Actor Paul Wesley talks to The Inside Reel about tone, evolution of performance, movement and interaction regarding his continuing role as Lieutenant James T. Kirk in the third season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" on Paramount+.
00:00It's one in a thousand we get it done right or don't blow ourselves up along the way.
00:18I like those odds. We'll just turn it off before we blow up.
00:22Give me five. Now down low.
00:28Why would you do that?
00:30Because you are too slow.
00:32But thank you very much. We've we've talked for, you know, your past.
00:38Yeah, I think it was not this season, but the season before.
00:41And, you know, with Kirk just being a fan of the show, but not being a fan of the show.
00:46The thing is, Kirk has this sort of mythological impact.
00:49But as the actor playing him, it's about perspective and perception, especially within this.
00:55Could you talk about that? And the sort of approach, because some episodes are humorous, some have more stakes.
01:02Some are take place in different timelines, if you will.
01:05Could you talk about that?
01:06Yeah. Look, I mean, the show is what makes this show unique is and what makes Star Trek unique is that you can kind of tune in and at any point and you will see a sort of episodic close ended episode in a way.
01:25Obviously, we have serialized elements.
01:28You know, you see Captain Kirk.
01:29Well, he's Lieutenant Kirk slowly becoming the man that we all have grown to love.
01:35But at the same time, you get to have an imaginative little mini movie.
01:39And so, for example, so this week I we are it's actually we're playing totally different characters.
01:46We're playing actors in the 1960s Hollywood murder sort of mystery.
01:50But we're also actors who are on a space adventure show called The Last Frontier.
01:59Captain, we're picking up that space radiation again.
02:02Whatever this is does not appear to be native to the Blutar Nebula.
02:09This is space, Lieutenant.
02:12There's no such thing as native.
02:15We're all children of the cosmos.
02:18Cap, in the past hour we have had 14 more crew members report to Medbay on account of melancholia.
02:25I have seen this only once before in the war.
02:29Then we'll need a leg up.
02:31But Captain, we're outside of regulation space.
02:34Don't lecture me on jurisdiction, Lieutenant.
02:37I wrote the book on space jurisdiction.
02:44And I am known for my diction.
02:48And so we got to have a lot of fun.
02:50And we created like satirical elements.
02:52And I got to sort of go really big with my my sort of Kirk impression.
02:56And and and we sort of it was an homage to sort of the analog time of the 1960s where there were no VFX and you weren't able to create some digital monster.
03:09It was all practical.
03:10And so we got to really have fun with that.
03:13And it's a nostalgic kind of love letter.
03:15But then at the same time, we have future episodes, which are wildly dramatic and have a ton of stake.
03:23And but all the sort of the thing that threads all of them together is that they are all sort of an interesting perspective on the world.
03:34And what I love about science fiction, but specifically Star Trek, is that it really kind of is a magnifying lens on humanity.
03:44And I think that's why people connect with it.
03:47Mr. Saint, did you kill Tony Hart and Sonny Lupino?
03:50Nope.
03:52Did you?
03:53Sonny said you and Tony were fighting before he died.
03:56A tiff.
03:57A row.
03:58A tangle, maybe.
04:00It's not even worth discussing.
04:05It was jealousy.
04:06Jealousy?
04:10Your cuff.
04:11It was an identical one at the crime scene.
04:13A little trinket from Hart's secretary.
04:19She likes me.
04:20You were having an affair.
04:23You caught me.
04:24And Mr. Hart had an issue with this.
04:26Well, only because he was having an affair with the same secretary.
04:29But it's also the one thing is that the way your character at this point interacts with everybody.
04:34Obviously, we have Scotty this season, you know, but even with Ethan and Christine, there's so much backstory going on.
04:41Even in like one scene you're in in this episode.
04:44There's so much being said that's not being said.
04:46You know, obviously, tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow as an episode was so fantastic with you and Christine.
04:52But can you talk about playing those sort of white noise moments like between you and obviously Spock as he is right now?
04:59And then, you know, because that's everything's going on.
05:02Well, it's interesting because, you know, we all know how iconic the friendship between Spock and Kirk is.
05:09It's one of the most iconic relationships on television.
