Karl Urban is a New Zealander known largely for his larger-than-life roles. His roles include Éomer in The Two Towers and The Return Of The King, Vaako in The Chronicles of Riddick, and the Russian assassin Kirill in The Bourne Supremacy. Now, the 36 year old actor stars in what is arguably his most larger-than-life role yet. It’s as iconic character Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in J.J. Abrams’s new film version of the classic science-fiction TV series Star Trek. Urban discussed for us what it took for him to embody the role of a character from what was for him one of his most beloved TV shows as a child. “As a long-term fan of the show and I watched it as a boy, I felt that if I was going to go and see this movie, which I would, I would appreciate seeing some semblance of continuity with the character,” Karl says, “So the task for me was to try to and identify sort of the spirit and essence of the wonderful work that the late Mr. [DeForest] Kelley did, who I have such a deep appreciation and respect for. And I really kind of funneled that through my interpretation of what a younger version of that character would be.” “And I must say, it was very challenging and there were many times when I wasn’t quite sure where the line was, but I was very thankful,” he adds, “I had a really fantastic director in J.J. who was there sort of to help, to guide, to guide the performance. But for me, at times, it was quite surreal to be on the bridge of the Enterprise and saying some of those truly iconic lines. At the end of the day, it was a dream come true. I’m very, very thankful for the opportunity.” One of the things Karl says added to the experience of doing the movie of the show he loved was working with the cast, particularly Chris Pine, who plays Captain Kirk in the film. “I first met Chris at a table read-through and together, we went and had a look at the bridge of the Enterprise, which was under construction,” he recalls, “For both of us, that was a moment that we will never forget. It was at this point kind of a plywood thing and for both of us kind of dawned on us about the journey we were about to embark on. We get on really well and he is an extraordinarily gifted, funny, witty, intelligent young man. He can’t tan, but he can do everything else. He can’t tan. He’s jealous of the fact that I can get a tan, some other thing.” “But the chemistry that you see on screen is largely responsible to J.J. assembling a really phenomenal group of people and creating a fun, yet highly focused and efficient environment for us to play in,” Urban adds, “I really think the challenge on this job was to stop laughing before the cameras started rolling. We were having such a great time and I think you can get a sense of that. You can feel it and that’s really thanks to J.J. for providing us that platform.” For Urban, working on Star Trek was nothing short of a wonderful lucky break for the actor. He adds that it’s the enduring strength of the original series that makes him optimistic that the film will be a success, both with fans and non-fans. “I was never presumptuous enough to think I would get into the position where I could be a part of that world,” he remarks, “To me, the sort of inherent strength of Star Trek was always this utopian vision of society that evolved beyond internal conflict and was really into space exploration. And I really responded to the fact that you had such a culturally eclectic and diverse group of characters on the bridge of the Enterprise, a United Nations in space exploring space together. For me, Star Trek was always more of a cult of personality of its science fiction as much as I appreciated its science fiction. I tuned in every week to see how this group of characters who didn’t always see eye-to-eye had to overcome their internal differences in order to defeat a common adversary.” “I think it’s the inherent strength of this show and I think it’s a testament to J.J. that he really managed to focus in on that and I think it’s the strength of our film,” Karl continues, “There’s a lot in this Star Trek, movie for long-term fans, for long-term Trekkers, but also, if you never seen a Star Trek movie before, go along, because it’s a phenomenal ride. This movie is full of heart and soul and humor and action and I took my eight year-old son to it and he absolutely loved it. We’re at this point where we’re handing a film that we absolutely love over to an audience and we absolutely hope that everyone appreciates it, love it, and have as much fun watching it as we had making it.”