How A Deleted Star Trek Shower Scene Got Awkward On Live TV
Captain James T. Kirk is a Casanova in nearly every iteration of "Star Trek," but this is especially true in J.J. Abrams' film adaptations of the franchise, where the director takes it further by having the character repeatedly behave like a Peeping Tom. For instance, in 2009's "Star Trek," Chris Pine's Kirk nonconsensually watches Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana) pull off her red turtleneck and matching miniskirt after she interrupts his sexual encounter with her lingerie-clad roommate. He exhibits the same upsetting behavior in 2013's "Star Trek Into Darkness," refusing to avert his gaze as Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) changes.
Abrams defended the latter scene during a May 2013 interview on "Conan," stating that he believes Kirk's behavior makes sense to viewers of the original "Star Trek" series. "It's Kirk, who was always a sort of womanizing character," he justified. "So the idea was [to] have a beat like that in the midst of all this action and adventure. Have a beat where he looks and doesn't look away. I don't think I quite edited the scene in the right way."
The director also maintained that he thought it would be fine for Carol to be seen with minimal clothing given that Kirk bares his chest earlier in the film and noted that he even intended for Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) to go au naturel as well. In response to Abrams' remark, host Conan O'Brien rolled out a deleted clip of Khan taking a shower — as well as a version that had been edited to include a sultry tune.
Benedict Cumberbatch has shared his thoughts about Khan's scene
Confronted with the deleted "Star Trek Into Darkness" scene during an interview on "Conan" later that same year, Benedict Cumberbatch shared that he had spent quite a bit of time sculpting his physique before stepping into the on-set shower but clarified that he was not upset after J.J. Abrams informed him that it had been taken out due to a lack of cohesion. "I thought, 'Oh, well, never mind.' A lot of chicken I ate and a lot of other things and just a hell of a lot of working out, and that's gone, but that's fine. That's how you roll when you're doing movies," he said.
The actor then suggested he felt slightly mortified when he first heard whisperings about Abrams' May 2013 interview, relating, "Somebody said, 'Do you know you've just been on Conan and you've been half naked in the shower scene?' So I watched it, and I was like, 'Damn it. Damn it. The man's just sort of thrown me out there, under the bus.'" The host then had Cumberbatch watch the edited scene, making the actor appear uncomfortable.