Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to make a cameo appearance in new ‘Star Trek’ film
Who doesn’t love the science fiction series “Star Trek”? And, how many of us are lucky to play a Star Trek character in real life that they loved watching as a kid?
Well, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon is one such lucky man. He has got to live out every Trekkie’s fantasy by playing an alien in the new soon-to-be-released “Star Trek Beyond” movie. Bezos loved to play “Star Trek” with his friends from the neighbourhood as a kid growing up in Texas, complete with cardboard tricorders and phasers.
Bezos is listed in the credits for “Star Trek Beyond,” the third instalment of the rebooted sci-fi franchise. The producer of the movie, J.J. Abrams and director Justin Lin confirmed his appearance described as a “single tracking shot that includes his character”, which suggests he doesn’t have a speaking role – to the Associated Press in an interview on Friday.
According to Bezos’ newly updated profile page on IMDB, the Amazon-owned Internet Movie Database, he is playing a Starfleet official. However, Bezos is playing an alien in the film, the AP reports.
Lin said the billionaire CEO arrived with plenty of security for a day of filming and waited patiently for crews to shoot the single tracking shot that includes his character, which is a cameo in the film.
““He was awesome,” Lin said. It was like a president was visiting, you know? He had a big entourage! But it didn’t matter because he was so into it. He had to wait around all day because it was one day we were shooting like three different scenes and, it was also credit to Jeff because … he just nailed it every time.””
Chris Pine, who plays Captain Kirk, told the news service about Bezos’ visit to the set: “I was there for the bit with his like nine bodyguards and three limos. It was really intense. … I had no idea who he was. Not a clue. But he was obviously very important.”
Given Bezos’ love for the Star Trek franchise, it is no surprise that he decided to be a part of the film. Bezos has spoken in interviews of his passion for “Star Trek” and said his childhood dreams of space led him to found his private space travel company, named Blue Origin.
As his own Washington Post noted in a previous story recounting his childhood pastime, Bezos is a “giant, epic, subspace anomaly of a ‘Star Trek’ nerd.” For example, he admitted that the Alexa virtual assistant was inspired by the computer on the USS Enterprise.
This is not the first time a commercial space giant is making an appearance in a major motion picture. In the past, Elon Musk of SpaceX appeared as himself in “Iron Man 2,” while Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic appeared briefly in “Casino Royale.”
The third instalment “Star Trek Beyond” in the rebooted movie franchise premieres in the U.S. on July 22.
Bezos has not commented publicly about the appearance yet. Similarly, Amazon and Blue Origin are yet to provide any clarification or more details on Bezos’ appearance in the film.
