'Star Trek: Section 31' on Paramount+: Michelle Yeoh movie wouldn't have been possible without Toronto talents
"Only this crew in Toronto could have pulled it off," director Olatunde Osunsanmi said
Michelle Yeoh returns to the character Philippa Georgiou in Star Trek: Section 31 (now on Paramount+), marking the third Star Trek project for director Olatunde Osunsanmi. Also featuring Omari Hardwick, Robert Kazinsky, Sam Richardson, Kacey Rohl, Humberly González, James Hiroyuki Liao, Sven Ruygrok and Joe Pingue, the new movie follows Georgiou as she joins a mission to find a deadly super-weapon, to protect the United Federation of Planets.
But what Canadians should know is that there's an extensive Star Trek history in Toronto, with Star Trek: Strange New World, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Star Trek: Discovery all filmed in the city. As Osunsanmi stressed, Toronto talent is critical to the success of many Star Trek projects.
"Before 31 I had a six, seven year history working here in Toronto, and when we were given 31 to do, it's unbelievably ambitious for the budget that we had," Osunsanmi told Yahoo Canada. "Even though we were incredibly well supported as artists by CBS and Paramount, ... [this] was more ambitious than they were able to give us budget-wise, and the amount of time to shoot it. Only this crew in Toronto could have pulled it off."
"If you would have done this anywhere else, it would have been two to three times as much money and taken two to three times as long. That's because we have a wonderful relationship with the crews here. It's also because they have a wonderful relationship with each other. Every time I ask, 'Hey, how long have you two known each other?' It's, 'Oh, yeah, we went to high school [together.] We've known each other for the last 20, 30, years.' ... So they have the ability to communicate in ways that are necessary, given the detail that we're working with."
Watch Star Trek: Section 31 on Paramount+ with plans starting at $6.99/month
He added that the amount of "artistry" in Toronto should really be celebrated, with the local teams he's worked with having an impressive work ethic.
"The work ethic is incredible," Osunsanmi said. "There's no motivating speech that needs to be given to get the best out of people here."
"So it's clearly one of the film industry's jewels in the world. And I think that's why so many amazing movies always come back to shoot here, because of the people, and I've been very, very fortunate to find this group that works with me here on Trek."
For González, who plays Melle in Star Trek: Section 31, she's loved developing her career in Toronto, including being part of one of the most iconic franchises filed in the city.
"I started my career in Toronto and ... what I love about working on sets in Toronto is that you will always find someone you've worked with," González said. "People always come back to Toronto to shoot and that's why I've loved building my career from here."
"I didn't have to jump ship and go somewhere else. ... My grass was always really green here, and I love being a Toronto local, so definitely a rite of passage to be in Star Trek."
'You are bound to ruffle some feathers if it's not exactly what they imagined'
While this isn't Osunsanmi's first Star Trek project, he's particularly aware and considerate of the fact that fans come into any new Star Trek film or TV show with expectations, with Osunsanmi and the whole team having to try to appeal to what so many people love about Star Trek, while making something that feels new and fresh.
"I approach it with great trepidation," Osunsanmi said. "Working with [executive producer] Alex Kurtzman, that has been his mantra from the beginning, that every new iteration of Trek needs to have its own flavour of ice cream, be its own flavour of the rainbow."
"I gained my visuals from the character and the emotion of the story. And the character in this situation is Philippa Georgiou. And because she's wild and she's unpredictable, and she's bold and she's terrifying, that is a wonderful mix to represent in colours. So you'll see ... bolder colours than we've ever seen before. In this modern iteration of Trek, you see bolder camera design with snap zooms or faster camera moves than you've ever seen before in Trek. ... And pretty much every single thing you see visually is a little bit wild and a little bit excitable."
González said, in a separate interview, that with something so beloved, it's inevitable that a new project with "ruffle some feathers" for some fans.
"I think with anything that's so set in stone and it's so loved for so many decades, you are bound to ruffle some feathers if it's not exactly what they imagined," she said. "What's special about Section 31 is that we haven't explored this world in any kind of detail, so it does allow us to tell a new story. ... This is an introduction to what these people do, what they add to the universe."
"And so I think there's a big responsibility there, but there's also just an excitement to bring what we got cast to do, and tell a new version of the story."
Another critical element of Star Trek: Section 31 is having Michelle Yeoh as a leader in the project, both in an acting capacity and taking on an executive producer role as well.
"We all need a strong leader ... and all of us, from top to bottom, have an unbelievable amount of respect for Michelle, going back decades, before we even worked with her for the first time," Osunsanmi said. "No one knows her character better than she does and she's known it now for six or seven years. That's a very helpful influence that anchors everybody into place."
González also highlighted that it was MIchelle's energy on set that really set the tone for the rest of the actors.
"Our group got close really, really fast, and starting from the number one, and it trickles right down," she said. "[Michelle is] available and playful and generous in her choices, and keeps you on your toes."
"Michelle crackles. She has such an incredible energy that lives in her and makes its way out, and she's free," Kacey Rohl, who plays Rachel Garrett added."She is in play mode. She allows that of herself. She's an incredibly disciplined person, incredibly rigorous person, expects excellence of herself and others, but that is combined with this openness, this malleability, this playfulness, this fluidity."
'I knew that it was going to be impactful'
But aside from working with Yeoh, Rohl and González got to step into this immersive Star Trek world, filled with eye-catching costumes and intricate production design, adding a particularly fun element to their roles.
"This was definitely the most extreme transformation I've endured as an actor," González said. "It's always really fun to be a completely different version of you."
"I think my Latina hair is such a huge part of me, it's something that I use, not a personality trait per se, but ... it's me. And so to get rid of that, I really had to to find a different way of being powerful, feminine, sexy, sensual. And I really did find that with Melle. She didn't need to hide behind hair. She was really just all out there. And for me, I felt revealed in a different way. I remember the first time I was in full hair and makeup and costume for the camera test, and the second I stepped out in front of those cameras, I knew that it was going to be impactful."
Rohl has played in the sci-fi adventure/action genre before, previously working on the CW series Arrow. A few years removed from that experience, the actor really took a lot from the stunts and movement aspects of that show, which have stuck with her for newer projects like Star Trek: Section 31.
"I think the gift of [Arrow] is that it was a really stunts-heavy show," she said. "There's a particular culture that comes with that, ... there's a routine that people follow, ... it's an active set."
"That physical connection to body has always been really important to me, but that show really informed it and locked it in. And with this, similar, also because of just the pressures of being on Star Trek, moving the body, keeping the body moving, was very helpful."