Why Chris Pine Chose Star Trek Over An L.A. Confidential Sequel

Blockbuster director, writer, and producer J.J. Abrams ("Lost," "Armageddon,") has revitalized multiple franchises with installments including "Mission: Impossible III" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." In 2009, he brought one of his biggest successes to his franchise revitalization resume in the reboot of the classic sci-fi IP, "Star Trek."

One reason for the beloved status of the film (both critics and fans scored it over 90% in a rare moment of agreement on Rotten Tomatoes) is the stellar cast. While recasting classic characters is often a losing battle, with original fans judging and criticizing every angle, Abrams and crew were able to assemble some of the best modern versions of the characters. Included in that cast was Chris Pine, who was able to reinvent Captain Kirk for a new generation while staying faithful to William Shatner's version.

However, Pine joining the reboot to portray the captain of the Enterprise wasn't always guaranteed. During this time, the actor was also in talks to jump on board "White Jazz," the sequel to the 1997 film adaptation of the James Ellroy novel, "L.A. Confidential."

While one became a three-film blockbuster franchise and the other has been stuck in development purgatory for over a decade, the choice at the time came down to a conversation with Pine's sister and the relatable transparency of the main character.

In a 2016 interview with The Off Camera Show, the conversation turned to the two possible parts Chris Pine was up for in the late 2000s. The films were wildly different: One was a low-budget darker-than-noir peek into how the Los Angeles of the '50s transitioned to the '60s psychedelic era. The other was a big-budget sci-fi reboot with all the lens flare glory that J.J. Abrams brings to the table.

Pine had to decide between either joining one cast as a deeply troubled character or another cast as an established, legendary hero. He explained in the interview, "J.J., that whole experience, was a tantalizing opportunity ... I won't lie, my ego was heavily involved in that decision. J.J. was really kind, and I really gelled with him, I felt like, in the audition room. But it was a really difficult decision. I took a couple of weeks to figure it out."

The "Wonder Woman" actor went on to compare the characters, revealing that he almost turned down the role of Kirk to choose the more challenging part: "One was a latently homosexual, homicidal, schizophrenic detective. It's like, 'That's the one I want to do.' And one was, you know, Kirk and 'Star Trek,' which I thought was way more straightforward." Fortunately for us, having a conversation with his sister changed his perception of the role.

Chris Pine spoke about a conversation he had with his sister that changed his perception of the Kirk role, one that was less about the character and more about him as a person. "One seemed to be the bigger challenge and I think in talking about it with her, I was able to see in a different light that this was actually way more difficult for me because what it required was a lot more transparency," he recalled. "['White Jazz'], I could, ya know, do all sorts of fun [expletive]. ['Star Trek'] was, like, movie star stuff. Not saying that I am, just that [it was] that kind of role, the leader of the pack."

He has since become just that, a movie star, appearing in big-budget films such as "Wonder Woman" and its sequel as pilot Steve Trevor, and as the lead in "Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves." But his experience as Kirk taught him that relatability was one of the most critical parts of portraying larger-than-life roles. "It's a very difficult thing to do. It requires a certain amount of transparency that an audience can kind of latch on to you and relate to you as both the character and you."

Pine compared it to Harrison Ford being both the actual person and Indiana Jones, or Robert Downey Jr. being both him and Tony Stark. While it may have been a close call whether we got him or not, Chris Pine is definitely both himself and Captain James T. Kirk.