An unforgettable actor is detailing his most embarrassing mistake involving Star Trek Into Darkness, and it’s not what fans may think it is!
Star Trek Into Darkness remains a divisive film among Trek fans. The sequel to the 2009 Kelvin Timeline reboot, the film was promoted heavily with Benedict Cumberbatch co-starring as a mysterious villain named John Harrison. As many suspected, Cumberbatch turned out to be this timeline’s version of Khan Noonien Singh. As it happened, though, Khan was less of a threat than Starfleet's mad Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller), who was trying to start a war against the Klingons.
The movie has a reputation for being ranked in the lower tier of Trek films. However, the truth is that Star Trek Into Darkness scored quite well with both critics ("Certified Fresh" 84 percent Tomatometer) and audiences (89 percent Popcornmeter) on Rotten Tomatoes. Its "A" CinemaScore can't be argued, and it remains the highest-grossing Trek of all time on the big screen with a worldwide take of $467.4 million (per The Numbers). So, the sequel's reputation doesn't add up.
Nevertheless, Into Darkness has been criticized by some for its poor story, which is somewhat a retread of "Space Seed" and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and for wasting Cumberbatch as its villain.
Cumberbatch made only this one appearance in the franchise, but in a recent interview via an Ask Me Anything Reddit session, Cumberbatch was asked, “What’s the funniest mistake you’ve ever made on the job?” His reply was revealing.
“Believing that Neutron Cream was a real thing on the set of Star Trek. Does that count? It was off camera but definitely on the job.”
What is Cumberbatch referring to? Strap yourselves in…
Pegg’s brilliant Trek prank
Simon Pegg is known for his fantastic sense of humor, both on and off camera. The actor who played Scotty in the Kelvin movies also has a reputation as a notorious prankster. Many a co-star has been set up for a gag by Pegg either on set or in interviews, and the Into Darkness shoot may well have been Pegg’s all-time greatest gag.
Somehow, Pegg was able to convince his co-stars that they had to put on Neutron cream to protect themselves from neutron radiation, while filming inside the laser rooms. As anyone with a science degree could tell you, this is an entirely non-existent danger out of a 1950s B-movie.
Incredibly, this cast of experienced and intelligent actors fell for Pegg’s joke, hook, line and sinker. A special bonus on the Into Darkness Blu-ray gives us the hilarious sight of Karl Urban, John Cho, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Cumberbatch, and others walking around with facial cream on while the rest of the crew is fighting not to laugh. A couple of actors were even encouraged to hop around to experience the full effect of the neutron cream.
The kicker is when one by one, the cast members discover they’ve been had with Cumberbatch, in particular, reading what he thinks is a waiver, only to dissolve into hysterical laughter when he learns the truth.
It’s probably funnier than anything that was on screen in this movie, and it's still astounding how these actors fell for this. At least Cumberbatch has a good sense of humor about it all today. So the next time you watch Star Trek Into Darkness, be aware of how light-hearted the set for this movie really was!
Star Trek Into Darkness is now streaming on Paramount+. And for more Star Trek content, visit the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.