Anton Yelchin (Chekov) has not yet read the script for Star Trek XI, but said that he plans to spend several weeks "becoming as much of a Trekkie as I can...just renting all the box sets, not going outside, not seeing the sun rise."

In an interview with ReelzChannel, 18-year-old Yelchin - the son of Russian figure skaters who came to the US to escape anti-Semitism - said that he is trying not to take the enormity of the franchise too much to heart. "I may be [scared] later, because Star Trek is such a big thing that I hope I don’t let anyone down," he said. "But then again, it’s such a big thing that you can't please everyone."

Yelchin is aware from franchises like Spider-Man that changes are inevitable over time. "Everyone's got their own thing, and some people get very upset and take it personally. But the cool thing about it is if you just think about the fact that people have taken something so personally, it means so much to them," he observed. "It's kind of a great thing to think about — that Star Trek and Spider-Man, or X-Men, could mean so much to someone that they’d actually really take it seriously enough to criticize the hell out of someone because they don’t fit their image."

Currently Yelchin is doing publicity for Fierce People, in which he plays a wealthy high school student trying to come to terms with his peers' problems as well as his own family's failings. "He’s 15 [too], I get what he's feeling — he's undergoing emotions natural to somebody that age," explained Yelchin. "He's kind of a smart-ass kid who has to take care of this mother, who he loves. It didn't seem like anything that wouldn’t be relevant today."

Yelchin explains that he used to be interested in philosophy - "I used to be obsessed with it" - and the role of the individual in society. "And then I thought about it, and I realized that philosophers would never get laid had they not thought of these things, because why else would you be interested in these people? They’re probably very dull. Hegel was one of the most hideous looking individuals I’ve ever seen," he said. "What it comes down to is the sun shines every morning when I wake up, unless it's cloudy...whether I’m a product of society, or society is effected because of me, regardless of whether I’m real or not, I still have to get up in the morning."

The full interview is here.

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
 Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!