Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we start a new series thanks to a listener suggestion on actors who have played multiple roles in Star Trek series and movies. Today we review the Trek roles and career of Peter Weller, who appeared on Enterprise as well as Star Trek Into Darkness.
Peter Weller is best known as the lead character Officer Murphy in the Robocop movies, but he had a long history of Broadway work and some film work before that signature performance. Weller grew up as an Army brat who moved around a lot, including a multi-year stint when his father was stationed in Germany. Perhaps that background helps provide his authoritarian voice and stance, which he uses in his Trek roles as well as many others.
Turning to Trek, Weller obtained a role in Season 4 of Enterprise based on his former work as lead actor and a director with show runner Manny Coto on the sci-fi series Odyssey 5, which Coto was executive producer on. Coto offered Weller the opportunity to direct some Season 5 episodes if he came on as a guest star, but that did not happen thanks to the cancellation of Enterprise. However, Weller did appear as John Paxton, the Terra Prime leader in the episodes Demons and Terra Prime near the end of Season 4. His acting further improved what was already a good two-part episode as the series drew to a close.
As a side note, the Weller and Coto connection continued for other TV series like 24, where Weller played another memorable villain, as well as Dexter. An appearance on the TV show Fringe led to the introduction to J.J. Abrams and the new Star Trek film team, and Weller was cast as Admiral Marcus for Star Trek Into Darkness shortly thereafter.
We've profiled Admiral Marcus in detail before on our movie villains series, but needless to say, Weller brings much of the same depth and gravity to this complex character as he did in Enterprise. Here's one memorable quote from that appearance:
Admiral Marcus - "All-out war with the Klingons is inevitable, Mr. Kirk. If you ask me, it's already begun...You killed a Klingon patrol. Even if you got away without a trace, war is coming."
In recent years, Weller has slowed down outside some directing roles. He also recently completed a doctorate in Italian history, so you can call him Dr. Peter Weller. Also, he was born in 1947 (INSERT), so happy 70th birthday to this actor, who has contributed two great characters to the Star Trek tapestry.
-----
Turning to Trek, Weller obtained a role in Season 4 of Enterprise based on his former work as lead actor and a director with show runner Manny Coto on the sci-fi series Odyssey 5, which Coto was executive producer on. Coto offered Weller the opportunity to direct some Season 5 episodes if he came on as a guest star, but that did not happen thanks to the cancellation of Enterprise. However, Weller did appear as John Paxton, the Terra Prime leader in the episodes Demons and Terra Prime near the end of Season 4. His acting further improved what was already a good two-part episode as the series drew to a close.
As a side note, the Weller and Coto connection continued for other TV series like 24, where Weller played another memorable villain, as well as Dexter. An appearance on the TV show Fringe led to the introduction to J.J. Abrams and the new Star Trek film team, and Weller was cast as Admiral Marcus for Star Trek Into Darkness shortly thereafter.
We've profiled Admiral Marcus in detail before on our movie villains series, but needless to say, Weller brings much of the same depth and gravity to this complex character as he did in Enterprise. Here's one memorable quote from that appearance:
Admiral Marcus - "All-out war with the Klingons is inevitable, Mr. Kirk. If you ask me, it's already begun...You killed a Klingon patrol. Even if you got away without a trace, war is coming."
In recent years, Weller has slowed down outside some directing roles. He also recently completed a doctorate in Italian history, so you can call him Dr. Peter Weller. Also, he was born in 1947 (INSERT), so happy 70th birthday to this actor, who has contributed two great characters to the Star Trek tapestry.
-----
Contact me with segment suggestions @BuckeyeFitzy on Twitter! Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment