Chris Pine Turned Down Role Opposite Clooney For ‘Star Trek’

The buzz surrounding Chris Pine’s take on Capt. James T. Kirk in the J.J. Abrams “Star Trek” reboot has reached a fever pitch as the sci-fi movie approaches its May 8 release date – but the actor told Access Hollywood he almost turned it down to work with George Clooney.

“This one week I had the opportunity to work with Clooney, in this movie, ‘White Jazz,’ which was the sequel to ‘LA Confidential,’” Chris told Access’ Billy Bush Thursday at ShoWest in Las Vegas.

“The character was awesome and strange and odd and something that I felt I could disappear into and maybe do something interesting with [it.] And then I felt Kirk was something more straight-ahead and basically on the surface,” Chris explained. “[But,] as I did my due diligence and as I kind of looked at it, I found that I was scared more by the prospect of bringing Kirk to life again, because he’d already been done, and done really well.”

Chris told Billy his fear of recreating the role that William Shatner had made so iconic helped him decide to take on the challenge.

Adding, ” On top of the fact, once I met J.J. [Abrams] it was kind of a done deal.”

And will Chris’ version of Capt. Kirk live up to the character’s Casanova reputation?

“Kirk is a consummate flirt,” Chris said with a smile. “There’s some snuggling. There’s some light caressing.”