MovieChat Forums > Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Discussion > Was Cumberbatch supposed to be Gary Mitc...

Was Cumberbatch supposed to be Gary Mitchell?

posted 9 years ago by onebluestocking
2 replies | jump to latest

Interesting article with lots of information about the casting process, and some hypothetical speculation:

http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/star-trek/42591/star-trek-was-cumberbatch-supposed-to-be-gary-mitchell

Even the casting process for Star Trek Into Darkness's villain seemed a bit murky. Before Cumberbatch was given the part, Benicio Del Toro was in talks to play the then-unnamed villain. When those talks fell through, other actors considered included Edgar Ramirez and Jordi Molla. All of those actors bear at least a vague, passing resemblance to Ricardo Montalban; so why did the film's makers change tack so drastically and cast Cumberbatch instead? It's here that an intriguing question arises. Is it possible that, behind the scenes, the makers of Star Trek Into Darkness were having trouble deciding exactly who should be its central villain? While the evidence supporting this theory is only circumstantial, there are at least a few tantalising clues.

Arthur, put the kettle on and dig out those lemon hand wipes.

[–] puirt-a-beul 9 years ago

I've no idea who Gary Mitchell is, but I do think it's credible that the villain wasn't always intended to be Khan -- other than the idea that Khan has a crew of mutineers he's trying to protect, the brief moments of ship-to-ship combat and of course the "needs of the many" sequence, there's no real similarity between the two Khan stories.

Were the details of who the Big Bad was totally hush-hush, even to Cumberbatch when he was signed, because they benefitted somehow from keeping ti quiet (not noticeably), or because they really hadn't signed off on it?

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[–] NYG11 9 years ago

Great article! I think it would've been a much better idea to make Cumberbatch be Gary Mitchell. It would've been far more believable than him playing Khan. You say Khan and most immediately picture Ricardo Montalban. You say Gary Mitchell and most people say who? Cumberbatch could have made that character his own!