Casting of David Marcus......?

[Green]

Was it ever mentioned who else tested for David Marcus besides Merritt Butrick?

I have heard about Kim Cattrall being an early candidate for Saavik, but I've never heard a single name mentioned for possibly playing David.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

If memory serves, and sometimes it doesn't, Lance Guest mentioned in an old Starlog interview that he had tested for the role.

Sir Rhosis

EDIT: Hard to read but on the second page of this photo of the article (scroll down until you see the Last Starfighter photo) it is mentioned that Guest auditioned. http://weimarworld.blogspot.com/2010/05/starlog-project-starlog-85-august-1984.html

 

[Green]

Very interesting. His career kind if fizzled out. I was kind of interested if anybody who later became a star had tested for any of the Trek movies.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

This list is probably pretty exhaustive, though no one has posted Guest's name yet. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Performers_considered_for_Star_Trek_roles

 

[Green]

Amazing how many alternate Will Decker's there were but only 1 other actress tried for Saavik?

I think it's just that there are more records involving the casting for Decker as opposed to the fact that only 1 other person tested for the roles of Saavik, David, etc.

I'd love to see the notes on the other actors if there were any but I guess they are lost.

 

[Kor]

Imaging Jonathan Frakes playing Will Decker, right at the beginning of his acting career.

Kor

 

[Gavin70]

Imaging Jonathan Frakes playing Will Decker, right at the beginning of his acting career.

That's not really hard to imagine. I've always felt that Decker and Ilia were an early concept of what Riker and Troi turned out to be in Next Generation.

 

[Mysterion]

^^^^^
Pretty-much. They were renamed and ported over from Phase II/TMP. And Data picked-u[ a lot of what Lt. Xon would have been in Phase II (along with a dash of Questor, perhaps).

 

[2takesfrakes]

It served TWoK's needs to have David Marcus be a scientist, but I've often wondered if Kirk's son should've been more ... well ... had more machismo, let's say. Maybe been a little more Kirk and a little less Carol?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It served TWoK's needs to have David Marcus be a scientist, but I've often wondered if Kirk's son should've been more ... well ... had more machismo, let's say. Maybe been a little more Kirk and a little less Carol?

Since David was raised entirely by Carol, I think it makes perfect sense that he would want to follow in his mother's footsteps.

 

[2takesfrakes]

"Perhaps you're right ..." it's interesting, though, how Carol tells Kirk of David, "... actually, he's a lot like you. In many ways." Unfortunately we got to see near none of these.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

"Perhaps you're right ..." it's interesting, though, how Carol tells Kirk of David, "... actually, he's a lot like you. In many ways." Unfortunately we got to see near none of these.

Well, he was smart, he was stubborn, he was unafraid to break the rules or talk back to authority, and he was brave to the point of being foolhardy at times.

Sounds a fair bit like Jim Kirk to me.

 

[johnnybear]

I think Butrick had a Shatneresque look to him too!
JB

 

[Nyotarules]

It served TWoK's needs to have David Marcus be a scientist, but I've often wondered if Kirk's son should've been more ... well ... had more machismo, let's say. Maybe been a little more Kirk and a little less Carol?

Is personality an inherited trait?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I think Butrick had a Shatneresque look to him too!

Nicholas Meyer said that part of the reason he cast Butrick as David was because he could buy him as being the son of Bibi Besch and William Shatner. He had the blond hair of Besch, and the curly hair of Shatner.

 

[XCV330]

It was a good casting choice. And he got two movie roles out of it, way better than Kirok's kid did.

 

[Khan 2.0]

Nicholas Meyer said that part of the reason he cast Butrick as David was because he could buy him as being the son of Bibi Besch and William Shatner. He had the blond hair of Besch, and the curly hair of Shatner.

also his face bore a resemblance to the Shat. More than enough to totally buy him as the son of kirk

 

[Kor]

Kirk's hair suddenly turned curly in middle age, but David's was always that way.

Kor

 

[johnnybear]

But Shatner's hair was a cosmetic wig!!! A cosmetic curly one though! But was it really supposed to be real? I guess so, but well...
JB

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Kirk's hair suddenly turned curly in middle age, but David's was always that way.

I actually had curly hair as a young child. It straightened out as I got older. (And thinned and fell out as I got older still... )