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.
Crave Online: What do you look for in a role?
Chris Pine: My parents, I guess really the one thing that I was taught by growing up in a family that was in the business, and my father was like a working class actor, he's worked for 40 years, and he's had some fame, but he's really seen the ups and downs. I've seen it all as a child of that environment, so going into the business I never looked at it through rosy colored glasses. I knew exactly what I was getting into, from that standpoint, so that was for me probably the most effective part of growing up in my family. The choices I've made range anywhere from "I haven't been working, it would be nice to work, and I'd like to work" to "Yeah…" I think in this particular situation I was working with someone like Bill [Pullman] and Alan [Rickman], people that I've grown up watching, that I respected, and every time that you work, you hope to raise your game. The only way you can raise your game is by working with people that you respect you know, to get to that A-level. I knew that coming to work everyday would be a challenge and certainly that story and that dynamic between father and son really fascinated me because I have such a good relationship with my own father that I knew it would be hard to find whatever that kernel was between this relationship and explore that.
Crave Online: Just so we can close with a bit about your next film, what did you bring to Star Trek?
Chris Pine: I think what's new about this particular version of Star Trek and what J.J. and Bob and Alex were able to bring to it that's new and really exciting is an incredible amount of humanity to the roles. For a project that can be so, there's a lot of spectacle to it, there's explosions and graphics and computer graphics and that. There's a lot of, it is really character driven. You really get to see why Kirk is Kirk, why Spock is Spock, how this crew got together. He, I think they did an incredible job of casting. Bottle Shock is a good ensemble that works well together. You have to believe that these people would fight and die for one another. That's what made the original series so good and I think they did that. When people see what Zach did with the role and what Karl did with his role, what Zoe did with Uhura, she really expanded on a role that I think people will be really surprised and really excited.
Crave Online: Did you try and emulate William Shatner?
Chris Pine: I think what J.J. set forth in the beginning of the whole thing was to pay tribute to what was done before, to respect what these men had already given us in terms of creating their characters and then to bring our own unique take on it. I think that opened up just really myriad possibilities. I never felt in particular, I don't know about Zach but I'm sure he would say the same thing is, I never felt encumbered. I only felt, "Thank God that we were given such a great foundation for these characters because I don't really have to do all that much different from what they've given us." Then J.J. being the kind of wonderful, positive creative force that he is kind of let us do whatever we wanted.
Crave Online: But are you ever tempted to do the Shatner dramatic pauses, just once?
Chris Pine: You know, really what Mr. Shatner did was very specific and very unique to him. All I really tried to do is do justice to what he did. I think if I went to mimic-ville, I went to try to do Shatner-ville, it would not have been smart. J.J. never really asked for that so it was finding the balance I think between what was done before.
Crave Online: How awesome is The Enterprise?
Chris Pine: The set is incredible. The production design I think will blow people away. I think it really is enough of that kind of, it pays tribute to that '60s look but it's very of the now and the gadgets are incredibly cool. The production design really, what's great about working on a movie like that is you know that everybody that's involved is the best at what they do.
Crave Online: How does it feel to be on the bridge?
Chris Pine: It's spine-tingling for sure, for sure.
Crave Online: Have you kissed any green girls?
Chris Pine: Oh, man, you'll have to wait and see.
For more Star Trek info head over to the official Star Trek movie site.
