Star Trek Beyond: A Redshirt’s Tale
2 min read
Actress Natasha Young shared what it was like to be a redshirt on Star Trek Beyond.
And in a triumph for Trek redshirts everywhere, her character survived.
Working on Star Trek Beyond meant waking up early. “My alarm goes off for my earliest Star Trek Beyond call time yet, 4:00 AM,” said Young. “We’re on location today at the Pitt River Quarry, the last location for the movie’s cast and crew before production moves overseas to Dubai.”
Once she arrived, the first thing she had to do was “hand over [her] phone,” to security, “so the cameras can be covered with security tape.”
According to Young, the uniforms, while beautiful, are not comfortable for the actors. “The Beyond Starfleet costumes are beautifully designed and built,” she said. “The fabrics, stitching, and other small details that are probably invisible on screen are just incredible. That being said: the other things you won’t see on-screen are the very tight, uncomfortable Spanx worn underneath – it was very important to production that everything was completely smooth and wrinkle-free.
“When Chris Pine was asked in a recent interview if he loved the costumes, he hesitated a bit before answering – and I could tell from the look on his face exactly why. For his survival suit outfit, he had to wear a long-sleeve, tight Spanx shirt, another long-sleeve shirt on top of that, and of course the very thick, blue jacket as a third layer… none of which allowed for any airflow while filming in the hot summer heat!”
Part of the fun of being on the set was seeing the main cast. “On what I believe was my third day on set, I was busy talking to another actor awaiting the start of filming, and I was prepared to repeat the just-shot scene – where one actor taps me, and points ahead – but I looked up and there was Zachary Quinto, not ten feet away, and made up in full Spock mode,” said Young. “When he caught my eye, I got a very Vulcan raised eyebrow and head nod – seriously, a Spock eyebrow, raised just for me! Moments later (after I got over that shock) Karl Urban appeared in full Bones McCoy costume, and got an in-person ‘Dammit, man!’ – that was it, my on-set experience could have ended there and I would have been completely satisfied.”
For more of the interview, head over to TrekCore.
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