Normally, an indie drama about vintners (that's wine-makers) would float under the radar, but this one has the new Captain Kirk in it. Chris Pine plays Bo Barret in Bottle Shock, the story of the first American wine to win a European taste test. Pine was kind enough to through us a Star Trek bone after discussing the wine movie, thus both movies get covered and everybody wins.
Crave Online: Did you meet Bo Barrett and did he really look like that in the '70s?
Chris Pine: Well actually, I only saw a picture of what he looked like when we were up at the chateau for the premiere, and there's a picture of the whole Barrett family on this old truck, that actually looks exactly like the truck that he drives in the movie. There's all the brothers and the sister and there's Jim, and then there's Bo on the back of the truck in a tophat, and this huge wavy Farrah Fawcett hair, with huge Tom Selleck 'stache. I usually have my hair short and it was I think the hair, as cheesy as it sounds, I think the hair was a major part of the character. It's thoroughly '70s, it's a kid that followed The Dead and he's not the cleancut, kind of dude, so I think that was important for the character.
Crave Online: Why do you think Bo wanted to work for his father so badly?
Chris Pine: I think it was really a love story, for me between a man and his father. Really the whole time, I just want my dad to say, "Good job, well done, you did a good job." Like when I go get those oak barrels, all I want him to say is, "You did a good thing and thank you." I think really I found myself in the business because I want my father's approval and I think that's what I essentially hopefully get in the end is it's really not spoken. We do that little jab thing pretending that we're boxing out in the fields. That's his way of saying, "Well done, good job, good work." He's not a vulnerable man so he'll never say that. I probably will never get that, the I Love You speech kind of thing or the moment, but that to me is good enough and that's what was important for Bo.
Crave Online: Did you do any wine research to make sure you knew how to handle the grapes just right?
Chris Pine: Really, the preparation came when we went up there and thank God the Barretts were so open and generous with their time. Not only is Jim a winemaker, but as is Bo and then his wife Heidi is a world renowned wine maker, so not only could I talk to Bo about his family and his life, but he's a very much hands on person at his vineyard. So he would take us around the different grapes, from the Zinfadel to the Cabernet, et cetera, and then Heidi would take us through the tasting process and how she goes about creating a vintage from the different barrels of what goes into a taste. So we got [buzzed], we really were. Then even from the extras that were working with us sometimes in the field, some of them worked in the field, so to get minutiae about if you're walking down a line in a vineyard, what are you looking for, or is the leaf shading the grape too much, should it be shading the grape too much, do you want to take that leaf off, because any small thing can affect the taste of the grape.
Crave Online: Are you a wine snob now?
Chris Pine: No, far from it. I mean, there's so much knowledge that you can have of wine, my knowledge is a small, small, small percentage. I know what I like, and I know what I like to drink, but we were only up there for a month, so I can't claim to have any kind of snobbery.
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