25 Behind The Scene Facts About Star Trek Into Darkness

This can be quite difficult to believe noting the success of his two Star Trek movies.  However, he did subsequently become a fan as he made his two takes on the beloved franchise (and thus escaped the wrath of die hard Star Trek fans).

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch known for his role in the modern BBC adaptation of “Sherlock” , wasn’t the first choice to play the movie’s main villain. In fact, it is rumored that Oscar winner Benicio del Toro was first offered the role but turned it down (smart move there Mr. Toro).  Steven Spielberg suggested Cumberbatch to the producers (who appeared in Spielberg’s “War Horse”) and eventually got the part.

Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock, needed to pluck as well as shave his eyebrows in order to make them look like the iconic Vulcan brows.  Can’t help but wonder how long those bad boys took to regrow.

Scotty James Doohan’s son, Chris Doohan, has appeared as one of the extras in the two Star Trek movies that Abrams has directed.

Star Trek Into The Darkness was shot entirely in California, USA whose visual effects where handled by Industrial Light and Magic.  Filming took place on location in Los Angeles, and around the area at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore.  Additional locations included Paramount Studios in Hollywood, Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, and the Crystal Cathedral  in Garden Grove, as well as at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. You can stamp this movie with “Made in the USA” and be completely accurate (a rare treat)!

Michael Giacchino, the composer for the movie, snuck in music coming from the TV show after one of the fans tweeted him if he could make use of a theme from one of the old series.

JJ Abrams, who was getting sick of repeating the same things over and over, challenged the cast to say every one of the 50 ridiculous words on the vocabulary list he made for press day.

When it came to what the Earth would look like in the future, the set designers opted for a “natural” evolution in a city’s development. However, this natural evolution has produced an irresistible pallet of amazing architecture hinting at a more environmentally conscious society coupled with a stronger urban core.  Needless to say, the future earth is amazing.

JJ Abrams brought in magicians and other performers to come on set in order to entertain both cast and crew.  Why can’t all jobs do this?

When advanced tickets went on sale in the United Kingdom, London’s IMAX site crashed because of the customer’s demands.

Simon Pegg or Scotty is a good friend of Edgar Wright, director of “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun of the Dead.” Wright visited the set of “Star Trek Into Darkness” and became a “guest director” for one shot. The photo the filmmaker tweeted gave a clue that the Klingon home world of Kronos was the sequence.

The screenwriters turned to the sci-fi novels of Arthur C. Clarke and Larry Niven in order to get inspired.

Michael Dorn, who played the ever famous Klingon, was asked to make a cameo in the movie but was eventually cut.

David Lindeloff, the screenwriter for the movie, joked that he preferred that the movie should have had the title “Star Trek: Transformers 4”

Peter Weller, known for his role as Robocop, was featured in the two Star Trek movies directed by JJ Abrams.

The movie wasn’t really slated in 3D, but the studio made the decision for director J.J Abrams and delayed the motion picture to have it converted. Abrams ended up happy with the final product since it made “Star Trek into Darkness” the first movie shot in IMAX but post-versioned into 3D.

Teresa Palmer and Hayley Atwell auditioned for the role of Dr Marcus, but it went to Alice Eve.

Benedict Cumberbatch recorded his screen test on his best friend’s iPhone.

Simon Peggy, who plays Scotty, along with the props department, pranked Benedict Cumberbatch into thinking that there was some radiation present on the set and that he needed to apply neutron lotion. Cumberbatch was so convinced that he even blamed a bad take on the ions.

The title of the movie doesn’t have a colon, hence “Star Trek Into Darkness”

In the movie, the Stadium has a round shape instead of the rectangular one as seen in the Star Trek Enterprise tv show.

One of the complaints about the movie is about Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) stripping down to her undies for no obvious reason. Female fans saw this as sexist and complaints have become so boisterous that it prompted writer/producer Damon to admit that the display was unnecessary.

According to Abrams, this concept, which was used in the first movie, was meant to give a clear path into the franchise’s reboot.

Director JJ Abrams was the puppeteer behind the Tribble in the movie.

A bald navigator, who’s possibly a Deltan, can be seen taking the helm when Chekov gets assigned to engineering.