Whether or not Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Khan in “Star Trek Into Darkness” has been the controversy that simply won’t go away. And believe me, we’ve tried to make it go away. Director and fanboy god J.J. Abrams has understandably fueled the fire on this one: he, no doubt with the full blessing of Paramount Pictures, has done everything in his power to make sure that as soon as we think we know, we don’t know.
Finally, someone involved with the picture has gone on the record. Alice Eve, who is probably playing Dr. Carol Marcus (and that only makes it worse, since Carol Marcus’ big “Star Trek” appearance, to refresh your memory, is “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”), was interviewed on the red carpet at England’s BAFTA awards. She was asked, point blank:
“What about the rumors that Benedict Cumberbatch is going to play Khan?”
And Eve responded, without hesitation:
“He’s not playing Khan.”
We’re including the video of that interview here. Click the lower box on the left. The video is 1 minute and 41 seconds long in its entirety. At 00:59, Ms. Eve says, wait for it:
“He’s not playing Khan.”
Rewind, replay. She does not hesitate. She does not equivocate. She makes eye contact with her interviewer and says:
“He’s not playing Khan.”
So, in addition to the trailer, which makes it clear that if Cumberbatch is playing Khan they’ve completely rewritten “Space Seed,” the episode which introduced the character, and in addition to the fact that Cumberbatch looks neither Asian nor Hispanic, and in addition to the fact that the character’s name is apparently Harrison, we have a cast member denying that Cumberbatch plays Khan.
“Star Trek Into Darkness” opens on May 17th. Try to hang in there.
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