Star Trek

By StarTrek.com Staff

January 16, 2012

By now, everyone has seen the official Paramount Pictures press release announcing the start of production on the next Star Trek feature. It noted the familiar names: John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller, as well as J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, plus composer Michael Giacchino.

But it also included a host of other names that may not be as familiar to people: Jeffrey Chernov, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Paul Schwake, Dan Mindel, Scott Chambliss, Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey and Michael Kaplan. Today, we’re going to take a few minutes to introduce you to these less-familiar figures who will play large roles in helping the Star Trek (2009) sequel reach theaters on May 17, 2013.

Chernov, Ellison, Goldberg and Schwake are executive producers, and they all worked on the current blockbuster Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Chernov has served as a producer, production manager, production executive, first assistant director and more over his long career, and he counts among his credits Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, The Thing, Starman, Reign of Fire, Balls of Fury, Tangled, Battle: Los Angeles and Star Trek (2009). His kids, Zoe and Max, appeared as two of young Spock’s classmates in Star Trek (2009).

Ellison, Goldberg and Schwake head up Skydance Productions, a Paramount production partner on what Paramount refers to officially as Untitled Star Trek Sequel, as well as on True Grit. Ellison, who also occasionally acts, is the company’s founder and CEO. He is the son of Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison. Goldberg, Skydance’s president of production, previously executive produced Taking Lives, Happy Feet, I Am Legend, Get Smart and Yes Man, and, in her capacity as president of production at Village Roadshow Pictures, worked on the Matrix trilogy, Training Day and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among other titles. Schwake, COO and CFO at Skydance, counts among his credits Grandma’s Boys and Rendition, and, during his time at Spyglass Entertainment and Morgan Creek, was involved with The Sixth Sense, Seabiscuit, Last of the Mohicans and True Romance, among other films.

Dan Mindel, director of photography on Star Trek (2009), will assume that same job on the sequel. His credits include Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Domino, Mission: Impossible III and the upcoming films John Carter and Savages. Scott Chambliss is a longtime Abrams associate, having been production designer on Felicity, Alias, Mission: Impossible III and Star Trek (2009). His non-Abrams projects include I Like It Like That, Salt and Cowboys & Aliens.

Additional Star Trek (2009)/Abrams returnees include editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, as well as costume designer Michael Kaplan. Brandon’s other credits include Grumpier Old Men, Alias, Mission: Impossible III, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Super 8, while Markey’s include Medicine Man, Felicity, Alias, Mission: Impossible III, Lost, Killers, Undercovers, Super 8 and the upcoming Perks of Being a Wallflower. Finally, Kaplan previously designed costumes for Blade Runner, Flashdance, Seven, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, I Am Legend, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Burlesque and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, among many others.