Sebastian Stan’s “Bold” Audition for Captain Kirk: A Star Trek Story That Never Was
Hold onto your phasers, folks! We’ve got a tale of Sebastian Stan, the actor we know and love from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Bucky Barnes, attempting a truly unique – and potentially goofy – audition for the role of Captain Kirk in the 2009 “Star Trek” film.
Appearing on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Stan revealed that early in his career, he was super keen on landing the role of Kirk, originally made famous by William Shatner. His agent, in a moment of what we can only assume was inspired (or possibly questionable) advice, suggested that Stan dress up as Shatner’s Kirk, strike some classic poses, take some photos, and send them to director J.J. Abrams.
The goal? To show Abrams just how good Stan could be as the iconic starship captain. The result? Well, Stan didn’t get the part, so maybe the photos weren’t as persuasive as they’d hoped. But it does paint a pretty funny picture of Stan’s dedication to embodying a role, even in the audition process.
It’s worth noting that this wasn’t Stan’s only near miss in the realm of big franchise roles. He also mentioned being in the running for “Green Lantern”, alongside heavy hitters like Justin Timberlake, Jared Leto, and Ryan Reynolds. While we’ll never know what a Stan-led “Star Trek” or “Green Lantern” would have looked like, it’s fun to imagine the alternate timeline where those photos landed him among the stars.
Maybe someday these audition photos will surface – we can only hope! – but until then, we’ll just have to imagine Sebastian Stan in full Captain Kirk cosplay, boldly going where no audition has gone before.
Source: Variety
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