05:12So it's in a weird way it makes our job easier because the minute we appear on screen together, there's this immediate flash of memories of the last 60 years of being, you know, such an iconic, you know, sort of piece of pop culture history.
05:33So in a way, it's easier, but then in another way, it's more difficult because we understand how loaded it is.
05:39And so it's interesting because when I first appeared on screen and when I met Spock for the first time, I remember we were shooting that episode.
05:46I was like, wait, should I just mean different? Should I do it? Yeah.
05:50And the director said to me, like, you're over analyzing it.
05:52Just you don't know. You don't know how important this relationship is going to be.
05:57You're just meeting him. And it took a little bit of the pressure off of me.
06:10Medical team to the bridge.
06:16This is the U.S. asparagus. We need immediate assistance. We've taken heavy...
06:20Sir, something's interfering with the comm signal. I'm trying to identify the source.
06:27It's coming from that.
06:34There's a great thing. Also, Frakes directed this episode.
06:38So, you know, the thing is, Jonathan gets the humor. He always has.
06:42Oh, yeah.
06:43But he also understands everything that leads up to it.
06:45Can you talk about, you know, getting direction?
06:48Because the thing is, you're evolving in your portrayal of him.
06:52Yeah.
06:53And it has to be you.
06:54But you also have to take keys from people who have been in the franchise for so long.
06:58Can you talk about that in finding the balance for you as an actor?
07:01Well, Jonathan Frakes is an actor.
07:03So it's really amazing to work with a director who understands an actor's process.
07:09And what I love about his approach is that he allows the actor to play.
07:14He understands how important your own instinct is.
07:17He understands how important, you know, improvisation is, specifically when it comes to comedy.
07:21And so he, you know, there's nothing worse than working with someone who is giving you direction for no reason.
07:28And what I like about Jonathan is that he really just sort of knows exactly what to say.
07:34Really appreciated that a lot.
07:36And then, of course, he knows this world.
07:38And so, you know, he was able.
07:41I trusted his input, I guess you can say, because, you know, you just never know.
07:48But because given his history with Star Trek, you know, you're just like automatically, you know, that there's a level of understanding that maybe others wouldn't have.
07:57Someone once said space is dark and cold.
08:03Our job is to bring light, bring warmth, bring life to wherever we go.
08:10Is this a hit it situation?
08:13It's whatever kind of adventure we want it to be.
08:18This crew is a team the finest Starfleet has to offer.
08:22Indeed.
08:23It's possible they don't know about us.
08:25They know about us.
08:27They know about us.
08:29And, Paul, my last question.
08:30You know, because the thing is, the one thing I love about Strange New Worlds, even compared to the other series, is that excuse expectation.
08:38It pushes you one way, then takes you back another.
08:40You know, you know, this could be true between you and Captain Pike, too.
08:44But obviously you, as we said, with Christine's character.
08:47Could you talk about looking at, you know, at misdirects and sort of keep because you have to have those that mystery kept for yourself.
08:54But you do little things, little movements, little things that sort of speak to it.
08:59Can you talk about using movement to reflect Kirk's psychology at this point?
09:03Yeah.
09:04So, Kirk, you know, when we watch Shatner's performance, he approaches it from a very confident perspective.
09:16I mean, he is as sure-footed as you can get.
09:19And there's a sort of posture and a mannerism that he embodies.
09:23And my character is not quite there yet.
09:26However, as we watch the series, he slowly begins sort of morphing into the sort of familiarity that we all know.
09:35So, you know, posture is very important when you're sitting in a chair, you know, how you sit in that chair.
09:42Even like little movements, Anson talked about this, and he's so good at it.
09:46You know, if his hand is, if he's sitting on the chair and his hand is on the armrest,
09:51the way he moves his fingers is a very interesting sort of like, it communicates something.
09:57You know, is he still? Is he anxious? Is he fidgety? Is he angry?
10:01You know, these are all like very conscious decisions that you make as an actor.
10:04So, all of these things are very, very important.
10:10We have to stop this invasion.
10:11Prepare all weapons.
10:14Get to this ship!
10:15Get to this ship!
10:24We are going to find our way out of this.
10:26Together.
10:27battle!
10:28When we're going to be 45, it's not trochÄ moor.
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