Pine: Star Trek Pressure

2 min read

11 years ago T'Bonz

While Chris Pine feels fortunate to have landed roles such as James T. Kirk in the rebooted Star Trek franchise, there is anxiety that comes with appearing in a sequel to a successful movie.

“It’s a multi-million dollar movie,” said Pine, explaining why the anxiety exists. “A lot is riding on it to be a success.”

Plus – the Internet age can also contribute to the feeling of anxiety. “We live in a world with internet, where people can say anything,” said Pine, “and people say a lot of awful things – but it has to be water off a duck’s back. I remember Denzel [Washington] saying that when I worked with him on Unstoppable.”

Having J.J. Abrams as director helps to lessen the anxiety for Pine. “What helps…is that you have J.J. who’s a great leader; you have a really good team behind you and I really authentically like the people that I work with.

“I’ve grown to have a great affection for them and going to work tends to be fun. So you deal with the anxiety and then you get there and it just becomes another gig.”

And after a while, one gets used to the anxiety and begins to adapt to it. “There’s almost so much pressure that it dissipates,” said Pine, “because you can’t live in that space of ‘Holy shit what am going to do?'”

Pine knows that he was lucky to get roles such as Kirk or Jack Ryan. “I’m just another actor and I got really lucky,” he said. “You do have those moments where you can appreciate everything, but if I stayed there too long, I would be brighter than the sun.”