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Saturday, July 4, 2009

Clifton Collins Jr on Working with J.J. Abrams and Eric Bana, Not Involved in Thor

MovieWeb posted a new interview with Star Trek actor Clifton Collins Jr, who played Romulan villain Ayel in J. J. Abrams Star Trek movie. Here are few excerpts.

For those who might not have followed your work until now, they probably have heard of that Star Trek thing. So what was it like to work on such a huge-budget movie? That was probably the biggest film you've done so far, I believe.

Clifton Collins Jr.: Yes sir, it totally is. Obviously, I was just on with J.J. (Abrams). He's a big commercial guy, as you can tell, but when you get to work with people like J.J. and be surrounded by the producers and get the support of a beautiful, great studio like Paramount, you know, these aren't the horror stories I've heard of at all. It was quite the opposite of the tales I had been told, not by my grandpa (Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez), who was a contract player for Warner Bros. and I've heard nothing but great stories from when he was under the contract system. I'd follow J.J. anywhere. He's always been a guy who's supported me in the best of ways, giving me opportunities to prove myself, which I'm always more than happy to do.

Most of your scenes were with Eric Bana, so what was it like working with an actor of that caliber?

Clifton Collins Jr.: I loved working with Bana. Bana's hilarious, he's talented, he's a cool cat. He's a cat you just want to hang out with, shoot the shit and have a beer. He was in Chopper, you know. I've watched that back-to-back, it was such a dope-ass movie. It put him on the map, but what people don't know is he had his own comedy show in Australia.

The full interview is here.

Also, The Deadblot just posted a new interview with Collins, in which he reveals he is not playing Loki in the upcoming Thor movie. Here are excerpts.

THE DEADBOLT: What's the most interesting story you have from the set of Star Trek?

COLLINS JR.: Gosh, so much of Star Trek is a big blur; 18 hour days and 9 hour turnarounds. I mean, for me personally, I think it was showing up to set. I got my Romulan make-up, I showed up, I was there. J.J. [Abrams] walked me to the camera and he told me to look down at the barrel until the Starship Enterprise said they need to board our ship or be destroyed. So I said, "Cool." Then I looked around and I thought, "Wow! This is a pretty giant sci-fi set." And I said, "It's J.J. and there's a camera. Wait a minute, what did he just say? Wait, is this Star Trek? My ears are pointy. Oh, my God! This IS Star Trek."


Suddenly fear just shot through my body and I got really nervous for a good three minutes. He said, "You all right Clifton?" I said, "I'm totally fine J.J.. In fact, you know, give me fifteen seconds to just get a quick breath of fresh air." And when I did, I'm like, "Holy shit! I'm doing Star Trek. It's STAR TREK! It's Paramount. It's a trip. Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" And I came back and said, "Cool, cool, let's do it," and we knocked it out. But my heart was racing like my very first job. It's part of the fun, you know? You still get excited about stuff or nervous about something. You hear this voice suddenly, and it's like, "God, that sounds like ..." I used to watch this show called In Search Of and I'm like, "Wait a minute, that's Spock! He's eating a mocha ice cream while he sits in his cast chair and I'm doing Star Trek because I'm Romulan." Wow! It's like you're just waiting to wake up. It was just very surreal.

So what's the latest update [on Thor] ?


"Absolutely nothing," said Clifton. "I have nothing to do with that piece."

"I wasn't really getting into it," Collins Jr. elaborated on Thor. "I was just preparing stuff. It's a fantastic director, a great piece, but I have absolutely nothing to do with it."


http://trekweb.com/articles/2009/07/02/Clifton-Collins-Jr-on-Working-with-JJ-Abrams-and-Eric-Bana-Not-Involved-in-Thor-Movie.shtml

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