Star Trek 2‘s Chris Pine is happy to have Benedict Cumberbatch aboard for the J.J. Abrams sequel.

Pine was filled with praise for Cumberbatch. “Benedict is fantastic,” he said. “He’s just so good, He’s super talented, and we are more than grateful to have him onboard.”

“Benedict has got this intensity about him, and he’s obviously extremely intelligent and articulate,” said Pine. “His vocal quality is something else. He obviously is, unlike many of us, like, an actually trained actor. He actually studied for it.

“[You'll love] everything. He’s really talented. I think it’s all going to be love, a mad amount of love.”

Another Star Trek 2 newcomer, Alice Eve, is also thrilled to be working with Cumberbatch. “I’m very excited to work with him again,” she said. “He’s so very funny, Ben. I don’t know if you remember his character in Starter for 10, but he was so funny. Like King of the Geeks, but he did it so well, and I found a lot of that hard to get through because he was so funny. I like him very much.”

Just days after the news that The CW picked up Shelter, a pilot produced by J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk, comes the news that another Abrams pilot has been picked up by another network.

This time, the network is NBC and the pilot is Revolution, a dramatic thriller, to be written by Abrams, Bryan Burk and Eric Kripke (Supernatural).

In Revolution, a “group of characters” is “struggling to survive and reunite with loved ones in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist.”

With filming under way for Star Trek 2, two of the newcomers, Benedict Cumberbatch and Alice Eve, are settling into their jobs, and a familiar face returns briefly to the Trek set.

While promoting his latest film, This Means War, Chris Pine spoke briefly about Cumberbatch and Eve. “They’re getting on great,” he said. “We have a really good, warm, inclusive group from the first one and I think everybody’s kind of getting the hang of things and fitting in quite nicely.”

Meanwhile, if his tweet today is any indication, Leonard Nimoy has made his visit to the Star Trek 2 set, as he announced that he would do last week. “Lots of hugs and handshakes,” said Nimoy. “Like being surrounded by family. So proud to be part of the Star Trek history. LLAP.”

While out promoting her latest film, The Words, Zoë Saldana spoke about returning to work on Star Trek 2.

In The Words, Saldana is playing the wife of an aspiring writer who becomes famous after finding an old manuscript which he takes and uses as his own work.

Saldana was as fashionable as ever at Sundance in spite of the cold weather. “I did bring warm stuff,” she said, wearing green suede shoes with stiletto heels instead of more practical footwear, “but I also bought fashion-y stuff. Come on. You’ve got to pay the price, even if it’s too cold.”

Star Trek 2 is Saldana’s current movie project, and she spoke about her eagerness to work with those associated with the rebooted Star Trek again. “It’s wonderful because I’ve been dying to work with the cast again, to work with J.J.,” she said. “I love him so much. He’s such an amazing human being and such an amazing storyteller and a great director, so what more can I ask for? I start the year and I’m literally going back to a very familiar environment and being a part of a great story.”

Star Trek 2 Co-writer Roberto Orci explained why it took so long to get the Star Trek script finished and what type of changes will occur in the story during production.

Orci spoke, according to TrekMovie.com, to calm fans who were worried about changes happening so close to filming.

First, Orci explained the original delay in finishing the script. The reason the script wasn’t finished until recently is mostly for strategic philosophical reasons,” said Orci. “We were not willing to turn anything in until we knew for sure that we had a start date, based on J.J.’s availability. If we had written the script a year ago and it sat on the shelf, it would not have been current. Nothing messes up a script like it sitting on the shelf, because then everyone does get time to second guess and wonder, and then movies fall apart.”

Then Orci explained that evolving filming technology can cause changes in the script. “…the weirdest kind of changes comes from how J.J. wants to move the camera,” he said. “Thanks to advances in film making, we can move the camera around the ship in ways you couldn’t before — so sometimes lines will change or even who says them may change based on their position on the set relative to the coolest choreography of the camera moves. Keeps you on your toes as a writer for sure, but it is fun and worth it.”

When it comes to changes, there is nothing that should give fans reason for concern. “Finally, you should know the story hasn’t changed, the structure hasn’t changed, and the action sequences haven’t changed,” said Orci. “Most changes are minor.”

Star Trek 2 is due out in May of 2013.

Leonard Nimoy has been offered what most Star Trek fans would love to be given, an invitation to visit the Star Trek 2 set.

“I’ve been invited to visit the set of the new Star Trek film,” said Nimoy via his Twitter feed. “Hope to do that next week.”

If Zachary Quinto had his way, he would be returning to the second season of American Horror Story.

Quinto played Chad Warwick, the gay former owner of a spooky mansion, in four episodes of the first season of the new series.
In American Horror Story, the Harmon family (Dylan McDermott as Ben and Connie Britton as Vivien) moves from Boston to Los Angeles after a miscarriage and affair rock their family. But the mansion into which they move is anything but healing.

“I had an amazing time and I only did four episodes of the season,” said Quinto, “so it was just a little bit of an appetizer for me. I would love to work more.”

While the second season will feature a new storyline in a new location, Executive Producer Ryan Murphy has said that some of the season one cast members could return in different roles.

If a Twitter posting by Writer/Director Edgar Wright and  Star Trek XI‘s Simon Pegg‘s blog picture today are to be believed, the two men have turned their attentions to The World’s End.

Pegg’s blog shows the two standing in front of a chart that says, “The World’s End,” while Wright’s Twitter picture show the same picture, with the caption, “Hard at work.”

The World’s End would complete a trilogy which began with 2004′s Shaun of the Dead and 2007′s Hot Fuzz.

Star Trek XI‘s Anton Yelchin is in final negotiations for a role in Naomi Foner‘s Very Good Girls.

Actresses Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen are also in negotiation for starring roles in Very Good Girls, which is due to begin filming this June.

In Very Good Girls, two lifelong best friends (to be played by Fanning and Olsen if they sign) have just graduated high school and both are trying to lose their virginity as a “rite of passage into the adult world.”

But both friends fall in love with the same man (Yelchin) and their goal of losing their virginity “becomes more complicated and emotionally dangerous than they had ever imagined.”

“The film deals with female sexuality and friendship in a way we haven’t seen before,” said Foner. “These girls will be stunning young women in a couple of years, but they’ve struggled through high school with only each other. Most of us have been there. This is the summer where they finally get to touch real life.”

Fans interested in knowing where Star Trek 2 filming is taking place this week have their answer courtesy of Locations Hollywood.

Locations Hollywood tweeted this weekend regarding the forthcoming filming for Star Trek 2. “Star Trek filming will be on location @Budweiser Brewery, Sony Studios, Dodger Stadium, Long Beach City Hall, MCAS Tustin [Marine Corps Air Station Tustin] & the Vasquez Rocks.”

The Budweiser Brewery is probably being used for scenes in the Enterprise’s engine room.

Fans of the original series are very familiar with Vasquez Rocks, which were used in several episodes including Arena, Shore Leave, Friday’s Child and The Alternative Factor. The Vasquez Rocks were used in other Trek series and movies, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and more recently Star Trek XI.