual handsomeness and delivery, Chris draws you into his character and allows you to forgive him quite easily for what he does in the film.

Watch out for Chris as the lead in the remake of the 1984 cult classic Red Dawn. He also appears in The Cabin in the Woods, Joss Whedon’s (Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) comedic horror film, as Curt Vaughan. The release dates for both these films are tentative as both are affected by the MGM financial crisis.

2011 will deliver the blockbuster Thor with Chris in the title role along with Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Ray Stevenson (Volstagg), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki). Shot with beautiful cinematography and classic lines, this epic adventure spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the mythological Norse realm of Asgard. Directed by Kenneth Branagh (Frankenstein, Love’s Labour’s Lost), the story centers on the mighty Thor, with his belt Megingjard that doubles his already considerable strength and his lightning powered hammer Mjollnir. As a Norse mythical god, Thor is cast down to Earth as punishment and becomes a hero protecting Earth from invasion by the evil forces of Asgard.

In a recent interview with MTV news, Chris explains how Mike Tyson inspired his movements on the set:

“First, we looked at the comic books and the posturing, the way Thor moves and fights, and a lot of his power seems to be drawn up through the ground.”

“We talked about boxers, you know, Mike Tyson, very low to the ground and big open chest and big shoulder swings and very sort of brutal but graceful at the same time, and then as we shot stuff things became easier.”

“The costume’s pretty limiting with the movement, so I had a lot of things to work around!”

In 2012 Thor will also appear in The Avengers, with other superheroes Iron Man, The Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain America, and Nick Fury. That should be a guaranteed eye candy experience.

Official Sites:
Cash
Thor
Thor on Facebook

Fan Sites:
Chris Hemsworth Fan
Chris Hemsworth Network

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(8 votes, average: 4.63 out of 5)


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Star Trek

I had forgotten how much I loved Star Trek.  This movie brought it all back and it’s back with heart, soul and gusto!  I had forgotten an old friend, but now we have connected once again.

Far from a true Trekkie, I nonetheless would watch the show religiously and saw every movie.  I loved the humor, the action, the mind bending dilemmas and the camaraderie among the characters.  For the last two hours, that love was rekindled.

Not only did the actors embrace the personalities of those who created the characters, they honored the spirit of the entire series.  You couldn’t help but smile as all the little details we remembered came back with new faces on old characters.  Something very new, but comfortably the same.

Never once did you feel insulted about the way they carried on the tradition of  the series we grew up on and loved.  Certainly not like that horrendous Land of the Lost farce that previewed before the film — I’m just heartbroken about what they have done to that, but that’s a story for another day.

Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto(Spock), John Cho (Sulu), Simon Pegg(Scotty), Anton Yelchin (Chekov), Zoe Saldana (Uhura) and my absolute favorite Karl Urban (Bones) brought to life, and heart,  a fun, exciting ride along memory lane with the promise of new adventures as we get to know the characters all over again.  Throw in some Eric Bana being all bad, Leonard Nimoy connecting to days of old and I couldn’t have asked for a better night out with the hubby (not that I even noticed him sitting next to me).

Yes, I am in love with Star Trek again. I left the theater with a tear in my eye and a smile on my face.

I want more and I want it now!

Alas, for now, I will just have to be first in line for the DVD and maybe find some old epiodes on cable.  Live long and prosper and GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

John Cho

I just LOVE Harold and Kumar. Those movies are a sinful pleasure for me. Lucky for me John Cho who plays the stalwart Harold is in the new Star Trek movie. That affords me an opportunity to profile him and maybe introduce him to a few folks. Everyone, this is John. John this is everyone. Read more

Karl Urban

Ode to Karl Urban:
Oh Karl Urban, how I love thee, let me count the ways!
Pierce me with an arrow of thy love, oh winged god. (It began with a guest starring role as Cupid on “Xena”.)
Horse master and master of my heart, I am your willing servant. (Then he rode across the plains of Rohan in The Two Towers and Return of the King)
I am boneless, without will and require your passionate care. (And now he’s playing Doctor McCoy in the new Star Trek.)
Wow, I am an appallingly bad poet. I’ll stick to my normal writing technique and spare you all further discomfort.

I’ve been a fan of Mr. Urban’s work for quite some time now. With the exception of some early stuff he did in New Zealand I think I’ve seen the majority of his work. Hell I even own a copy of The Irrefutable Truth About Demons (2000). Don’t judge. It was a gift. Karl has a presence on screen that is commanding. He’s had to hold his own opposite larger than life actors like Vin Disel (The Chronicles of Riddick 2004), The Rock (Doom 2005) and Clancy Brown (Pathfinder 2007). Karl so convinced Pathfinder director Marcus Nispel that he was a Russian when he played a hit man out to get Jason Bourne in The Bourne Supremacy (2004) that Nispel feared they’d never get him to play the Viking raised by Native Americans in pre-Columbus North America. Well das vedonya for pursuing that avenue. We got Karl in a loincloth!

With the release of the Star Trek prequel (do we call it that?) its fun to point out that Karl has played another iconic character in the early years. In 2008 Karl played “Lonesome Dove” Texas Ranger Woodrow Call opposite Steve Zahn’s Gus McCrae. It’s available on DVD and worth seeing just for Val Kilmer’s interesting performance. But his portrayal of “Bones” that I’m most looking forward to. From what I’m hearing Karl injects a little humor into the mix and may very well be the stand out performance of the film. Just sit back and watch this guy. Mark my words, you all will be spouting poetry soon enough!

Fansites:

Karl Urban Online

Karl Urban dot Com

Official Movie Site: Star Trek (2009)

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(9 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)


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