Here's how Geoff Boucher's profile of Chris Pine, the new James T. Kirk of J. J. Abrams's Star Trek movie, begins: "Wearing a trucker hat, battered blue jeans and an air of breezy confidence, Chris Pine walked through the Paramount Pictures studio lot like he owned the place but felt no particular need to show anyone the deed in his pocket." Seriously, aside from the sartorial details, if you were writing about anybody who was picking up the gauntlet from William Shatner, isn't that how you'd want to be able to describe him? Many a young (28 years old, to be precise) actor might be able to pull off that walk in his head, but in reality? (As if to provide a constant genetic reminder of how many couldn't, Pine is the son of the actor Robert Pine, best known for the disappointed looks he used to direct at Erik Estrada during roll call on CHiPs.) "Shatner will forever be James T. Kirk," says Pine. "There's something set in stone about that. That actually takes pressure off me. I'm going my own way. My name is not William Shatner."
Read More...