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idris elba

Let’s take a wee breather from Star Wars mania for a sec and talk about another intergalactic space adventure–Star Trek. The trailer for the up coming Star Trek Beyond was released online earlier this week. The film’s villain is played by the love of my life, Idris Elba, and in an interview with Slashfilm, director Justin Lin gave us some more details about Elba’s role.

Lin dispelled any notions that Elba’s Krall would be either Klingon (as his name suggests) or a Gorn (as the Star Trek databank suggests). Said the director, Krall is a “new species that we discover in this chapter.”

The plot of the film and subsequently the character seem to be inspired by current events. Lin mentions in the interview, “I mean, we live in a world that is ever evolving. And I think that that’s always made Star Trek sci-fi great is when you’re able to at least acknowledge what’s happening today.” Though Lin is vague about what exactly he’s referring to that’s happening today, there is something political in Krall’s character; he declares to Kirk, “This is where it begins, Captain. This is where the frontier pushes back!”

Lin delved into the philosophy behind the film and this same latent political thread:

It was just really embracing the idea that the Federation, what would happen if you were going on a five-year journey and you’re trying to also not only explore, but also maybe introduce other people to this way of thinking. What would that mean? What are the consequences to that? I mean, spreading a philosophy that you believe in that you think is great, are there gonna be any other points of views that’s gonna counter you?

Lin also pointed out that Elba had to sit through four hours of makeup to become Krall. Eesh. But it looks like it paid off.

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Star Trek Beyond is set for release in the US on July 22, 2016 and also stars Chris PineZachary QuintoZoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg and Sofia Boutella.

 

(via Comic Book Resources)

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Nandita Seshadri