Original-Cin Q&A: Star Trek Strange New Worlds’ Anson Mount on Captaining an Icon
By Bonnie Laufer
Actor Anson Mount has been in the spotlight for over two decades, but one thing hasn't changed: his sharp wit and dedication to his craft.
Sitting in the captain's chair for five years as Captain Christopher Pike on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Mount leads the USS Enterprise through a franchise celebrating six iconic decades.
Original-Cin spoke with Mount, who reflects on Star Trek’s incredible legacy, the creative freedom that comes with playing Pike, and the experience of seeing himself reimagined as a Jim Henson-crafted puppet.
The first episode of Season 4 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is now streaming on Paramount Plus. The 10-episode season will release new episodes weekly on Thursdays through to the finale on September 24. Read our review of Ep. 1 here.
ORIGINAL-CIN: Anson, we go way back! The first time I met you was about 26 years ago on the junket in New Orleans for your first film, Crossroads with Britney Spears.
ANSON MOUNT: Oh my gosh! I'm not sure if that was a brilliant idea for a junket or a terrible idea for a junket because that was during Mardi Gras.
O-C: I remember it like it was yesterday.
AM: I’ll never forget it either because the morning that we were doing interviews, they actually said that they were in the control room adjusting the green tint on my screen until they realized it was me (laughs).
O-C: Well, you’ve come a long way since then. Look at you now, Captain of the Enterprise. I've been watching this season’s episodes, and everyone starts with a special opening commemorating the 60th anniversary of Star Trek. It literally gave me goosebumps! What on earth does it mean to you?
AM: I’m not going to lie, it's heady. Just being in this franchise is heady and still surreal to me. We were just doing press in Italy, and somebody said to us, ‘You know, if you do the math, it means that Star Trek has been around roughly one quarter of the age of your country.’ That's just crazy to think about when you put it into perspective. It goes to show you how baked into the cake of our culture it is.
O-C: You've been playing Captain Christopher Pick for five seasons. How has playing this character changed since the first day you put on that uniform and sat in the captain’s chair?
AM: When you play a role this long, there's a point that comes around the middle of season two, for me at least, when you show up to work and throw on the boots and you're there and it just feels right. You've ridden the bicycle enough that you know you're not going to fall down.
Then this funny thing happens where instead of you going to the writers with questions, the writers start coming to you asking about what you think about certain storylines, or how you think your character will react to certain situations. So, it's an interesting transition that happens around that time.
O-C: I found every episode this season feels like a mini-movie with different intensity and feels. One of my favourites so far is episode three where the entire crew goes on vacation. What was it like to not have to wear the uniform and really let loose for that episode?
AM: It's funny. There are so many parallels that happen as both a cast and a story. You know that what the writers do that's very smart, and part of using a genre that is smart is that it really keeps us on our toes. It makes us excited to do new things whenever it happens in our shooting season.
An episode like that is very high comedy, it gave us a break too. I find especially with comedy there's so much that is realized on the day and the process of doing comedy on film is finding ways to be improvisational and creative and happens in the moment. This is why people like Judd Apatow: they're writing through the shoot, and they're changing your lines up. You go to a recording of a sitcom, they'll shoot each scene twice and between takes of the scene, the writers will go onto the stage and get notes and change lines. It's kind of a similar process there. It was quite exhilarating.
O-C: It feels like you are raising the bar with each season. We've seen a musical episode, but this year we see you as Muppets.
AM: Let me clarify: puppets, not Muppets. Muppets are an intellectual property issue, so we are all puppets. They were, however, created by Jim Henson’s company.
O-C: Ah, got it. They were all so fantastic, but you looked particularly amazing as a puppet. They got the essence of your hair! Can you tell me what it was like when you first saw that puppet of yourself?
AM: It's a little like the first time you hear yourself on a tape recorder. You know, you're like, ‘That doesn't sound like me!’ I felt the same seeing myself as a puppet. ‘That doesn’t really look like me’ and all your castmates are like, ‘Yeah, no, that looks like you!’
O-C: Were you able to take him home after the shoot?
AM: If you saw the price tag on those puppets, you would understand why the answer is no.