The quest to find an actor to put the nemesis into 'Star Trek: Nemesis' wasn't an easy one, according to franchise head honcho Rick Berman.

"It was an extremely difficult search," Berman told Star Trek Monthly (via Sci-Fi Pulse). No stone was left unturned in the hunt for Shinzon, Trek X's principal villain. "We read and watched taped auditions by 200 young actors."

Eventually the Scarlett O'Hara-like search unearthed the young British actor Tom Hardy, who was shooting the war film 'Black Hawk Down' in Morocco. "Tom's audition came from London and it was a very strange tape because it was something that he had done himself," Berman recalled. "His agent sent it to us, but Tom was off doing 'Black Hawk Down.' Se he did the audition tape himself somewhere in Africa. It was a black and white tape and it was dreadful quality, but we saw something remarkable and we got him to do another one. Then we flew him over to the States and he got the role. He's an exceptional actor."

In the latest edition of his regular question and answer session with the British magazine, Berman also talked about the new Star Trek series, Enterprise. Asked about Star Trek's open script submission policy, which enabled fans to send in scripts without an agent, the producer explained why the operation was discontinued on Series V.

"There are a lot of legal issues involved," he said. "It's a policy that exists on very few television shows. It's something that Michael Piller began a number of years ago and it became very burdensome for us. People had to be hired to sift through hundreds of scripts. Legal documents had to be sent back and forth. It was a huge job and it became very expensive. The people that were running the writing staffs over the years found that it was by and large not worth it in the long run."

The full interview can be found in the latest issue of Star Trek Monthly, out now. Alternatively, extracts are available at Sci-Fi Pulse.

Fans can now take home one of the first pieces of 'Star Trek: Nemesis' memorabilia available prior to the film's December 13 release.

The movie's teaser poster, which arrived in theatres over the July 4 holiday weekend, is available to order from MovieGoods.com.

Seen here to the right, the poster prominently features principal villain Shinzon and the film's tagline, 'A Generation's Final Journey Begins.' Designed by Faction Creative, the company behind the final posters for all the TNG feature films, the 27" by 40" one-sheet poster is available to purchase for $15.99.

To order the poster and support TrekToday, head over to MovieGoods.com.

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