Star Trek: The Hollywood Icons Who Inspired Chris Pine's James T. Kirk
When it came time for Chris Pine to create his iteration of the legendary screen character Captain James T. Kirk for director J.J. Abrams' 2009 film reboot of "Star Trek," the actor didn't solely look to his predecessor William Shatner for inspiration, but a couple of other Hollywood mavericks as well.
Pine, who appeared in just over two-dozen roles in film and television before his breakthrough role in "Star Trek," recalled for IGN in 2012 that Harrison Ford's work in both the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" films helped inform his version of Kirk.
"What Harrison Ford is so great at doing is bringing that quality to his characters that if they could be anywhere else in the world they would be there, but he is not," Pine told IGN. "He just is in the middle of s*** and he has to figure out a way of dealing with it so that he can go back to doing whatever the hell he was doing before the film started."
Pine clarified for IGN that he didn't directly cast Kirk in the mold of Han Solo or Indiana Jones but was certainly intent on working in some of their qualities. "I've always loved that quality about him in 'Star Wars,' this sense of absolute grumpy manner; the accidental hero," Pine explained to the publication. "Not to say that I modeled my version of James T. Kirk on anything in particular, but I think I definitely have wanted to bring that kind of Harrison Ford humor to Kirk."
Cruise's Maverick in Top Gun also informed Pine's Kirk in Star Trek
In a 2009 interview with Australia's Courier Mail in conjunction with the release of "Star Trek," Chris Pine said in addition to the influence of Harrison Ford's Han Solo and Indiana Jones, he looked to Tom Cruise's portrayal of Maverick in "Top Gun" — a 1986 film that he admired growing up — to help embody Kirk's heroic qualities.
Oddly enough, however, Pine didn't look at Cruise in "Top Gun" with the dreams of becoming an actor like his father, veteran thespian Robert Pine. Instead, he wanted to do what the characters were doing in films for occupations in real life. "I wanted to be pretty much everything but an actor, and I think it was because I was so close to it that it didn't hold any romance for me," Pine told the Courier Mail. "Whereas I watched 'Top Gun' and I see Tom Cruise as a fighter pilot and all I want to do is fly planes. Or I watch 'The Natural' and all I want to do is be Robert Redford and play baseball. But I never thought about being the guy that was telling those stories."
Pine reprised Kirk for two more "Star Trek" films after 2009: "Star Trek Into Darkness" in 2013 and "Star Trek Beyond" in 2016. Seven years after the last film's release, the actor seems anxious to portray Kirk again, and like fans, Pine is frustrated about the lack of updates on "Star Trek 4." Until then, Pine has other films coming up, including the role of a haunting character in Disney's "Wish."