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How John Cho's Sulu will change up the Star Trek character
John Cho, who takes over the role of Hikaru Sulu in J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek, jokes that he's changing Sulu up: "Sexy. Very sexy."
No, seriously. Cho has a lot of respect for the character and George Takei's interpretation of him in the original 1960s TV show and subsequent movies. (Spoilers ahead!)
"George's Sulu was a veteran, and he was always in control of the ship," Cho told reporters in a group interview in Los Angeles last week. "And ... since this is his first mission, he's thrust into the position of helmsman by accident, and all of these things are happening. ... He's not supposed to be on the ship; he's not supposed to be doing all this stuff. So ... I wanted this Sulu to be a little bit more innocent, a little bit younger and a little bit more caught off guard by all of this stuff. And I felt like it would be a nice way to begin that arc, since we're going back in time."
For Cho, walking onto the set of the Enterprise's interior was a singular experience. "It feels familiar, but it's completely new, and you're walking on as the character, and there's just so many things racing through your mind," Cho said. "It was a very strange and wonderful moment for me, you know? I remember very vividly, and with anticipation, we walked [on], I said, 'I can't believe I'm walking onto the Enterprise set for the first time!' It was like walking through a cathedral."
Cho does seem to have the serene mannerisms of Sulu down pat in the film, but he said he never tried to copy Takei's take. "It's probably more due to George Takei than Sulu [the character], but I thought, 'George is such a iconic personality,'" Cho said. "You know, he's around, and he's very famous, and I just felt it best not to imitate him. One, I do not have the vocal cords. They do not do that voice. They don't do that sound. I think there's exactly one person in the world that can do that voice. So I just felt that that would be a bad idea for me, and it would just scream imitation."
Cho had met Takei before he took on the role in Star Trek through a Los Angeles theater company called East West Players. But they didn't get to know one another until Cho wrote Takei a letter after being cast as Sulu, and the two actors met for lunch. "I asked him how he deals with Star Trek mania and what's his method of engagement, essentially," Cho revealed. "And he said, 'You can be overwhelmed by it, or you can use it for something positive that you believe in.' ... He and I ended up at the same press conference, actually, to speak out against Proposition 8, which was a California ban against gay marriage." (Takei, who married his longtime partner, Brad Altman, last September, is a well-known advocate for gay rights. Cho is married to actress Kerri Higuchi and has a son.)
"And then it runs down to even smaller things for him," Cho said. "[For instance,] he's concerned that Americans are becoming too obese, so he runs every morning, and he would be at conventions and he would make an announcement: 'I'm taking a jog at 8 a.m. tomorrow, if you want to meet me in the lobby.' And open it up. And that's how open he is about it. And I was just really amazed by how he deals with it, which is just to embrace it, and himself, as an agent for change that he believes in."
Paramount Pictures presents Star Trek on May 8 in theaters everywhere.
By bignutball at 12:56 PM ON 03/09/09
Do we really need to "change up" these characters? They have developed a following for a reason.
By darkboar at 1:03 PM ON 03/09/09
As long as the "new" guys behave like how the "old" guys behaved I think we will be ok. What I mean is, don't develop new and amazing skills they never had in the past 40 or so years .... It's all well and good to have small new things to flesh out the characters but nothing radical.
By Tom Black at 3:17 PM ON 03/09/09
If you notice the insignia in the pic you'll see that the image is flipped. Why?
By ELAshley at 4:23 PM ON 03/09/09
The photo is flipped.
By realfan at 5:45 PM ON 03/09/09
The "new trend" of darker edger scifi has flopped so far, why TPTB believe all yapp and no action Gossip Girls scifi will work?
Fans of scifi want a break from the every day life and not reality based scifi. Drop the "sexy" and bring back the professional.
By jbs780 at 5:57 PM ON 03/09/09
"The "new trend" of darker edger scifi has flopped so far, why TPTB believe all yapp and no action Gossip Girls scifi will work?
Fans of scifi want a break from the every day life and not reality based scifi. Drop the "sexy" and bring back the professional."
I really don't think that will be a problem with this flick. Have yoiu seen the knew trailer? Also, the picture attached this story...being over useda alittle...is from a point just after the HALO drop Sulu, Kirk and a Red Shirt do onto a hovering platform...all very sedate boring stuff!
By zac widlstar at 6:09 PM ON 03/09/09
hey another star trek movie story we get one every day now, almost like how cow get feed more and more before the slauter. run away warp away. these are nothing but fluff to keep you inrerested in a bad movie.
By Giavs at 6:54 PM ON 03/09/09
Enough with time baddies messing with the time line and changing things. Damn, that has been to death in Trek. Temporal Cold War, Mirrior Universes, Starfleet's Temporal Division, whatever...nope, they just couldn't do a straight up Trek, huh?
Yea, Yea, cutting edge for the new generation. That's why Paramount/CBS let the old franchise die to usher in the new. Here's a news flash guys...all the descrestionary spending on Trek realted stuff comes from the Old Franchise Fans....the new franchise fans have to divide their attentions among other popular franchise...and games....so their dollar/euro won't go as far.
Just a simple no thanks...I'll wait to get in my movie rotation from Netflix....
By kenny at 7:20 PM ON 03/09/09
yeah...these gys will different because they havent devoloped into the men and women they are in the tv shows and previous movies.im not worried but i am annoyed with the gossip girl,90210 crap that gets thronw around because a cast gos from 30 and 40 years old...to 20 and 30 year olds
By hohum at 12:53 AM ON 03/10/09
what with the new pc revisionist sh*t? first they turn starbuck into a angry feminist, and now their turning sulu into a straight guy?
By SCI FI Wire at 12:59 AM ON 03/10/09
The photo isn't flipped. Is a screengrab from the trailer. Of course, it's possible the sequence in the trailer is flipped. But that would be Paramount's doing.
By Akuma63 at 6:17 AM ON 03/10/09
George is Homosexual, Sulu was never portrayed as being gay.
By 43 year Trekkie at 12:29 PM ON 03/10/09
"The "new trend" of darker edger scifi has flopped so far, why TPTB believe all yapp and no action Gossip Girls scifi will work?"
Yeah... That's why Battlestar Galactica is such a huge flop!
Oh wait. It's not a flop!
By Dagny Taggart at 5:27 PM ON 03/10/09
Stop picking nits! The final model of the Enterprise will be different when it finally hits the big screen. Besides SG1 and Enrterprise messed with time lines frequently.
By TrekFan1966 at 10:13 AM ON 03/11/09
Rob, man, why the hostility? Can't a man express his opinion without being called gay? I thought the Sci-Fi Wire was about news and opinion, not namecalling.
By Dagny Taggart at 5:57 PM ON 03/11/09
There a a lot of "normal"people watching ow do you define normal? OTOH, I think that whatever incarnation of the Enterprise finally soars into space in May, she will still be the Great Lady of the Galaxy.
By Dagny Taggartl at 6:07 PM ON 03/11/09
My last post got messed up. I meant to say: A lot of "normal" people watch BSG. How do you define normal?
By 45 year old trekkie at 3:12 PM ON 04/18/09
I think that George didn't recognize his sexuality so overtly until after the series. I think some guys (and gals) just find their true sexuality later than the rest of us.
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45 year old trekkie:
I think that George didn't recognize his sexuality so overtly until after the series. I think some guys (and gals)...More »