Sundance 2011: Set phasers to stunning performances
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Quick -- name the 2011 Sundance Film Festival’s best incubator for hot acting talent. NYU Film School? The Sundance Feature Film Program? Julliard? Try the Starship Enterprise.
Three of the most impressive performances at this week’s fest are being turned in by alumni of J.J. Abrams’ 2009 ‘Star Trek’ reboot: Anton Yelchin (Chekov) stars as the endearing furniture maker Jacob in the young love drama ‘Like Crazy’; Zachary Quinto (Spock) plays the whistle-blowing math wizard Peter Sullivan in the Wall Street meltdown story ‘Margin Call’; and Bruce Greenwood (Pike) leads the cast of ‘Meek’s Cutoff’ as mountain man Stephen Meek in the arty western.
It’s difficult to look at Quinto’s expressive eyebrows and not remember his turn as a Vulcan, and while Yelchin has ditched his Russian accent -- you half expect him to cry out ‘Fire photon torpedoes, Captain!’ as he’s quietly courting his girlfriend.
As a veteran character actor, Greenwood has an easier time disappearing under a thick beard in ‘Meek’s Cutoff.’ Who’s missing from the deep space remake?
The new Captain Kirk, Chris Pine, doesn’t have a movie in Park City, Utah, the same fate for Eric Bana (Nero), John Chu (Sulu), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (Bones) and Leonard Nimoy (Spock Prime).
Maybe next year.
-- John Horn
Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Sundance Film Festival
