With Anton Yelchin out promoting The Beaver and getting prepped to start filming Odd Thomas, the folks at Collider caught up with him to talk about those projects but they also slid in some questions about the new Star Trek film series wherein he plays the role of a young Chekov, which he filmed some four years ago now. Yelchin is one of the busier up and coming stars as he’s in the August remake of Fright Night and other films that are in post-production now with The Smurfs, The Winter Queen and he was seen in the January release of Like Crazy. It’s a crazy year for Yelchin to be sure.
Is it fun for you, as an actor, to be able to do the Star Trek sequel and return to the character of Chekov and find new layers?
YELCHIN: Sure. I haven’t read the script, but I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what it is. It will be a lot of fun to play the character again, do all the research again and do all the homework. Also, it’s a great group of people. It’s one thing when you’re going back to a movie and you’re like, “Oh, god, I’ve got to work with these people again.” But, it’s such a great group. I enjoyed working with them all so much that I look forward to seeing them all again and working with them.
Do you think it will be easier to get back into the character, since you already know who he is?
YELCHIN: I guess. In a way, it will be difficult too, to make sure it’s the same person. That was almost four years ago, so it will definitely be challenging to try to capture the same thing.
Do you know when you will start filming?
YELCHIN: No, I have no idea. It should be at some point. At some point, we will make it.
What are your thoughts on 3D films? Do you hope that Star Trek 2 will be in 3D?
YELCHIN: One thing that’s fundamental is that you can really see the difference when someone converts to 3D or shoots in 3D. We shot Fright Night in 3D, so we shot it with 3D cameras, which is really one camera with two cameras on it. It makes a big difference, I think. You can tell when a movie was made with the idea of 3D. I don’t really think about it. What’s most fundamental is that the movie itself is good, and then 3D is one of those things that you layer on top of it. You can use it to make certain parts of the movie more exciting, but if the movie isn’t good, then you’re not going to care about the 3D either.
